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Largest postal rate hike in more than 20 years coming soon

The announced increase to domestic letter mail amounts to a more than 30 per cent hike.
Largest postal rate hike in more than 20 years coming soon
The stamp pricing change is effective March 31

Recently announced Canada Post changes in delivery service in urban centres will not drastically change current delivery practises in municipal Burns Lake or rural delivery areas.

Customers who receive letter mail delivered to their roadside mailboxes will continue to do so even after door-to-door delivery in larger urban areas is discontinued.

Service to rural community mailboxes is provided by subcontractors to Canada Post. The mail is currently delivered three days per week, except after a holiday when, at the contractor’s discretion, mail may be delivered on either the following day or on the next regularly scheduled delivery day.

Along with the announced cuts to postal service in urban areas, Canada Post also announced that the price of a stamp will be rising more than 30 per cent. Stamps purchased  in a booklet or coil will rise from $0.65 to $0.85 per stamp. Stamps purchased individually will cost $1.

The stamp pricing change is effective March 31, 2014, but don’t rush out to buy books of permanent stamps now hoping to beat the price increase. Canada Post has already suspended the sale of permanent stamps.

According to Canada Post, the five year phase-out of home mail delivery will affect only one third of B.C. households. The move will allow Canada Post to phase out up to 8,000 positions, mostly through retirements.

Manitoba based philatelist Robin Wright has published several books tracking the history of Canadian  postage stamp rates. According to his work published online, this rate hike is the biggest spike in cost of domestic letter mail since Jan. 1, 1982 when the cost of a domestic first-class stamp jumped to $0.30 from $0.17.

It was, incidentally, also the date that Canada Post became a crown corporation.

From 1982 until now, postal rates have steadily creeped upwards at about one or two cents per year.

The announced increase to domestic letter mail amounts to a more than 30 per cent hike. The 1982 rate hike, if it’s any consolation, was almost a 100 percent hike.

An April 2013 Conference Board of Canada study projected a financial loss of close to $1 billion by 2020 unless Canada Post made fundamental changes to its business, which has been heavily impacted by the rise of digital communication.