A long-standing Canadian tradition is set to fade into history as door-to-door mail delivery is phased out. The federal government has announced that millions of households will soon transition to community mailboxes, marking a dramatic shift for Canada Post, a Crown corporation struggling with mounting financial losses.

Currently, about four million Canadian households still enjoy home delivery service. That privilege will end as the government directs Canada Post to replace door-to-door service with community mailboxes, including for rural, remote, and some households with disabilities.

The decision comes as Canada Post faces what officials describe as an “existential crisis.” Since 2018, the corporation has accumulated more than $5 billion in losses. In 2024 alone, it reported a $1 billion deficit, and in 2025 losses are projected to approach $1.5 billion. 

Earlier this year, Ottawa provided a $1 billion bailout to keep the postal service afloat. By the second quarter of 2025, Canada Post had posted its worst results in history, losing $407 million — or about $10 million per day.

“Canada Post is a national institution, older than our country itself, that has been serving Canadians for more than 150 years,” said Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement. “For generations, postal workers have connected communities in every corner of the country, providing an essential lifeline to hundreds of northern, Indigenous, and rural communities. Canadians continue to rely on it today, and it remains a vital public service.”

However, Lightbound emphasized that the current model is no longer sustainable. “Twenty years ago, Canada Post delivered 5.5 billion letters annually. Today, it delivers only 2 billion, even as the number of households has grown. That means fewer letters are being delivered to more addresses, while fixed costs remain high,” he said. Parcel volumes — once considered a growth area — have also fallen, with Canada Post’s share of the parcel market dropping from 62 per cent in 2019 to below 24 per cent today.

In addition to eliminating door-to-door delivery, the government has instructed Canada Post to restructure rural services and shift non-urgent deliveries from air to ground, extending delivery timelines from three or four days to up to seven days. 

Lightbound also confirmed that Ottawa will adopt all recommendations of the Industrial Inquiry Commission led by William Kaplan, released in May. These include:

• Expanding community mailboxes to four million additional addresses.
• Developing “dynamic routes” to better adjust to daily mail volumes.
• Introducing a simplified process for increasing stamp rates.
• Lifting a 1994 moratorium on closing some 4,000 post offices, though remote and Indigenous communities will retain access.
• Hiring part-time workers, with equal pay and proportional benefits, to handle weekend and high-volume weekday deliveries.

The changes are expected to generate nearly $500 million in annual savings, which Lightbound said is crucial to ensuring Canada Post’s long-term survival. “We can’t go on with Canada Post losing $10 million a day and Canadian taxpayers footing the bill,” he said.

Reaction to the announcement has been mixed. Some Members of Parliament, particularly from Quebec, raised concerns that the end of home delivery would disproportionately affect rural and disabled Canadians. Lightbound countered that saving the institution itself must remain the priority.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) strongly criticized the reforms, rejecting most of Kaplan’s recommendations. “We fundamentally disagree with the bulk of its recommendations and challenge some of the information on which it was based,” the union said, arguing that the proposals lack a concrete plan to increase parcel market share.

Canada Post, however, expressed support for the government’s plan. 

“Today’s announcement will allow us to make the changes needed to restore Canada’s postal service for all Canadians by evolving to better meet their needs,” said president and CEO Doug Ettinger in a statement. “Our goal is to ensure that a strong, affordable, Canadian-made, Canadian-run delivery provider supports the needs of today’s economy and delivers to every community across the country.”

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