If you’re immigrating to Canada, you may have a lot of people back home who will want to hear about this new chapter in your life. Or, you might have to send items between Canada and your home country. At Remitly, we want to help you adjust and integrate in new countries. Understanding how to use the Canadian postal service will be a useful everyday skill as you get settled in Canada.
How to use Canada Post
Canada’s official postal service is called Canada Post. It’s been operating in its present form since 1981 when the Canada Post Corporation Act set the service up as a Crown Corporation—a government-owned and operated entity. Whether you live in a densely populated urban area in Canada or a rural location, Canada Post is one of your best resources for staying in contact with friends and family.
Key services offered by Canada Post
Canada Post provides three different mailing categories:
- Personal
Individuals can turn to Canada Post to send letters and parcels nationally or internationally. Tracking services allow you to follow any items you’re sending or receiving.
Canada Post offers services to receive mail at a post office location instead of where you live. They can also forward your mail if your address changes.
Finally, some money services are offered by Canada Post. You can complete money transfers, money orders, and purchase foreign cash at a post office.
- Small business
Everything that Canada Post does for individuals, it can also do for your small businesses. For example, there’s a service that helps entrepreneurs start selling online.
Canada Post can also help you with your marketing needs. Small businesses can run a direct mail campaign through the post. - Commercial
If you’re a bigger business, Canada Post can help you with tools to identify your target customers and market directly to them. They also offer return solutions so you can easily maintain a positive relationship with your buyers. This includes box-free, label-free return services.
Canada Post will work with you to integrate their services in your ecommerce business. You can also use the post for identity services, like securely sharing confidential files or verifying customer identity.
Creating an account with Canada Post
When you think about postal services, you might picture so-called “snail mail” or other old-fashioned communication. In fact, the Canada Post is very modern and most of their services can be accessed online if you create an account on their website.
You can create a personal or business account. Personal accounts allow you to access convenient online features. Business accounts are targeted towards operational optimization and corporate shipping.
Here’s how you create an account on Canada Post:
- Navigate to the profile creation page.
- Choose the type of account you’d like to create—a personal account or a business account.
- Fill out the requested information. You’ll have to provide a name, address, and contact information for a personal account. If you’re creating a business account, you’ll need a Canada Post customer number.
- Choose your username and password. Be sure to take a note of this information in a safe and secure place.
Access convenient tools and features
Once your Canada Post account is up and running, you’ll have access to the following services:
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- Manage your profile personally
Update your information and preferences online without needing to go to a post office. - Track packages
You’ll be able to monitor the status of deliveries in real-time. You’ll also have access to your tracking history. - Access exclusive services
Some free and exclusive services and features are only available to personal account holders. These include automatic tracking, FlexDelivery, delivery notifications, and Photo Confirmation of delivery.
- Manage your profile personally
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- Review your order history
In your account you’ll also be able to see different transactions you’ve made with Canada Post. These might include Mail Forwarding requests, Hold Mail requests, and any orders made in the online shop. - Manage promotional subscriptions
You’ll have control over the promotional communications you receive through Canada Post.
- Review your order history
More information about what you can do with a personal Canada Post account can be found on the Canada Post website.
Benefits of a Canada Post online account
The bottom line is that an online account will make your life more convenient.
If you’re going on vacation or will be away from home for a while, you can request that Canada Post hold your mail securely until you’re back, rather than having things left unattended outside your home. And if you’re moving to a new address or even a different city, you also use your Canada Post account to ensure that any mail addressed to you at the old place reaches the correct location.
Sending mail and packages through Canada Post
The Canada Post offers many different options for preparing mail and sending it. To understand all the options for your mail, we suggest finding your nearest post office and talking with a postal worker. They’ll be able to advise on the fastest and cheapest options, and mail tracking..
For a general idea on the costs of mailing to different locations, you can use the Find A Rate calculator tool from the Canada Post. If you’re sending a standard card, letter, or postcard, you can use a regular stamp:
| Destination | Cost of Stamp |
| Within Canada | $1.44 for a single stamp
$1.24 per stamp purchased in bulk |
| To the US | $1.75 |
| To international countries
(any country besides US and Canada) |
$3.65 |
If your piece of mail isn’t a standard size, consult postage stamp rates on the Canada Post website or talk with your local postal worker.
Step-by-step guide to mailing items
Ready to make someone’s day by sending them a card or gift? Here’s what you should do to get your letter or parcel on its way.
- Package your mail correctly
Letters should be well sealed and lie flat. Parcels should be sealed with packing tape. - Address it
The name and address of the recipient should be clearly written or printed on your letter or parcel. Senders usually include their own name and return address somewhere discreet, too, so if for any reason it can’t be delivered to its intended recipient, it will be sent back to you. - Fill out a customs declaration form if you’re sending a parcel internationally
You’ll have to fill out a customs form if you’re sending goods outside of Canada. If you’re sending a card, letter, or postcard, or posting within Canada, this isn’t necessary. - Pay for postage and send your mail
If you have an online profile, you can print a shipping label at home. This makes it quick and easy to drop your mail at the post office. But if you don’t have a printer you can also head into a local post office to pay your postage and send your mail. - Wait for your mail to be delivered
To get an idea of how long it might take for your mail to reach its destination, you can check the shipping delivery standards. Of course, the time it takes to deliver mail can change due to things like extreme weather, labour disruptions, or surges in volume at times like Christmas. So, consider the delivery standards as estimates rather than set in stone.
Keep in mind that there are some items that you can’t send by Canada Post. Other items are controlled, meaning you can send them but only if you follow special instructions. These restricted items include, but are not limited to tobacco, firearms, drugs, medical and biological material, perishable items, and liquids. Staff at post offices can advise on this.
If you’re sending mail to an international location, be sure to check the requirements of the country to which you’re sending. Canada Post has an online tool that helps summarize requirements for preparing mail to foreign countries.
Canada Post specifically recommends that users don’t send money through the mail, especially cash. If you have to send money, Remitly has you covered for speed and security.
Filling out postal codes correctly
In Canada, postal codes are six-character alpha-numeric strings that make up a critical part of an address. There are nearly 900,000 different postal codes in Canada, so making sure you use the right postal code ensures your mail gets delivered successfully and efficiently. If you need to find a postal code, use the tool on Canada Post’s website.
Business mailing solutions
Canada Post supports business with a number of services and offering to make life easier, including scaled pricing, and ecommerce and marketing solutions.
- Snap Ship
This is an online shipping service provided by Canada Post. Using Snap Ship, you can compare different services, prepare multiple shipping labels at once, and schedule and request pickups.
- Shipping discounts
For people or small businesses sending a larger volume of mail, you’ll likely be eligible for discounts. - Snap Admail
This marketing tool helps you to launch integrated mail and digital campaigns. You can work with almost any budget to set these marketing strategies up yourself or contract with a professional to help you out.
Comparing postal and courier services
Although Canada Post is the national mail service, it has a lot of competition from private courier services. In general, Canada Post prioritizes accessibility and low-cost options. Private courier services, meanwhile, compete with Canada Post by offering faster or more personalized services.
Companies like UPS and FedEX are known worldwide and they’re reliable options for international deliveries. However, their services will likely cost you much more than Canada Post.
Another aspect to consider is the reach of Canada Post versus private couriers. Canada Post is dedicated to reaching every address in Canada, even in the most remote and difficult-to-reach regions. Couriers might have more limited coverage and may not deliver to every address in the nation. In a country as vast and, in places, sparsely populated as Canada, that matters.
Even when couriers commit to delivering to the most remote places, they might well charge extra for the service. So if you’re sending a package that needs to be delivered very quickly, tracked closely, or cared for because of a unique size or fragility, you should consider paying the higher cost to use a courier service. But if you’re trying to deliver to rural areas, on a budget, or the standard postal service meets your needs, we’d go for Canada Post.
International shipping and postal services
If you’re a newcomer to Canada, chances are you might need to exchange mail with friends and family back home, or anywhere else in the world. It takes a worldwide effort to get a letter from a postbox in Canada to the right house on the other side of the planet in, say, the Philippines.
The Universal Postal Union manages the collaboration of different post services from around the world. Once your mail arrives in a different country, a local postal service will take over the final steps of getting your mail to its recipient.
When postal services were first introduced, they supported the main method of long distance communication: writing letters. Because people commonly wrote letters back and forth, the sending country would keep all of the money paid for postage on the understanding that the receiving country would likely benefit when the recipient replied. In theory, it all evened out.
These days, postal services are used more for shipping than for letter writing. People don’t write letters to each other in the same way any more, so profit margins became unbalanced. The Universal Postal Union set up a system to counteract this.
Since 1969, countries with a mail imbalance have paid a fee per kilogram of excess mail. The Universal Postal Union has continued to monitor and tweak these fees ever since.
The post is still a great way to keep in touch and exchange presents with family and friends back home, so get mailing!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I send money in the mail?
Canada Post strongly recommends that you don’t send money in the mail. There are safer and more secure ways to send money, like Remitly.
Does China Post work in Canada?
No, China Post doesn’t function within Canada. Instead, China Post and all other international postal services collaborate with Canada Post to get your mail to you.
How does the Canadian postal system work?
The Canada Post employs over 35,000 mail carriers and uses more than 13,000 vehicles to bring your letters and parcels door-to-door. To learn more about Canada Post, check out the ABCs of Mailing.
How do I know how much it will cost to send a piece of mail through Canada Post?
The cost of sending mail depends on three things: what you’re mailing, where you’re sending it, and how you want it to get there. In general, the bigger and heavier your mail, the farther it has to travel, and the faster or more secure you want the shipment to be, the more expensive it will cost. You can estimate the cost of a shipment on the Canada Post website.
What documents are required for sending items internationally?
Usually, you only need to complete the CN22/23 Customs Declaration. Be as specific as possible when filling out this form. For example, “automobile part—wiper motor” is more precise than “automobile part.” Review the International Destination Listing to check if you have everything you need to send mail internationally.