The cost to mail letters and parcels in Canada is rising 25 percent today as the Crown corporation looks to offset the costs of its struggling nationwide delivery service.
The price of a single Canadian stamp for a domestic letter rises from $1.15 to $1.44. Strips of five or 10 stamps will not receive a discount, but booklets, coils or panes will. A booklet of 10 stamps will cost $12.40, for a price of $1.24 per stamp. The cost of a roll of 100 stamps is increasing from $99 to $124.
“Today’s rate change represents a one-time increase of roughly 25 percent, which is required to better align stamp prices with the rising cost of providing letter mail service to all Canadians,” the agency said in the release. “Every year, there are fewer letters to deliver to more addresses, which adds significant cost pressures to the Corporation on top of continued inflationary pressures.”
The cost of mailing U.S., international, and registered items will increase by approximately 25 percent, an adjustment that will also affect commercial letter mail rates.
The last price increase was in May 2024, when stamps in booklets rose seven cents, to 99 cents.
The average Canadian household is unlikely to experience significant effects from the increase, projecting an annual impact of approximately $2.26, a Jan. 13 Canada Post press release said. The anticipated yearly impact of the rate hike for an average small business in Canada is $42.17 per year, the postal agency said, which based the estimates on the average annual spending of businesses and households.
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Canada Post first proposed the hike in September 2024, saying it would result in an estimated additional gross revenue of $80 million in 2025.
The government-owned entity has been struggling financially for several years. It lost $490 million in the first half of 2024 and a total of $3 billion since 2018.
Some experts say last year’s strike during the holiday season may have left the cash-strapped corporation in even worse shape as customers permanently look for other delivery options.
During the strike, which started last November, Canada Post said it wanted to implement a “more flexible delivery model” that would allow affordable seven-day-a-week parcel delivery.
“Canada Post is rapidly falling behind in today’s highly competitive, customer-focused parcel delivery market,” the agency said in a November 2024 press release.
“To secure the future of the business, the Corporation needs a more flexible and affordable delivery model that allows it to deliver seven days a week and quickly respond to the needs of customers. Without these changes, the significant challenges facing Canada Post will intensify.”
Canada Post announced last week it has reinstated on-time service guarantees and returned to full service levels for domestic parcels but added that Canadians could expect delivery delays of several days beyond its service standard for letters, bills and statements.
