CANADA POST SEEKING TO INCREASE DOMESTIC STAMPS TO 99 CENTS

Canada Post has proposed new postage rates for 2024, which would see the price of a domestic stamp in a booklet, coil or pane rising from 92 cents to 99 cents. These new rates would take effect on 6 May. Prior to these proposed changes, domestic letter mail rates, which account for most stamp sales, have increased twice over the last decade (five cents in 2019 and two cents in 2020), with the last major price change made on 31 March 2014.

The proposed rate changes would also affect other products, including US, international letter-post and domestic Registered Mail items. The price of a single stamp for a domestic letter (30g or less) would increase from $1.07 to $1.15, but as mentioned above, when purchased in a booklet, coil or pane, the price would increase from 92 cents to 99 cents per stamp. Permanent stamps will always be accepted at the current domestic postage price.

Based on the average annual spending of households and businesses, it is estimated that the impact of the rate increase for the average Canadian household is 65 cents per year, while for the average Canadian small business, the estimated impact is $12.07 per year.

Canada Post, which is funded by revenue from the sale of its products and services, has cited the financial impact of inflation and the fact that each year there are fewer letters to deliver to more addresses as the main reasons for the proposed price rise.

Canada Post’s latest release on 29 January saw a stamp honouring Mary Ann Shadd, which was the 2024 issue in Canada Post’s Black History Month stamp series. Shadd was an abolitionist, educator, writer and lawyer. She was also the first Black woman in North America to publish and edit a newspaper.