About 56,000 households between Calgary and Edmonton will have to pick up their mail and packages sent through Canada Post at community mailboxes between later this year and early 2027.
That includes approximately 33,300 homes in Calgary, whose postal codes begin with T3B, T3C, T3H, T3L, T3A, T3G and T3K.
The update comes as the carrier transitions away from home deliveries as a cost-cutting measure in the face of steep losses some have described as a “death spiral.”
“The move to community mailboxes will increase security by putting nearly all mail and parcels delivered by Canada Post under lock and key,” Canada Post said in a statement. “It will also reduce costs, as delivering to the door costs significantly more than to a community mailbox.”
The announcement will impact 37 communities, totalling 485,000 addresses, across the country. About 136,000 addresses in 13 communities have already shifted to receiving mail in community mailboxes.
The move is part of a plan to convert four million addresses away from home deliveries in five years.
In November 2025, Canada Post reported a record loss before taxes of $541 million, which it said was the largest quarterly loss in the company’s history.
While it blamed labour uncertainty for driving its customers to competitors, Canada Post’s financial problems had been building for years — it had racked up more than $5 billion in losses since 2018 amid plummeting mail volumes.
In September, Joël Lightbound, minister of government transformation, public works and procurement, called for a series of measures to modernize the company and stabilize its finances amid an “existential crisis.”
Lightbound said converting the remaining four million addresses that currently receive door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes would generate nearly $400 million in savings each year.
He also said adjusting delivery standards so that non-urgent mail can move by ground instead of air will save the corporation more than $20 million each year.
He added the government would lift the moratorium on rural post office closures, which was first imposed in 1994 and covers nearly 4,000 locations.
In April of this year, following initial meetings with its unions, Canada Post unveiled a five-year plan for community mailbox conversions and to modernize its retail network.
The corporation said its retail revenue has dropped 30 per cent since 2021 as Canadians visit post offices less frequently and make fewer in-store purchases.
— With files from Sarah Louis
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