Looming increase in postage rates worrying for Windsor small business owners

If you use Canadian stamps regularly, better buy them now: The price jumps dramatically on Jan. 13.

That's been the message to customers from Windsor, Ont., convenience store owner Donald Chang, as the cost of stamps and other Canada Post mail products is increasing by 25 per cent next week.

"You know, everyone's struggling right now. Postage is probably the last thing they're going to think about. But when it's that much of an increase... " said Chang, who runs P-Jay's Video Variety on Walker Road.

"People are surprised and a little angry. They look at it as a big money grab."

Canada Post says the move better aligns the cost of postage with the cost of the service — but a small business owner says she worries about how the move will impact her rural clients.

The coming change will boost the cost of a single stamp for a domestic letter from $1.15 to $1.44.

Booklets and coils of stamps will also be more expensive. The cost of a roll of 100 stamps, for example, will go from $99 to $124.

Mailing U.S., international, and registered items will all cost about 25 per cent more, too, and the change also impacts commercial letter mail rates. 

The price of stamps was last increased in May, when stamps in booklets went up seven cents, to 99 cents. 

Chang said his store, open since 1991, is among the last independent businesses in Windsor with a Canada Post retail counter.

"This is the largest (increase) I've seen for letter rates," Chang told CBC Windsor.

"I just hope people don't take it out on clerks and mail carriers and things like that. Because it's not their decision, right? It's a corporate decision."

Canada Post actually announced the increase back in September but timed the increase to come after the holiday mailing season, the organization said in a statement. 

According to Canada Post, although the country's overall letter mail volume has decreased by 60 per cent over the past 20 years, the number of addresses being served has grown by more than three million — to a current total of 17.4 million addresses.