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When budgeting for a Direct Mail Ad Campaign you should plan for the following cost categories:
Final costs can be controlled with proper planning and targeting.
Discounts are available for contracts with Canada Post. To qualify, a customer is required to commit to a minimum spend of $10,000 annually per service. Canada Post will look at your marketing plan and budget to see if you’re likely to achieve the minimum spend before awarding you a postage discount.
An example of $10,000 would spend would be:
There are various tiers of discounts available. Please contact your Canada Post rep for more info.
Prices for a Direct Mail audience start at “free” and increase based on the dataset being accessed. Standard options for each mail type are listed below. More advanced data sets can be accessed from 3rd party providers like Environics.
Neighbourhood Mail is the most affordable type of direct mail you can send in Canada. The price of a campaign varies due to the cost of print and campaign production but postage rates are always the same, regardless of volume*.
Current Neighbourhood Mail postage rates for 2023 are $0.188, including transportation fees ($0.015/piece).
Check out our Neighbourhood Mail Budget Calculator for accurate pricing options that include postage, mail prep, design, print and transportation. A small campaign may cost $0.50+/postcard while a high volume campaign (10,000 households or more) will see significant reduction in print cost per piece ($0.15 each).
*If you spend more than $10,000 in Canada Post postage fees per year, you may be eligible for a discounted contract rate! Contact our team for information and a direct introduction to a Canada Post rep in your area.
For more information on Neighbourhood Mail and how to use it effectively, you can check out our Neighbourhood Mail resources.
Canada Post adds a Neighbourhood Mail transportation fee to all campaigns not inducted into the exact depot(s) closest to your delivery neighbourhoods.
In other words, unless you are willing to drive your campaign mail pieces to a specific dropoff depot or depots for larger campaigns, you are covering the cost for Canada Post to distribute your campaign to the appropriate depots for final sorting/delivery.
This transportation fee is often why you will see a published Neighbourhood Mail rate of $0.18 / piece, but the final price is $0.192 when working with a mail house or Canada Post directly.
At PostNow we include the transportation fee in all campaigns automatically.
Discounts are available. To qualify, a customer must commit to a minimum spend of $10,000 annually per service. Canada Post will look at your marketing plan and budget to see if you’re likely to achieve the minimum spend before awarding you a postage discount. There are various tiers of discounts available. Please contact us if you would like an introduction to a Canada Post sales rep.
An example of $10,000 would spend would be:
Discounts start at about 20% and increase based on total volume. The commitments are in the millions of dollars spent/year for the largest available Canada Post discounts.
Flyer delivery falls under Canada Post Neighbourhood Mail. Prices were updated for all flyer mailings as of January 13th, 2025.
This is unaddressed ad mail and would cost $0.197 per piece, including transportation costs from Canada Post if it is under 6 x 12″ with a maximum thickness of 1 inch and a weight of <50g. Larger flyers, including magazine-style flyers like the Ikea Idea Books, are subject to “Oversized Neighbourhood Mail” rates.
Here’s how the standard $0.197 rate breaks down:
A “Specified Delivery Start Date” can be added as a campaign option for an extra $0.01 / per piece. This guarantees that your flyer will not be delivered before a set date and is a great way to ensure you time your flyers for a specific sale/promotion.
Download the 2025 Neighbourhood Mail price sheet for complete flyer delivery pricing.
