Canada Post eliminating denomination stamps?

[bunnycubed]

My local Post Office in Northwestern Ontario says Canada Post is no longer printing demonination stamps.

Any truth to this and how does one go forward?  I use these to make $3.19 and $4.44 postage which happens fairly regular..They suggest lining up there and buying labels...seems inefficient...

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

It sounded like they ship sporatically. Maybe not 9 kg at a time tho. Let them know they could get the SSB card easy peasy. I always pass that tidbit on when I see the shocked look on a customer when they get  the news about how expensive shipping can be.

-Lotz

[avidhiker-33]

Sheets of most of the .01 to .25 definitives can still be purchased via the online Canada Post "boutique". 

Currently there are about 70 stamps that can be ordered online in either sheets or booklets.  If I recall correctly, there's no charge for delivery via expedited parcel on orders totaling $25+.

https://store.canadapost-postescanada.ca/store-boutique/en/5/c/postage-stamps 

I prefer using commemorative stamps on my snailmail and for 50-100g oversize lettermail it's straightforward ... two permanent stamps + 10 cents in definitives make up the $1.94 postage.

Unfortunately Canada Post eliminated their $1 and $2 stamps so for packages > 100g I've been going to our neighbourhood RPO since I ran out of those denominations.

[reallynicestamps]

I used a couple of $10 Whale stamps on a largish parcel yesterday. The counter clerk was very careful about where he put the postmark.

The $8 Grizzly and $10 Whale are worth their face value to a collector as used stamps.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

@femmefan1946 @lotzofuniquegoodies 

I recently shipped a 2kg surface parcel to my grandma. The SfSB discount was 6 pennies. 

Imagine telling these poor folks about the SfSB, them spending another xx minutes figuring out how to register for a SfSB account, just to find out they save a whooping 6 cents from all the hard work... Well I'm sure the saving would be more significant if they are using xpresspost or sth... 

[femmefan1946]

@avidhiker-33 

The current commemorative stamps include a $1.30 and a $2.71  rate for Christmas. Both are available in souvenir sheets (with the domestic, USA, and international rates) and in booklets of six.

Because these are going to be used internationally, they may not attract sales tax and/or fuel fee. @dinomitesales  may know.

[dinomitesales]

---

@femmefan1946 wrote:

Because these are going to be used internationally, they may not attract sales tax and/or fuel fee. @dinomitesales  may know.

---

If you buy stamps like this at the counter and use them immediately to place on a parcel or letter for international shipping (and the total value of affixed stamps per item is greater than $5 CAD) then taxes should be manually removed from the stamp transaction because International postage greater than $5 is not taxed. However, good luck finding a postal clerk that a) knows this, and b) knows how to remove the tax on the RPOS system.

As for the topic of this post, I can weigh in based on what I know (I never venture to this part of the Community Forums otherwise I would have chimed in earlier). Yes, the plan is to phase out low-denomination stamps. We resellers may find them useful (even necessary), but Canada Post sells very few of them to the average customer and it's just a waste of resources to print them. The most recent RPOS computer update has a built in "Postage on Demand" button that allows clerks to print postage in any low-value denomination to make up any deficient postage in the case of a rate change or the use of older stamps; that is intended to take the place of low-value definitive stamps. You definitely can go in and just ask for X number of stamps in $3.19 or $4.44 or whatever value you like and you can take a bunch of pre-printed meter labels home in that denomination and apply them as you wish.

As others have reported here, many post offices don't even carry these low-value stamps any more. It's completely at the manager's discretion whether or not they keep them in stock and there's no mandatory directive from Canada Post saying they must keep them in stock. Stock up while you can if you want to keep using them - you can order them directly from Canada Post as someone else mentioned (free shipping if over $25). That all being said I would imagine Canada Post has a very large amount of stock of these in their warehouse so it's probably going to take a while before they disappear for sale altogether.