Canada Post

The lettermail service allows the transmission of virtually any paper document. The 2015 to 2018 rate was 85 cents for a standard letter (30 g or less) and $1.20 for a letter between 30 g and 50 g. Proposed change for 2019 is 90 cents and $1.27 for these rates. Rates usually increase in mid-January of each year; for ordinary letters (30 g or less).[24] The rate was regulated by a price-cap formula, linked to the inflation rate.[25] The Corporation now has a "permanent" stamp that is valued at the domestic rate forever, eliminating the need to buy 1 cent stamps after a rate increase. The rates for lettermail are based on weight and size and determine whether the article falls into the aforementioned standard format or in the oversize one.

The Canada Post website documents standards for delivery within Canada:

• Lettermail[26]
• Priority™ Delivery Standards[27]

Daily cross-country airmail services were introduced in 1939. Canadian municipal delivery service standards are two days, as seen on the Lettermail Delivery Standards Grid.

Mail sent internationally is known as letter-post. It can only contain paper documents (See "Small Packet" below). From 2015 to 2018 the rate for a standard letter is $1.20 if sent to the United States and $2.50 if sent to any other destination.[28]

A Canada Post delivery truck in Ontario

A Canada Post Ford E-Series van from 2003–05

Old style Canada Post Community Mailboxes in Ontario. The same style design would be used with modifications from 1985 until 2014 when many older boxes began to be replaced.

Canada Post offers four domestic parcel services. The rates are based on distance, weight, and size. The maximum acceptable weight is 30 kg.

• Air and surface services are available.
• Maximum weight is 1 kg (USA) and 2 kg (International).
• No on time guarantee
• No ability to make a trace or investigation if it is lost or delayed

• Available for items sent to the United States only.
• Despite its name, does not provide any service guarantee.
• The maximum acceptable weight is 30 kg
• It is cheaper than the standard international rate.
• Handed off to the USPS as Priority Mail.

• Provides speedy and guaranteed delivery to addresses in the United States.
• Provides accelerated delivery to certain countries.
• Maximum weight is 30 kg (USA) and 20 to 30 kg (depending on the international destination).
• Handed off to the USPS / other postal administrations as Priority Mail Express / EMS.

• Air and surface service available
• Provides delivery to countries to which Xpresspost is not available
• No on time guarantee

• Partnered with FedEx Corporation
• Delivers overnight to the US and to more than 220 countries in 2–3 business days with detailed tracking

• Promotional mailings targeted to specific residents.
• Minimum quantity of 1,000 articles.

• Consists of printed matter and product samples that are not addressed to specific delivery addresses in Canada, but to specific neighbourhoods or cities.

On September 22, 2014, Canada Post unveiled Snap Admail™, an all-in-one online tool that is aimed to support small businesses in the creation and execution of direct-marketing campaigns.[29]

• Canada Post use 13 digit alphanumeric tracking numbers / barcodes for their pre-printed labels. Bar codes consist of two letters, followed by eight sequence digits, and a ninth digit which is the check digit. The first two letters are the type of service (RN for registered mail, PG for express post envelopes). The last two characters are the letters CA. The check digit ignores the letters and only concern itself with the first 8 numeric digits. The scheme is to multiply each of those 8 digits by a different weighting factor, (8 6 4 2 3 5 9 7). Add up the total of all of these multiplications and divide by 11. The remainder after dividing by 11 gives a number from 0 to 10. Subtracting this from 11 gives a number from 1 to 11. That result is the check digit, except in the two cases where it is 10 or 11. If 10 it is then changed to a 0, and if 11 then it is changed to a 5. The check digit may be used to verify if a barcode scan is correct, or if a manual entry of the barcode is correct. The system of barcode digit checking is referred to as Modulo 11 or Modulus 11 digit calculation.[30]
• Canada Post use 16 digit numeric tracking numbers / barcodes for parcels that originate from a Canada Post post office. The first 7 digits are the reference numbers for the specific post office that the package originated. A Modulus 10 digit calculation is used to verify that the barcode has been read correctly, also referred to as the Luhn algorithm. USPS and Canada Post both use the same system to verify the barcodes, with a difference that USPS uses a 20 digit numeric tracking number. These types of barcodes are referred to as GS1-128.[31]

Canada Post operates a store front that sells a variety of stamps, and postal supplies to the public. The personal shop is focused on nominal postage, shipping supplies, and prepaid envelopes while the collectors shop has a selection of limited edition definitive and commemorative stamps as well as coins.

On October 26, 2010, Canada Post launched a comparison shopping service for Canadians.[33] This service, Canada Post Comparison Shopper, allowed shoppers to find and compare product available to Canadians from over 500 stores[34] across the USA and Canada. Notable features included price comparison, store policy information, cross-border shipping, duties and fees estimation, price history charts, reviews and color search ability. As of October 2012 the Comparison Shopper service is no longer available.[35][36]

For a century, the agency operated the Post Office Savings Bank system, created by the April 1868 Post Office Act, phased out in 1968-69.[37] Discussion and even studies of reviving the system have periodically made news since at least the early 2010s, with support mainly coming from unions.[38][39][40]

• Definitives

Queen Elizabeth II definitive stamp (Canada) (since 2003)

• 2000

Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer

• 2005

Acadian Deportation, Polio Vaccination

Canada Post has a history of troubled labour relations with its trade unions, particularly the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and the Letter Carriers Union of Canada (which merged with CUPW in 1989), culminating in periodic strike action that has halted mail service in Canada on different occasions. There have been at least 19 strikes, lockouts, and walkouts between 1965 and 1997,[42] including several wildcat strikes. A number of these strikes since the 1970s have seen the corporation employ strikebreakers, resulting in back-to-work legislation being passed by the Canadian parliament.

In 2007, Canada Post was able to sign a 4-year agreement with CUPW without any labour disruptions. For 2007, 2008, and 2009 the corporation was named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers, as published in Maclean's magazine.[43][44] In 2008, however, it endured a long strike by its administrative worker union — Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) - which compromised customer service.

Nearly all Canada Post employees who are not in the CUPW belong to one of three smaller trade unions. The Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association covers 12,000 rural workers, the Association of Postal Officials of Canada has 3,400 supervisors and the Union of Postal Communications Employees represents 2,600 technical workers.[45][46][47]

On June 2, 2011, a labour action involving rotating strikes (the first strike to affect Canada Post in 14 years) commenced with CUPW members striking in Winnipeg, Manitoba and in Hamilton, Ontario on June 3.[48] On June 14, 2011, Canada Post management locked out CUPW members, marking the 20th work stoppage in the 46-year relationship between CUPW and Canada Post. Back to work legislation was passed in the Canadian Legislature which also mandated arbitration by a government-appointed arbitrator.[49] This back to work legislation was challenged in court by CUPW for violating their constitutional right to strike. CUPW won this case in 2016[50] and the back to work legislation was ruled in violation of the constitution by the Superior Court of Ontario. However, following the legislation, a new collective agreement was signed in 2012 which included major concessions by the employees, such as a $4 per hour reduction in starting wages and the complete elimination of bankable sick days[51] Since this agreement was signed and agreed to by the membership of CUPW, the court ruling on the back to work legislation was of no effect.

In 2016, Canada Post and CUPW negotiated a two-year agreement without a labour disruption. This agreement expired January 31, 2018.[52]

Starting October 22, 2018, Canada Post workers have organized rotating strikes nationwide, the major friction points being major processing centers, including Toronto and Richmond.[53] In mid-November, annual Black Friday and Cyber Monday online purchases, and even Christmas holiday deliveries, appeared at risk.[54] With a 30-day backlog of mail stored in 600 trailers at distribution centers, CP appealed to the 190 Universal Postal Union (UPU) countries to hold Canada-bound mail.[55]

Safety of rural mobile delivery personnel on busy roads has been an ongoing concern. Canada Post launched the Rural Mail Safety Review as rural and suburban mail carriers across the country, supported by their union, raised complaints about workplace safety.[7] As of March 2008, there have been more than 1,400 such complaints. In some cases, the union staged protests in delivering mail, even after Canada Post tests showed there was no undue traffic safety risk at a particular mail box. Such cases were referred to Labour Canada, who in several instances asked Canada Post to cease delivery to mailboxes. In December 2006, the Canadian government ordered that Canada Post maintain rural delivery wherever possible. On January 1, 2004 rural route contractors became employees of Canada Post and joined the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.

New Ford Transit Connect van in downtown Toronto

Moya Greene, former Canada Post CEO, was quoted as saying that years of under-investment to improve the company had hurt its efficiency and its financial performance. In September 2007, she estimated that modernizing the corporation would cost $2.7 billion over five to seven years for new buildings, equipment, technology and training.[56]

The initiative, called Postal Transformation, has been rolled out across the country from 2010 to 2017. The transformation saw a fundamental change in the work duties of letter carriers. Previously, the delivery of parcels, clearance and transfers to retail postal outlets and collection of mail from street letter boxes was carried out by the separate position of a mail service courier, while letter carriers delivered the mail through walking routes, utilizing public transit and taxis to travel to their work locations. Today, many letter carrier routes are motorized and they are responsible for delivering parcels, mail, clearing and transfers at retail postal outlets, and collection of mail from street letter boxes.[57] The additional duties have led to increased overtime, work stress, and injuries to employees who are facing greater fatigue and delivering mail in the dark;[58] with many complaining that regular routes can no longer be completed in 8 hours, resulting in forced overtime and undelivered mail.[59]

In 2014, Canada Post began to phase out door-to-door service in urban centres, in favour of community mailboxes—a process that was estimated to affect 32% of Canadian addresses (subdivisions built after 1985 already use community mailboxes, and customers using rural mailboxes would not be affected). This change was instituted by Stephen Harper's Conservative government,[60] and was meant to be a cost-cutting measure in the face of financial losses, due primarily to the decreased use of traditional mail in favour of electronic alternatives.[61][62]

The plan proved controversial, and the CUPW criticized the move, which was expected to result in the loss of at least 8,000 jobs, by arguing that Canada Post should have attempted to expand its services to include new offerings, such as postal banking, rather than cutting jobs and reducing services.[62] In 2015, the CUPW filed a federal lawsuit demanding that the roll-out be suspended—an action endorsed by Mayor of Montreal Denis Coderre.[63] Concerns were also raised about the effect of the change on seniors and people with disabilities.[60] During the 2015 Canadian federal election campaign, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau promised to halt the cutbacks at Canada Post and the shift to community mailboxes.[64][62]

On October 26, 2015, following Trudeau's victory in the election, Canada Post announced that it would place the discontinuation of door-to-door delivery "on hold in an orderly fashion" and that it would collaborate with the government on evaluating the future of the mail system in Canada.[63] On January 24, 2018, the Liberal government announced that it had officially halted the future deployment of community mailboxes, and will focus on finding other methods of expanding Canada Post's services in the future. Canada Post will not reintroduce door-to-door delivery in areas where it was discontinued prior to April 15, 2016, but stated that an advisory panel would assist in addressing related accessibility issues.[60]

For 16 years until 2011, Canada Post realized an annual profit, and it has since had several profitable years.[65] In 2011, Canada Post posted a pretax loss of $253 million, due in part to a 25-day employee lockout, and a $150 million pay equity class action lawsuit.[65] In 2012, Canada Post rebounded to post a profit of $98 million before tax.[66] In 2013, Canada Post lost $37 million overall.[67] The Canada Post group's gross profit in 2014 was $269 million.[68] In 2015, the corporation continued to remain profitable, posting a $136 million profit before tax.[69] In 2016, Canada Post recorded its 3rd consecutive profitable year, making $114 million before tax ($81 million after taxes). In total, Canada Post has made a net profit of $266 million since 2012.[4] In 2017, the Corporation posted $144 million after tax profit.[70]

In 2018: "Canada Post is reporting a loss before tax of $270 million for 2018. Three main non-recurring items factor into the result: the $280 million cost of resolving pay equity and the estimated $135 million net impact of the labour disruption in the fall, partially offset by a $48 million gain after an actuarial update to workers compensation liabilities. Had it not been for these non-recurring factors, Canada Post would have recorded a profit in 2018."[71]

asterisk indicates year with labour disruption and pay equity lawsuit

• Smith, Ken (2006). Main Street Memories. Lockport, NS: Community Books.