I am confused about the amount of postage needed to send a postcard within Canada. I clarified with a postal worker that a postcard must contain $1.07 worth of stamps (or one P, of course) to be sent within out country.
Yet, twice this week, I have received postcards with only $0.92 worth of postage. I think that Canada Post let it slide or didn’t notice as neither card was cancelled.
So, I am wondering which rate is correct. If I do NOT use a P stamp, how much postage do I put on - $1.07 or $0.92?
I’d love for it to be less but was told it is more.
ETA: I discovered the answer is that it costs $1.07 to mail domestically. You can scroll down to see the full explanation and info from the Canada Post page.
That’s odd, I’ve been told that it need 0.92$. The 1.07$ rate is actually a little extra when people buy a single stamp.
I usually bundle a bunch of small value stamps to add to 92 cents and I’ve never had any issue.
But this is very confusing!!
Oh. Maybe I have been misinformed. I thought the $0.92 only applied if you were using a P stamp bought in a booklet. I was told, like I said, that your postage had to add up to $1.07 otherwise. Maybe others could weigh in because I’d love to be using less postage! It’s why I asked the question to begin with. I will gladly delete my post if I’m wrong.
Going to the proverbial horse’s mouth: Canada Post. It’s $1.07 if you go to a postal outlet to buy just one stamp. Inconvenience of the effort, I suppose … (?).
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The domestic postage needed is 92 cent (or a P stamp)
When you purchase a single stamp at the counter they charge you an extra 15 cent handling fee.
When you purchase a booklet you pay only 92 cent per stamp.
I did learn recently that they print the odd single purchase rate right on the stamps sold singly…so I was very surprised at that (and was going to check at my local office if this was true but forgot to). I can’t find these on the Canada Post website so they may be only available at the counter…(and would be interesting collector item I think…). It is very confusing way to do things though.
So does that mean a P stamp is only worth $0.92 when bundled with other stamps to send international mail? I have been assuming it is worth $1.07 and it seems like all my international mail is arriving fine.
Correct. The P stamp is worth $0.92 each.
Yes. I understand that single stamps cost more but that’s not really my question. I am asking about Canada Post charges us to send a letter domestically when we are NOT using a P. In other words, what is the actual rate irregardless of postage used?
So if I go and buy 1 single stamp at the rate of $1.07, you are saying it is only worth $0.92? That isn’t making sense to me.
I have only ever had a P printed on stamps that I bought as singles.
Yes, that’s right.
International postage is $2.71. Three P stamps = 3 x $0.92 = $2.76. So I mostly use three P stamps on my postcards. It costs only 5 cents more and you have much more range of choice.
Basically a P stamp is only available in packets, you might say it’s a stamp available in discount that way, and it enables you to send a letter or card domestically even if the domestic rate goes up. If you were sending a domestic letter with “face” values, however, you’d have to put stamps on the letter totaling $1.07 in face values.
Edit: Actually I’m not so sure about my last sentence. Canada Post itself is so ambiguous with its wording. Ugh.
It means, a domestic stamp is .92. Period. All domestic mail is .92.
Canada Post just seems a bit snarky about a customer coming in to buy only one stamp, so charges a hefty nuisance tax, bringing that single stamp up to $1.07.
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[quote=“doryfera, post:11, topic:325420, full:true”]International postage is $2.71. Three P stamps = 3 x $0.92 = $2.76. So I mostly use three P stamps on my postcards. It costs only 5 cents more and you have much more range of choice.
Basically a P stamp is only available in packets, you might say it’s a stamp available in discount that way, and it enables you to send a letter or card domestically even if the domestic rate goes up. If you were sending a domestic letter with “face” values, however, you’d have to put stamps on the letter totaling $1.07 in face values.
[/quote]
So you are agreeing that you need $1.07 worth of stamps to mail domestically?
That is super strange about international, though. I have checked my international mail twice now at 2 different POs and was told I had calculated correctly. And none of my outgoing mail has gone missing. I usually use:
1 P
1 American
1 3¢
1 25¢
1 5¢
1 1¢
But if the P is only worth 92¢, I would have been short every time. Hmm…
I am thoroughly confused.
I get that they charge more for a single stamp. That’s not really what I’m asking about.
Do you see somewhere where it clearly says if you are using lower denomination stamps that they only have to add up to $0.92 domestically? There seem to be mixed opinions on that.
I’ve posted the question on the Canada Post subreddit and hopefully someone from Canada Post will respond.
However, frustratingly I do keep hearing different things from posties I’ve spoken to. I’m honestly not sure who at Canada Post can answer that question. Unbelievable that they’ve made it so confusing for everyone — including their own staff!
Thank you. I really appreciate that. I have a friend who does PC and is a mailman and he is the one who recently assured me about the $1.07 to mail domestically. But it seem like so many disagree that I’m questioning that.
Haha, now we are all confusing each other! As I understand it the “DOMESTIC RATE” is 92 cent. Therefore if you are not using a P you will need 92 cent to send domestic (being a P stamp or any number printed).
And a P stamp used in combination for international would be worth 92 cent.
I was told the extra for a single stamp was an inconvenience fee. (as they prefer to sell more stamps not one at a time).
But no I do not see that explicitly stated on the website anywhere. I think even the postal workers do not know. I may have to try asking through their facebook or contact us form. (If the P is worth 1.07 then I have been overpaying on my international mail.) 
They likely do not look closely when you use multiple stamps like that so they may not even notice you are short.
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I have answered my own question. I was correct that the cost to mail a letter up to 30g in Canada is $1.07. You can check it out for yourself by using the “Find a Rate” page on
https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/information/app/far/business/farLetter?execution=e1s1#
When I put in two Canadian postal codes, it came back and told me the cost to mail my letter would be $1.07.
It even explains in small print that the booklets of stamps are a discount.
Therefore, a single P stamp is worth $1.07. (The mailman has no idea whether you got it from a book/coil or purchased it singularly.) So those who have been valuing it at $0.92 may be underpaying your international postage. Those who are using face value stamps to add up to $0.92 for domestic money are also underpaying.
The mystery has been solved for me.
I can assure you that you only need stamps that add up to .92 cents for domestic postage. If you are using 2 cent stamps, you need 46 of them.
P stamps are worth 92 cents. That’s what you pay to buy a book of them on a per stamp basis. The extra surcharge is for purchasing individual stamps, as noted earlier in the thread.
Jason
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If you look at the post I made directly above yours @JasonDavid (We probably posted at the same time.), you will see that the Canada Post “Find a Rate” tool disagrees. It says it costs $1.07 to mail domestically and that metres, stamps in booklets/coils, and other tools are discounts.
