Postal Guide
- Canada Postal Guide

Last updated: 2006-09-18

Section F

Service Standards

Table of Contents

• What is it?
• Communications Services - Domestic
• Non-major Urban Centres Table
• Shipping and Delivery Services - Domestic
• Regions Table
• Remote Centres Regional Table
• Local Delivery Area Table
• National Service Standards Grids
• Purolator International Service Standards
• Xpresspost-USA Service Standards
• Xpresspost-International Service Standards

What is it?  to top of page

Canada Post delivers all mail in its local postal facilities which is scheduled for delivery that day. To ensure the timeliness of mail delivery, Canada Post has developed service standards for all products and services. Service standards are the maximum number of business days Canada Post is committed to delivering the mail, although delivery can take place earlier.

These standards do not include the day of mailing, (e.g. one-day standard means delivery on the next business day). Service standards are measured from the next business day after deposit to the first delivery attempt. For all services, weekend deposits are considered as being deposited on Monday or on the first business day after a statutory holiday.

Not all service standards are guaranteed. To find out whether a particular service offers On-time Guarantee, refer to the appropriate service chapter.

Canada Post’s distribution network is constantly monitored to ensure service standards are met. Mail items which do not meet product specifications for the service requested, or are not packaged and addressed correctly may not be delivered within the service standards.

Service standards are not applicable to redirected or returned items. Service standards apply but are not guaranteed for items shipped using a Return Service label. Service standards are subject to change without notice.

Local

Where the destination city/town is the same as the originating city/town.

For Priority Courier, Xpresspost, Xpresspost Certified, Regular Parcel and Expedited Parcel, please see the Local Delivery Area Table within this chapter.

Within Province

Where the destination city/town is in the same province as the originating city/town.

Regional

Where the destination city/town is in the same region as the originating city/town. For a description of each region, please see the Regions Table and Remote Centres Regional Table.

National

From anywhere in Canada to anywhere in Canada.

Outside of Canada

From anywhere in Canada to all of U.S.A. and up to 220 international destinations.

Communications Services - Domestic  to top of page

Service standards are estimates of how long it will take for the mail to be delivered from the point of deposit to the destination point. Service standards are not guaranteed.

Communications Services General Service Standards

The following table contains general service standards for Communications services. Where applicable, specific service standards are provided below this table.

(L = local, P = provincial, N = national)

*Dimensional Addressed Admail may require an additional day for delivery.

**Some exceptions apply. For further details, see Business Reply Mail, Hardcopy Delivery, Lettermail, Incentive Lettermail and Registered Mail below.

ADDRESSED ADMAIL

Within province

National

For service standards of Addressed Admail originating from and destined to major urban centres, see the National Service Standards Grids further on in this chapter.

For Addressed Admail originating from and/or destined to a non-major urban centre, one day must be added to the delivery standard indicated in the National Service Standards Grids. To find the standard in these grids, use the major urban centre(s) closest to the point of origin and/or destination. If you are unsure of which major urban centre(s) to use, see the Non-major Urban Centres Table further on in this chapter.

Delivery Window

For Addressed Admail shipped from and to the following centres, delivery will take place within a three business day delivery window. For example, for Addressed Admail shipped from Montréal to Winnipeg, the delivery window will be from the 4th to the 6th business day, the delivery standard being from 4 to 6 business days.

CATALOGUE MAIL, DIMENSIONAL ADDRESSED ADMAIL and PUBLICATIONS MAIL

Within province

National

For service standards of Catalogue Mail, Dimensional Addressed Admail and Publications Mail originating from and destined to major urban centres, see the National Service Standards Grids further on in this chapter.

For Catalogue Mail, Dimensional Addressed Admail and Publications Mail originating from and/or destined to a non-major urban centre, one day must be added to the delivery standard indicated in the National Service Standards Grids. To find the standard in these grids, use the major urban centre(s) closest to the point of origin and/or destination. If you are unsure of which major urban centre(s) to use, see the Non-major Urban Centres Table further on in this chapter.

PUBLICATIONS MAIL (time-committed)

Within province

National

For service standards of Publications Mail (time-committed) originating from and destined to major urban centres, see the National Service Standards Grids further on in this chapter.

For Publications Mail (time-committed) originating from and/or destined to a non-major urban centre, one day must be added to the delivery standard indicated in the National Service Standards Grids. To find the standard in these grids, use the major urban centre(s) closest to the point of origin and/or destination. If you are unsure of which major urban centre(s) to use, see the Non-major Urban Centres Table further on in this chapter.

UNADDRESSED ADMAIL

Unaddressed Admail service standards are comprised of two components:

• Transportation time
• Delivery cycle

NOTE:
For AdCard items, the designated supplier’s production standards must be added to Canada Post’s service standards.

Transportation time refers to the time (in business days) it takes to move items from the originating office to the office(s) from which the material will be delivered.

Transportation Time - Local

If Unaddressed Admail items are deposited at the same office from which they will be delivered, transportation time does not apply. However, in major urban centres, a main postal facility serves several other facilities within the same geographic area. In this case, the transportation time applies to moving the items from the main facility to other Canada Post facilities within the same area.

Transportation Time - Within Province

Transportation Time - National

For service standards of Unaddressed Admail originating from and destined to major urban centres, see the National Service Standards Grids further on in this chapter.

For Unaddressed Admail originating from and/or destined to a non-major urban centre, one day must be added to the delivery standard indicated in the National Service Standards Grids. To find the standard in these grids, use the major urban centre(s) closest to the point of origin and/or destination. If you are unsure of which major urban centre(s) to use, see the Non-major Urban Centres Table further on in this chapter.

Delivery cycle reflects the number of business days normally required to complete delivery of properly prepared Unaddressed Admail items. The delivery cycle must be added to the transportation time.

Delivery Cycle - Letter Carrier Routes: Items must be deposited or arrive at the office of delivery by 11:00 a.m. the day before the delivery cycle is required to begin.

An item enclosed in a wrapper/envelope is considered as an envelope, except in the case of a co-op mailing.

For items deposited at Letter Carrier offices, the delivery cycle is:

Delivery Cycle - Non-Letter Carrier Routes: The delivery cycle at Non-Letter Carrier offices for Unaddressed Admail items weighing up to 500 g is normally complete the business day following receipt of Unaddressed Admail items at the office of delivery, or on the date specified on the Unaddressed Admail Delivery Slip, whichever is later.

The delivery cycle at Non-Letter Carrier offices for Unaddressed Admail items weighing more than 500 g and up to 1 kg is normally complete between 5 and 7 business days following receipt of Unaddressed Admail items at the office of delivery.

Service Standards for AdCard Items: The service standards for AdCard items are determined by combining the Unaddressed Admail service standards and the designated supplier’s production standards. The designated supplier’s production standards are the number of business days from final client approval of the AdCard artwork and mailing plan to deposit of the items at the Ottawa Mail Processing Plant.

For mailings of up to 2.5 million items, the designated supplier’s production standards will vary from 5 to 15 business days. To obtain the production standards for mailings over 2.5 million items or for items including a creative option, contact a Canada Post Representative.

BUSINESS REPLY MAlL, HARDCOPY DELIVERY (ELECTRONIC LETTERMAIL), LETTERMAIL, INCENTIVE LETTERMAIL and REGISTERED MAIL

For Business Reply Mail, the service standard for the following links is 4 days. For Hardcopy Delivery (Electronic Lettermail), Lettermail, Incentive Lettermail and Registered Mail, the service standard for the following links is 3 days.

• Between St John’s NF, Halifax NS, Charlottetown PE, Moncton NB and Saint John NB
• Between Halifax NS and Fredericton NB
• Between Campbellton NB (E3N), Campbellton DCF NB (E0K), Dalhousie NB (E8C), Kedgwick NB (E8B), Saint-Quentin NB (E8A), Matane QC (G4W), Mont-Joli QC (G5H), Mont-Joli DCF QC (G0J), Rimouski QC (G5L-G5N), Rimouski DCF QC (G0C, G0K) and Gaspé QC (G4X)
• Between Ottawa ON, Ontario province and Québec province
• Between Montréal QC, Ottawa ON and Toronto ON
• Between Saint-Régis QC (H0M) and Cornwall ON (K6H-K6K)
• Between Ingolf ON (P0Y) and Winnipeg MB
• Between Winnipeg MB, Thunder Bay ON (P7A-P7K), Dryden ON (P8N), Fort Frances ON (P9A) and Kenora ON (P9N)
• Between Winnipeg MB, Regina SK and Saskatoon SK
• Between Lloydminster SK (S9V, T9V) and all Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces

The Ottawa local service standard applies to the following Forward Sortation Areas in the Québec province: J0X, J8L, J8M, J8N, J8P to J9A, J9B, J9H, J9J.

Non-major Urban Centres Table  to top of page

Shipping and Delivery Services - Domestic  to top of page

The service standard is calculated from the day of posting (day 0) plus the number of business days required for delivery. For all services, weekend deposits are considered as being deposited on Monday or on the first business day after a statutory holiday.

Items deposited after the last collection time specified on the street letter box or after the post office cut-off time, as applicable, are considered as being deposited on the next business day.

Domestic Shipping and Delivery General Service Standards

The following table contains general service standards for domestic Shipping and Delivery services. To calculate specific service standards between origin and destination points, refer to the National Service Standards Grids further on in this chapter.

Click to view table

Regions Table  to top of page

Remote Centres Regional Table  to top of page

The first three characters of the postal code represent the FSA - Forward sortation area. The last three characters of the postal code represent the LDU - Local delivery unit.

*Only for Expedited Parcels, Regular Parcels, Publications Mail and Admail.

Local Delivery Area Table  to top of page

*The forward sortation area is represented by the first three characters of the postal code.

**Some exceptions apply. Please see the Remote Centres Regional Table and the Domestic Shipping and Delivery General Service Standards table.

National Service Standards Grids  to top of page

The National Service Standards Grids which follow help determine the maximum number of business days within which Canada Post is committed to delivering mail items to and from twenty-five major urban centres. Some exceptions apply.

The grids are easy to use. For example, to send an Xpresspost item from Ottawa ON to Victoria BC, first find the number corresponding to each city in the Major Centre Legend below.

The number corresponding to Ottawa is 13, and the number corresponding to Victoria is 21.

Refer to Service Standard Grid 13. In the destination column 21, find the service standard for an Xpresspost item from Ottawa to Victoria: 2.

NOTE:
“A” indicates next business day delivery by noon.

Some services have been grouped. To find their service standards, refer to the National Service Standards Grids as well as to the following lists:

Group A

Group B

National Service Standards Grids

Click to view table

Purolator International Service Standards  to top of page

Service standards are guaranteed* only to the cities listed below in bold. Service standards to each country are estimates of how long it will take for mail to be delivered; they are not guaranteed.

Service standards are for documents and non-documents from major cities in Canada. For items that are not posted in a major centre in Canada, use the chart Purolator International - Additional Transit Time from Originating FSA to Hand-Over Site.

Customs reserves the right to inspect any item, which may result in delay. For more information, call Canada Post’s Customer Relationship Support group at 1 888 550-6333.

*Certain conditions apply. Go to General Terms and Conditions.

Click to view table

Additional Transit Time from Originating FSA to Hand-Over Site

*(2+) indicates that the standard can be more than 2 days.

**Day 0 applies to U.S.A only.

NOTE:
Some exceptions apply. Please see the Remote Centres Regional Table and the Domestic Shipping and Delivery General Service Standards table.

Purolator International - List of Guaranteed U.S.A. Destinations

Guaranteed delivery by noon the next business day to over 19,000 U.S. destinations from major cities in Canada. The guarantee only applies to the zip codes listed.

To determine the delivery day, follow these instructions:

1. Determine the state of destination.
2. Find the abbreviation for the state from the list below.
3. Determine the zip code of destination.
4. If the destination zip code is found in the List of Guaranteed U.S.A. Destinations below, it is a “By-Noon” Guaranteed Delivery Area.
5. To determine the number of days to add to these standards depending on the point of origin, consult the Purolator International - Additional Transit Time from Originating FSA to Hand-Over Site chart above.

State Abbreviations

List of Guaranteed U.S.A. Destinations

Click to view table

Xpresspost-USA Service Standards  to top of page

The service standard is calculated from the day of posting (day 0), plus the number of business days required for delivery.

1. For items posted in a major centre in Canada for delivery in a major centre in the U.S.A., use the chart Xpresspost-USA - Service Standards Between Major Urban Centres.
2. For items posted in a major centre in Canada for delivery to a destination not listed in the chart Xpresspost-USA - Service Standards Between Major Urban Centres, use the chart Xpresspost-USA - Service Standards Between Major Urban Centres and US States.
3. For items that are not posted in a major centre in Canada, use the chart Xpresspost-USA/Xpresspost-International - Additional Transit Time from Originating FSA to Despatching Exchange Office. This will indicate the number of days to be added to the service standard determined from steps 1 or 2.

Xpresspost-USA - Service Standards Between Major Urban Centres

Click to view table

Xpresspost-USA - Service Standards Between Major Urban Centres (continued)

Click to view table

To meet the service standards, an Xpresspost item must be properly prepared and correctly addressed. Some conditions apply.

Xpresspost-USA - Service Standards Between Major Canadian Centres and US States

Click to view table

Click to view table

To meet the service standards, an Xpresspost item must be properly prepared and correctly addressed. Some conditions apply.

Xpresspost-USA/Xpresspost-International - Additional Transit Time from Originating FSA to Despatching Exchange Office

*Some exceptions apply. Please see the Remote Centres Regional Table and the Domestic Shipping and Delivery General Service Standards table.

Xpresspost-International Service Standards  to top of page

The service standard is calculated from the day of posting (day 0), plus the number of business days required for delivery.

Service standards apply to items shipped from Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver. For items that are not posted from Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver, use the chart Xpresspost-USA / Xpresspost-International - Additional Transit Time from Originating FSA to Despatching Exchange Office above, to determine the number of days to be added to the service standards indicated below.

*This delivery standard is not guaranteed.

**This destination offers Post Office Box delivery with no On-time Guarantee.