Canada Post Service Standards

Canada Post switched to 2-day local delivery over 25 years ago.  That change was made as part of a massive restructuring of Canada Post's operations to deal with losses that equaled nearly 1/3 of revenue.

The Canada Post's service standards for lettermail,  the equivalent of First Class Mail in the United States, are relatively simple and are explicitly included in Canada Post Corporation's charter.  They are:

• Within a community within two business days;
• Within a province within three business days; and
• Between provinces within four business days.

These service standards are a day longer than what the United States Postal Service provides now for First Class Mail and probably close to what they will be once the Postal Service restructures its network.  

Canada Post's also has service standards for Publications, addressed admail and unaddressed admail.  These service standards differ from the Postal Service as they indicate that mail will be delivered on a specific day after it is tendered to Canada Post and not a range of days.   Therefore, advertising mailers have as much certainty about their delivery date as mailers of transactions, bills, payments and correspondence.

To put these service standards in context, here are service standards between Toronto and a number of Canada Post's largest cities for both lettermail and admail.  The chart shows that Canada Post follows it mandate generally for lettermail, although it does provide service between Montreal and Toronto a day faster than its service standard requires.   There are some other inter-provincial service that is three days as well including service from Ottawa, Ontario to points in Quebec.  The chart also shows that Canada Post has more precise service commitments for advertising mail than the United States Postal Service offers.

         

Service Information for a broader range of Canadian cities as well as service standards for Canada Post's parcel, expedited, and express products can be found in the Delivery Standards page of its website.