Canada Post to phase out urban mail delivery

Home mail delivery in Toronto looks like it's about to go the way of the milkman. Canada Post says it will be phasing out many of its urban mail routes in the next five years amid falling revenue and increasing losses.

Instead of door-to-door delivery, cities will be switched to a system of community mailboxes where letters and parcels will be available for pick-up, much like in rural areas and subdivisions.

It's not yet clear how the plan will affect Toronto specifically, though 6,000 to 8,000 jobs will likely be lost nationwide as the cost saving measures are rolled out.

The mail carrier also plans to bump the price of a first class stamp to 85 cents, up from 63 cents today. Buying an individual first class stamp will cost $1 as of March.

According to the CBC, Canada Post lost $73 million in the third quarter of 2013 compared to last year.

Canada Post says a little over 5 million Canadians currently receive door-to-door delivery at an average cost to the Crown corporation of $269 per address. 3.8 million people currently use community mailboxes, which cost $117 per location.

"Door-to-door delivery is, by far, the most expensive delivery method, with an annual cost more than twice as high as for the community mailboxes," a report by the Conference Board of Canada said in April.

Communal mailboxes in the lobbies of apartment and condo buildings will be unaffected by the change.

Chris Bateman is a staff writer at blogTO. Follow him on Twitter at @chrisbateman.

Image: Nuno Salgado/blogTO Flickr pool.