Looming increase in postage rates worrying for Windsor small business owners
Dalson Chen | CBC News | Posted: January 6, 2025 9:00 AM | Last Updated: January 6
As of Jan. 13, the cost of Canadian stamps and other mail products is spiking 25 per cent
If you use Canadian stamps regularly, better buy them now: The price jumps dramatically on Jan. 13.
That's been the message to customers from Windsor, Ont., convenience store owner Donald Chang, as the cost of stamps and other Canada Post mail products is increasing by 25 per cent next week.
"You know, everyone's struggling right now. Postage is probably the last thing they're going to think about. But when it's that much of an increase... " said Chang, who runs P-Jay's Video Variety on Walker Road.
"People are surprised and a little angry. They look at it as a big money grab."
Canada Post says the move better aligns the cost of postage with the cost of the service — but a small business owner says she worries about how the move will impact her rural clients.
The coming change will boost the cost of a single stamp for a domestic letter from $1.15 to $1.44.
Booklets and coils of stamps will also be more expensive. The cost of a roll of 100 stamps, for example, will go from $99 to $124.
Mailing U.S., international, and registered items will all cost about 25 per cent more, too, and the change also impacts commercial letter mail rates.
The price of stamps was last increased in May, when stamps in booklets went up seven cents, to 99 cents.
Chang said his store, open since 1991, is among the last independent businesses in Windsor with a Canada Post retail counter.
"This is the largest (increase) I've seen for letter rates," Chang told CBC Windsor.
"I just hope people don't take it out on clerks and mail carriers and things like that. Because it's not their decision, right? It's a corporate decision."
Canada Post actually announced the increase back in September but timed the increase to come after the holiday mailing season, the organization said in a statement.
According to Canada Post, although the country's overall letter mail volume has decreased by 60 per cent over the past 20 years, the number of addresses being served has grown by more than three million — to a current total of 17.4 million addresses.
Canada Post declined a request for an interview and referred to the press release on the increase.
"Every year, there are fewer letters to deliver to more addresses, adding significant cost pressures to the corporation, on top of continued inflationary pressures," Canada Post stated in its September news release. The move is expected to bring in about $80 million in new revenue.
Kat Pasquach, owner of Culture Shock Bead Co. on Erie Street W., says the mail is a big part of her business.
Although Pasquach has a storefront, she says 75 per cent of her sales are through the mail serving customers in rural communities who want Pasquach's Indigenous beading supplies and crystals.
"The majority of the packages that we send, we use oversized letter stamps — which is going to be facing an increase," Pasquach said.
Pasquach — who has roots in the northern Ontario communities of Moosonee and Moose Cree First Nation — says people who live in cities tend to not realize how important Canada Post is in rural areas.
"Especially if you're on reserve. Our home community has no roads to it. So the letter mail is one of the only ways to get things up into the community," she said.
Asked how much the increase will affect her bottom line, Pasquach said it's too soon to tell — but she'll have to explore re-focusing her business on other revenue, such as attracting more in-store customers.
Pasquach's small business was already affected by the nationwide strike by Canada Post workers that lasted from Nov. 15 to Dec. 17. Workers were ordered back to the job until May 22 under the terms of their current collective agreement.
"These all feel like Band-Aids to a very large problem in our mail service in Canada," Pasquach said. "It would be really great to see some actual reform in the way that Canada Post operates.
"It's core to this country's operations. We need reliable, affordable service."