How Postal Services in Canada Work?

Who owns Canada Post?

Canada Post is a Crown Corporation meaning the federal government owns it. It offers home delivery operations and centralized delivery service.

How many locations does Canada Post have?

There are over 6,200 post offices across the country, a combination of corporate offices and private franchises operated by retailers such as drugstores. The Canada Post Corporation or Canada Post Group are part of a Canadian Union.

How much market share does Canada Post have?

It has the largest market share in shipping packages and traditional mail in Canada. The government mail service is responsible for shipping two out of every three parcels in Canada and is trusted by many Canadians.

 Let us look at your postage options if you want to send mail from bills to direct mail from the U.S. to Canada or within Canada, including to community mailboxes and rural post offices.

How do Canadian postal services work?

Sending a letter or package is quite simple.

Simply purchase a stamp online, at a post office, or at a store that sells stamps. The stamps required vary depending on the weight and size of the package, the address it is going to, and how quickly you want to receive it.

Letters and small packages can be sent via any Canada Post red mailbox on the street or at a post office for postal workers to deliver.

The best way to send mail in Canada

Canada Post’s Crown Corporation mail delivery system offers shipping options with different rates and services, so Canadians can choose the option that works for their needs.

Whether a client is sending to Toronto or remote locations like Nova Scotia, there will be products and services that can accommodate.

Detailed postal service information, information on stamps, and a postal guide are supplied for companies in Canada on the website.

How is mail delivered in Canada?

A few options are available for sending letters and small personal parcels from Canada: Letter Mail up to 500 grams, Non-standard and Oversize.

Letter Mail is considered the best way to send letters in Canada from the post office and is divided into two categories based on weight – Standard and Other.

Items weighing more than 500 grams are considered parcels, and therefore, parcel rates and the necessary stamp duty will apply.

Direct Mail Canada

There are many things to consider with direct mail, including your target audience, addresses, minimum quantity, and cost.

Canada Post offers Neighbourhood Mail, Postal Code Targeting, and Personalized Mail. However, to take advantage of the full range of direct mail services offered by the postal system, Canada Post Corporation advises customers to leverage the expertise of its direct mail partner, such as Postalytics.

Postalytics is your answer for creating, targeting, printing, distributing, automating, and tracking results. With our innovative system, you can access all the above features from one place – your dashboard.

Postalytics Mail Tracking Dashboard

Canada Post Tracking 

Canada Post offers a free tracking service, allowing you to check on the whereabouts of your package by email, phone, or through the website, thanks to Canada Post tracking. Tracking is offered for Priority Mail and Flat Rate Boxes and is done using the delivery notice card or reference number.

Another easy and cost-effective way to mail to Canada for a business is through Postalytics. Postalytics works with Canada Post and local printers to ship items within Canada, saving businesses time and money on a direct mail campaign. You can track your mail and analyze results from a single dashboard.

How does Canada Post track mail?

They use “intelligent mail barcodes” (or IMBs) scanned by the postal service during delivery. This allows Postalytics to match your mail to a contact address and give you real-time updates from the post office.

Using this system allows you to follow exactly where your mail is in the delivery process- either with Canada Post workers or in transit. Data is synced with your CRM system, so you can see when they delivered mail in your contact records.

Final thoughts

Business customers looking to leverage direct mail to reach more people in Canada have the opportunity to automate direct mail with Postalytics – Canada Post’s direct mail partner.

Postalytics prints the right stamp amount and ships everything natively in Canada. You can enjoy a per-piece pricing system with the best rates on the market.

About the Author

Dennis Kelly
Dennis Kelly

Dennis Kelly is CEO and co-founder of Postalytics. Dennis joined Boingnet, the predecessor to Postalytics, in 2013. Boingnet was focused on providing print and direct mail marketing service providers the ability to add digital marketing channels to their direct mail campaigns. Postalytics is Dennis’ 6th startup. He has been involved in starting and growing early-stage technology ventures for over 30 years and has held senior management roles at a diverse set of large technology firms including Computer Associates, Palm Inc. and Achieve Healthcare Information Systems.