Postal workers will visit neighbourhoods in the coming weeks to ensure all residents are compliant with the new Post Office regulations.

As of Monday, all homes were required to display a prominent house number, and place mailboxes as close to the roadside or boundary entrance to the property as possible.

Government has warned that: "Non-compliance will result in non-delivery of mail."

Seventy percent of residents have complied with the new regulations so far, said Energy, Telecommunications and E-Commerce, Michael Scott yesterday: "If you have not put the necessary measures in place I strongly urge you to do so to avoid any interruption to your mail delivery."

Mr. Scott said that despite the fact that a majority of households have followed the correct mailbox procedure, "teething pains" had emerged, with some residents confused as to where to site it.

"This confusion has led to some customers being unsure as to where their mailbox should be located on their property," he said. "In order to rectify this situation, the Bermuda Post Office has formed a task force whose role will be to do the following: inspect every house on the postman's route; and inform the customer with a note whether their mailbox must be moved, or is fine where it is located."

The new rules also require multi-storey businesses and condominiums to have a cluster-box unit or ground floor central reception area for mail delivery. The deadline for compliance is September 30.

The Minister stressed that all mail should include: an apartment/unit number; house number; street; parish; and postal code. All letters incorrectly addressed will be returned to sender.

"The law is now in effect and non-compliance will result in non-delivery of mail," Mr. Scott stated. "As Minister I would like to stress that these changes are necessary, and any change that makes the service more efficient is a good thing. Over the years Bermudians have become unfamiliar with the correct way to address mail, listing areas as parishes when they are not, and leaving out crucial information such as house numbers, street names and postal codes."

Incorrectly addressed mail will be returned to sender but if the sender's details are missing, staff at the Bermuda Post Office data office have the authority to open it to try to find further details.

If the recipient and sender can't be traced, then the mail is held for one month, after which time it is destroyed if it remains unclaimed.

Craig Tyrrell, Bermuda Post Office Operations Manager and Acting Postmaster General, said yesterday that the new measures have been put in place to make the postal service more efficient.

He said three postal workers had measured the distance and time which postmen and women had to travel on routes in Warwick, Crawl and Hamilton.

"The postmen were travelling 220 miles in total a day," he said.

"We then measured the distance they travelled from the boundary of the property to dropping mail on the property, and these same three officers totalled 80 miles.

"A third of their time was spent travelling from the boundary to the drop."

Mr. Tyrrell said this represented costs of up to $200,000 a year in time, salaries and expenses. "We are trying to streamline processes and make our delivery more efficient," he said.

"In the last 20 years the number of houses and condos has increased for the Bermuda Post Office by some 10,000 extra stops, but we haven't increased our staffing levels for postmen and women.

"That ten feet we will no longer have to travel on someone's driveway means we will be able to manage the extra drops without increasing our staffing levels, and increasing the burden on the taxpayer.

"We have a dedicated group of people who work very hard every day but sometimes they cannot make a complete delivery of their mail every day. This will help to make their jobs easier and make the service they provide to customers that much better," he said.

Pairs of postal workers will spend the next few weeks visiting each house on every route to see if mailboxes meet requirements. "We will notify in that box whether you are compliant or not, and specify a suggested location," said Mr. Tyrrell.

"We're anticipating we can get this done by the end of September. If there is any indication it may take longer we will speak to the Minister and Permanent Secretary to see if any adjustment times can be made for specific areas."

Mr. Tyrrell said that from 21,000 residential addresses, 10,000 had mailboxes in a suitable location and 9,000 had boxes which needed to be moved.

"We only identified 2,000 residences without boxes," he said.

Addressing fears that placing a mailbox at the end of a driveway could encourage thieves, Bermuda Post Office Quality Assurance Manager Richard Hazelwood said: "Currently there are 10,000 homes with their mailbox in the correct location. In my three years in this position I haven't received one telephone call regarding someone tampering with their mail.

"It is a criminal offence which carries a jail time of up to four years."