How to Send a Letter Online in Canada (2026)
There are three ways to get a physical letter into the Canadian mail without visiting a post office: buy stamps and use a street mailbox, use an online print-and-mail service, or call an API if software is doing the sending. Which one is right depends almost entirely on whether you own a printer and how often you send.
The three options, compared
| Method | Cost per letter | You need | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stamp and mailbox | $1.44 | Printer, envelope, stamps, a mailbox on your route | One-offs, when you already have supplies |
| Online service | $3.79–$6 | A browser and the recipient's address | No printer, or you're not going out |
| Print-and-mail API | Varies by volume | A developer and an integration | Software that sends mail on a schedule |
What you need before you start
All three routes need the same three things, and missing any one of them is the usual reason a letter comes back:
- A complete recipient address, including the postal code. Canada Post sorts on the postal code first — an address without one is handled by exception, slowly.
- A return address. Without one, an undeliverable letter is simply destroyed rather than returned to you.
- The document itself, either typed or as a PDF or Word file.
What an online service actually does
The useful ones do the whole physical chain: print your document, fold it, put it in an envelope, apply postage, and hand it to Canada Post — usually within one business day. You are paying roughly $2 over the cost of a stamp for the printing, the envelope, and not having to leave.
Prices in Canada currently run from $3.79 for a standard tri-fold letter up to about $6 at the higher end. Anything advertised well below the price of a stamp is not mailing a physical letter.
How long it takes in 2026
Budget three to seven business days for domestic lettermail, and longer outside major centres. That window got wider this year: Canada Post is converting around four million door-to-door addresses to community mailboxes over five years and has reduced delivery frequency, moving average letter mail delivery from three or four days to three to seven.
No ordinary lettermail service — ours included — offers tracking. If you need to know the letter arrived, that is a different product; see whether you can mail a legal notice online.
If you already own stamps and envelopes, own a printer, and walk past a mailbox anyway, mailing it yourself is cheaper and always will be. An online service is worth paying for when any one of those three is missing — which, for most people most of the time, is the printer.
When to reach for the API instead
If the thing triggering the letter is software rather than a person — a renewal notice, a payment failure after email bounced, a statutory disclosure — then a print-and-mail API is the right shape. You send one HTTP request per letter and never think about envelopes. That is a separate guide.
Send a letter without leaving your desk
Write or upload it, add the addresses, and we print and mail it via Canada Post. From $3.79, printing and tax included.
Send a letter