Updated: April 23, 2026
First, a video backgrounder
Watch this short video to learn about our post office's critical situation.
Why is home mail delivery ending?
In a nutshell, our post office is broke.
Over the past five years, the Crown corporation has accumulated $5 billion in deficits and cannot sustain its current business model.
On April 20, 2026, it reported loss of $1.57 billion for 2025.
This situation is due, in large part, to the dramatic decline in letter mail volumes which peaked in 2006. With the rise of the digital economy over the past two decades, almost 70% of letter mail has evaporated.
At the same time, the post office has lost ground in the parcel delivery space owing to the rise of new competitors.
It's unfair to blame the post office's difficulties on its carriers and frontline workers. As many analysts have noted, the corporation’s management failed to adapt or modernize its business model over many years.
Canada Post operates at arm's length from the federal government and is responsible for managing its own operations under the Canada Post Corporation Act and the 2009 Canadian Postal Service Charter.
Canada Post's plan to end home mail delivery
Canada Post will be converting roughly 4 million addresses which currently receive home delivery to new community mailboxes or mailbox 'modules' as part of a broader plan to reduce the corporation's staggering debt level and continue its operations.
The elimination of all household delivery is expected to take roughly five years and should be completed by late 2031.
On April 16, 2026, Canada Post released a list of 13 initial areas to receive community boxes across Canada.
About 136,000 addresses across communities in New Brunswick, Québec, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia – including much of Ottawa and Etobicoke – will be the first to receive community boxes in late 2026 or early 2027.
Related: Recent news releases from Canada Post
Is the end of home delivery a 'done deal'?
Yes – regrettably. Canada Post is fundamentally insolvent.
Sadly, door-to-door mail delivery to 4 million Canadian addresses, including thousands of homes here in Oshawa, cannot be saved.
Although many residents, especially Seniors, held out hope that home delivery could continue, this is unrealistic under the current circumstances.
The post office has received massive loans from the federal treasury – that’s you, the taxpayer – over the past two years.
In January 2025, the federal government loaned the post office $1.03 billion and in January 2026 it provided another $1.01 billion repayable loan to help the corporation stay solvent and remain operational this year. The funds were provided on as-needed basis as a 'short-term financial bridge' according to the current government.
The Oshawa federal "riding" vs. the broader City of Oshawa
The Oshawa federal riding (see map at right) is comprised of the entire portion of the City of Oshawa lying south of Taunton Road, including all addresses on the south side of Taunton Road, from the Whitby border in the west to Townline Road in the east.
The entire portion of the City Oshawa lying north of Taunton Road, including rural Oshawa (Columbus, Raglan) northward to the Ridges, is contained within the Bowmanville–Oshawa North (formerly Durham) riding.
How does the mail situation in the Oshawa riding compare to the neighbourhoods north of Taunton Road and Clarington or Whitby?
The majority of single detached dwellings in the Oshawa riding built up to the late 1990s currently receive home mail delivery.
In contrast, most homes in neighbourhoods north of Taunton Road built after the late 1990s/early 2000s, including Windfields, Kedron, Ormond, Maxwell Heights, Conlin and Park Ridge have only received their mail at a community box.
For clarity, several streets north of Taunton Road including the more mature neighbourhoods in Cedar Valley and Samac currently receive home delivery.
By the numbers: Home delivery in the Oshawa riding
Within the Oshawa riding, Canada Post has approximately 52,000 total residential points of call (POCs) or individual addresses comprised of houses/townhouses and apartments.
Roughly 70% of these 52,000 addresses are houses/townhouses and about 30% are apartments.
Among the houses within the Oshawa riding, about 32,000 – or roughly 90% – currently receive mail delivery from a carrier on one of approximately 90 long-established mail routes known as 'letter carrier walks' (LCWs). (See the colourful map at right.)
However, only about 3,500 – or roughly 10% – of the Oshawa riding's 32,000 houses currently get their mail at a community box.
That's a roughly 90:10 ratio for delivery vs. community boxes among houses within the Oshawa riding – a much higher ratio relative to our neighbours north of Taunton or in Whitby and Clarington.
Nationally, only about 23% of residential addresses currently receive home delivery.
(N.B.: According to Canada Post's 2024 annual report, community/group boxes serve over 6 million households. About 4.9 million addresses are at centralized points (i.e.: apartment buildings) and about 4.2 million addresses currently receive door-to-door delivery. An additional 703,000 addresses are rural mailboxes.)
Many carrier walks across the Oshawa riding – especially in those neighbourhoods built from the 1920s through to the 1990s – have remained unaltered for decades. Several walks have grown in size and some have been reconfigured or consolidated since the 1980s.
Generally speaking, virtually no new subdivisions built after the late 1990s/early 2000s within the City of Oshawa receive home delivery. There are, of course, a few exceptions.
Most new Oshawa homes built after approximately 2000 only know the community mailbox model.
What's the plan for conversion in the Oshawa riding?
As of April 2026, it's not clear when the conversion process will begin in Oshawa. We expect to hear more from Canada Post in the months ahead.
At some point in the future, a schedule for Oshawa-area conversions will be released, likely after some negotiation with the City of Oshawa to determine suitable community box locations. In most cases, new boxes will be installed on public property such as boulevards or greenspaces owned by the City.
The task of converting 32,000+ Oshawa riding addresses from home delivery to community boxes is enormous and will take a good deal of time. It's all about the scope, scale of work and time required.
Based on a 3-4 module mailbox setup, the average community mailbox site may serve anywhere from 48 to 64 households (or more). Across the Oshawa riding, Canada Post will need to install anywhere from 500-650 (or potentially more) community boxes in almost every neighbourhood south of Taunton Road with the exception of some newer areas such as Grand Ridge, Pinecrest, Eastdale/Fleetwood, Townline/Shankel and some recent infill developments (i.e.: Donevan or the western lakeshore). Most of these new neighbourhoods already receive their mail at a community box.
What about apartments buildings?
We understand that apartment buildings across Oshawa will not be part of the community mailbox conversion program.
High density multi-residential dwellings, like those in Southern Oshawa, Gibb/Vanier, downtown, Rossland Park, Mary/Nonquon, Pentland and the Taunton corridor, will continue to receive mail at their building's mailboxes which are usually located in their lobby or mailroom.
At the building level, as opposed to the individual unit level, it's important to note that many of Oshawa's low-density multi-residential buildings (triplexes, fourplexes and sixplexes, etc.) along with some medium-density buildings are, in fact, served by our community's hard-working letter carriers on long-established routes.
What if I'll require assistance to access a community box?
Don't panic.
Please wait until you receive formal notification of your address's conversion at some point over the next five years.
Canada Post is always ready assist individuals with special needs. For many years, it has operated the Delivery Accommodation Program (DAP) which provides free support to residential customers who may have functional limitations or be unable access their mail or parcels. Over 17,000 Canadian households currently benefit from some form of accommodation.
Whether you're unable to reach the high-side of a community box, require Braille, a key turner or need a new mailbox location altogether, Canada Post will assist you.
The DAP also offers accommodations which make mailboxes easier to use, such as sliding trays or a more accessible compartment. In some cases, weekly home delivery may be provided on a seasonal, temporary or permanent basis.
Applying for the DAP may be done online, by regular mail or telephone. To apply – at such time as your mailing address is converted – visit the DAP website or call 1.844.454.3009 Mon-Fri, 7am to 11pm ET, or Sat-Sun, 9am to 9pm ET.
Who's responsible for clearing the snow or litter at a community box?
In the winter months, Canada Post is responsible for clearing snow and ice directly in front of community boxes and ensuring paved access to them, typically within 24 hours of a snowfall of 5 cm or more.
While community mailboxes are owned by Canada Post, which is responsible for all site maintenance, the responsibility for managing this litter is shared by residents who should dispose of unwanted mail at their own home. not on their neighbours' boulevard.
Residents may report issues regarding snow clearing, litter or mailbox damage using a Canada Post online service ticket or by calling 1.866.607.6301.
Will Canada Post's Ritson Road depot be affected?
No. In fact, Oshawa's depot is a key component of Canada Post's operations in the greater Oshawa area and eastern Durham Region including Clarington.
The Durham East Delivery Depot (DEDD), is a modern postal hub which began operations in 2019 and employs roughly 300 people. It has state-of-the-art equipment and expertise to sort mail with integrated delivery methods for route and mail distribution.
The DEDD was built as part of Canada Post's larger plan to move out of older, smaller and less accessible facilities including Oshawa's former post office at 47 Simcoe St S and Bowmanville's former post office at 41 Temperance St.
What's happening to Oshawa's former post office on Simcoe Street?
Toronto-based Atria Developments purchased Oshawa's former post office (built in 1954) from the federal government several years ago. Atria will save the building and add 11 mixed-use storeys with 219 purpose-built rental units, anchored by an impressive 9-storey mass timber addition to the current building. Construction was set to begin in Q1, 2026.
Atria is responsible for several other downtown Oshawa brownfields or rejuvenation projects including Parkwood Residence (former Bond Towers rebuild) in the mid-2000s, the recently-completed 80 Bond and 100 Bond St E condominiums and has future plans to build two more high-density developments at 200 Bond St E and on the former Oshawa Clinic site.
To learn more about Postlofts, the Oshawa post office project, visit: atriadevelopment.ca/postlofts.
If you have questions about this development, please contact one of the two City Councillors in Ward 4.
Can Rhonda or other federal MPs stop this process?
No. At the direction of the Minister responsible for Canada Post, the corporation has started the conversion process.
Rhonda and other federal MPs are not able to stop the process or carve out exceptions for individual residents/addresses.
The plan for conversions in Oshawa will be announced at some point over the next five years.
As soon as new information or the local schedule is made available, Rhonda's office will provide updates to residents on this website, through e-mail, social media and other communications including regular parliamentary mailings to our riding.
Rhonda and her staff are in regular contact with Canada Post along with local staff and union representatives.
When the conversions are announced or get underway, Rhonda’s office will assist Oshawa constituents who have difficulty resolving a conversion or delivery issue with Canada Post.
If you live north of Taunton Road, you must seek assistance from your federal Member of Parliament for the riding of Bowmanville–Oshawa North.
Comments? Questions?
If you have an opinion or comment on the plan to end home mail delivery, please let Rhonda know here.