Postal Services
Canada Post is the organization that runs the mail service in Canada. Mail is delivered directly to your home, post office box, or community mailbox. Delivery is from Monday to Friday, and there is no delivery on weekends or statutory holidays.
Receiving Mail
Once you have a new permanent address or if you are moving to a new home, it is a good idea to use the ‘redirection of mail’ service. This is to make sure that no important mail gets lost after you move. Based on which arrangement you pick, the post office will forward any mail sent to you at your old address to your new location for 6 months or a year. There is a fee for this service, and it can be renewed for a longer period if necessary.
If you do not yet have a place to live, there are different ways you can get your mail sent to you:
- ‘care of’ (c/o) a relative or friend (remember to ask their permission first)
- general delivery service at the post office nearest you, or
- at a post office box (PO Box) that you pay to rent at a post office or a store that sells this type of service.
Sending Mail
Canada Post issues a ‘permanent’ stamp with the letter ‘P’ in place of a value. With this stamp, a standard size letter (30g or less) can be sent anywhere in Canada.
The postage is higher if you want to send larger and heavier letters or packages. The cost will change depending on where you want to send it and how fast you want it to get there.
If you want to send a letter or parcel faster you can use some of Canada Post’s special services, or send it via a different courier service, such as UPS, Purolator or FedEx. Faster shipping costs more.
Postage stamps can be bought at any Canada Post office, some retail locations or online.
How to Address a Letter
Do not send money by regular mail. It is not safe and there is no guarantee it would reach the destination. Some people use Western Union service to send money. Note that the fees are quite high and depend on the amount of money being sent. Ask at your bank if there are other options available.
When mailing a letter from or within Canada, or if somebody is sending a letter to you, it should be addressed as illustrated above — the return address in the top left corner of the envelope, the postage stamp in the top right corner, and the destination address in the centre of the envelope.
Postal codes in Canada contain six characters and are in this format: letter-digit-letter digit-letter-digit (e.g. C1A 8C4). You can look up yours and other postal codes online.
Once you have a new permanent address or if you are moving to a new home, it is a good idea to use the ‘redirection of mail’ service. This is to make sure that no important mail gets lost after you move. Based on which arrangement you pick, the post office will forward any mail sent to you at your old address to your new location for 6 months or a year. There is a fee for this service, and it can be renewed for a longer period if necessary.