Canada Post letter postage rate increase

Summary#

These final rules, the Regulations Amending the Letter Mail Regulations (SOR/2020-5), raise postage rates set by Canada Post. The changes took effect on January 13, 2020 and mostly mean small increases to the price of stamps and other letter-mail rates.

What it does#

• Changes the price of a single domestic stamp for a letter up to 30 g to $1.07 (from $1.05).
• Changes the price of a domestic stamp bought in a booklet, coil or pane to $0.92 (from $0.90).
• Raises other domestic letter rates (examples):
  • Over 30 g up to 50 g: $1.30 (from $1.27).
  • Up to 100 g: $1.94 (from $1.90).
  • Over 100 g up to 200 g: $3.19 (from $3.12).
  • Over 200 g up to 300 g: $4.44 (from $4.34).
  • Over 300 g up to 400 g: $5.09 (from $4.98).
  • Over 400 g up to 500 g: $5.47 (from $5.35).
• Raises U.S. and international letter-post rates (examples):
  • U.S. up to 30 g: $1.30 (from $1.27).
  • International up to 30 g: $2.71 (from $2.65).
• Increases the fee for domestic registered mail to $9.75 (up $0.25).
• These changes were made under the Letter Mail Regulations and became binding on January 13, 2020.

Who's affected#

• Canada Post — collects the additional revenue from these regulated rates.
• Consumers who buy stamps — the average Canadian household is estimated to pay about $0.26 more per year.
• Small businesses that send mail using stamps — estimated extra cost about $6.09 per year.
• People and businesses that send U.S. or international letters — will see modest increases on those items too.
• If it’s unclear who will notice a change: ordinary people who rarely mail letters likely won’t see any meaningful difference.

Why it matters#

• The increases are small for most senders but raise money for Canada Post (about $9 million in regulated revenue projected) to help cover operating costs.
• Canada Post says the changes help it keep providing postal service across Canada while mail volumes fall and operating costs rise.
• For many households the impact is negligible, but frequent mailers and small businesses that still use letter mail will feel the change more.
• If you use mostly online billing and parcel services, these changes may not affect you much; they mainly matter to people who still send physical letters.