VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA — Canada Post began consultations with 13 British Columbia communities, including Vancouver, to convert about 136,000 addresses from door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes. The initiative is the first step in a plan to end home delivery for about 4 million addresses over the next five years.

Canada Post, a government-owned corporation that delivers mail across the country, currently serves 17.6 million addresses. Seventy-five percent of those addresses already have some form of centralized delivery. Community mailboxes are standalone units with designated space for each of the multiple residences they serve.

"It's a process that can take six to nine months from beginning to end. Nothing will happen right away," Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton said. He said the corporation will work with city planners and neighborhoods to determine the best locations for community mailboxes.

Eliminating home delivery would save Canada Post about CDN $400 million (US$291.96 million) a year. The corporation reported that its losses in the first nine months of 2025 topped CDN $1 billion (US$73 million).

Canada Post employs around 60,000 people and will not lay off workers due to the delivery changes. The changes will reduce the number of letter carriers, and those employees will be reassigned to other work, Hamilton said.

Liane Beadon, a resident affected by the transition, said the shift would not disrupt her routine. "It won't actually bother me at all. I think it's a smart move in order to preserve having mail delivery and keeping costs low for Canadians," she said.

Members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers will begin voting on Monday on whether to ratify new contract agreements with Canada Post. Union members have been without a new contract since November 2023. During contract negotiations, the union staged two nationwide strikes and a series of other disruptions.