Micro Mailing Canada
Canada Post References, Guides and Specifications
This page brings together Canada Post's preparation guides, design specifications and pricing references for Personalized Mail (formerly Addressed Admail), Neighbourhood Mail and related business mail services in one place. Use it to confirm machineable dimensions, addressing rules and lodgement requirements before your file goes to print, or ask Micro Mailing Canada to apply these rules for you on your behalf before anything goes to press.
Personalized Mail: preparation and design guides
Personalized Mail is Canada Post's category for mail addressed to a specific name, household or business, and it is the format most direct mail campaigns use when a piece needs to reach a named recipient rather than a general area. It is common for renewal notices, appointment reminders and offers tied to a specific customer record, anywhere the message only makes sense addressed to one household. Canada Post maintains a machineable mail preparation guide and a separate machineable mail design guide, and both set out the format, weight and layout rules a piece has to meet before Canada Post will accept it as machineable rather than routing it for manual handling. If you are building a Personalized Mail piece yourself, start with the formatting rules for panel placement, indicia position and return address location, since those are the details Canada Post checks first.
Design rules only cover half of what Canada Post requires. There are also acceptable content rules covering what can and cannot appear on a Personalized Mail piece, plus separate lodgement requirements that govern how a prepared mailing is handed off for induction into the mail stream. Missing any one of these specifications is a mail file gets rejected or delayed at lodgement, which is why most of our clients ask Micro Mailing Canada to check a file against the current guide before it goes to press rather than after Canada Post flags it.
Neighbourhood Mail: preparation and design guides
Neighbourhood Mail is the unaddressed counterpart to Personalized Mail. Instead of a named recipient, it is delivered to every address on a selected postal walk or route, which makes it suited to flyer-style campaigns aimed at a geographic area rather than a specific customer list. Because there is no name list involved, Neighbourhood Mail is often the starting point for businesses that do not yet have a customer database to mail against. Canada Post's preparation guide for Neighbourhood Mail sets out bundling, format and route documentation requirements, and its design guide covers the same kind of layout and weight specifications that apply to Personalized Mail, though the two guides are not interchangeable.
Choosing between the two products usually comes down to whether you are working from a mailing list or targeting a neighbourhood. A campaign that needs to reach a household by name, or that relies on data merge to personalize each piece, belongs on the Personalized Mail track. A campaign built around a service area rather than a name list is a better fit for Neighbourhood Mail. Micro Mailing Canada can help work out which one matches a given direct mail campaign before you commit to artwork, since switching formats after design is finished usually means starting over.
Preparation Guides
Canada Post's machineable mail preparation guides set the format, weight and bundling rules a Personalized Mail or Neighbourhood Mail piece has to meet before induction into the mail stream.
Design Guides
Design guides cover layout, indicia and panel placement, and the requirements differ between Personalized Mail and Neighbourhood Mail formats, so the two are not interchangeable.
Pricing and Lodgement References
Canada Post publishes separate references for business services pricing and lodgement requirements, both worth checking before you commit to a print run.
Other Canada Post business services: Publications Mail and Lettermail
Not every mailing fits the Admail categories. Canada Post also publishes a complete guide for Publications Mail, which applies to subscription newspapers, magazines and newsletters rather than marketing pieces, and a separate guide for Lettermail, which covers single-piece mail such as invoices, statements and low-volume correspondence. A monthly member newsletter, for example, is a Publications Mail concern, while a one-off account statement is a Lettermail concern, even though both might come from the same organization. Both have their own format and preparation rules, distinct from the machineable specifications that apply to Personalized Mail and Neighbourhood Mail.
Canada Post also publishes pricing references for its business services alongside the design and preparation guides, and these are updated from time to time, so it is worth checking the current version before budgeting a campaign rather than working from a figure you saw on a previous mailing. If you want a sense of what a Canada Post mailing actually costs once printing, data and lodgement are included, our breakdown of direct mail costs in Canada is a better starting point than the raw Canada Post pricing document.
Applying these guides without reading every specification yourself
Reading Canada Post's preparation guides, design guides and content rules cover to cover is a reasonable amount of work for a single campaign, and the rules are revised often enough that a document you read for a previous mailing may already be out of date. Micro Mailing Canada checks files against current specifications as part of preparing and lodging a mailing, so you do not have to track every update to Personalized Mail, Neighbourhood Mail, Publications Mail and Lettermail rules yourself before every send. That review covers the same preparation guide, design guide and content rules referenced above, applied to your specific file rather than read in the abstract.
If a file does not meet Canada Post's machineable requirements, we will flag what needs to change before it goes to lodgement rather than after Canada Post rejects it. For a campaign already in progress, keeping an eye on Canada Post's own updates alongside our guidance is the easiest way to avoid a rule change catching you mid run. When you are ready to move a file forward, you can request a quote and we will confirm what preparation it needs first.
What makes a mailing work
- Confirm your piece meets Canada Post's machineable dimensions and weight limits before artwork is finalized
- Match design elements to the current Personalized Mail or Neighbourhood Mail design guide
- Check content against Canada Post's acceptable content rules before printing
- Verify addressing, indicia and lodgement documentation are in order
- Confirm whether Publications Mail or Lettermail rules apply instead of Admail
- Check current business services pricing before finalizing a campaign budget
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Personalized Mail and Neighbourhood Mail?
Personalized Mail goes to a named recipient using your own mailing list or data, while Neighbourhood Mail goes to every address on a Canada Post selected postal walk without a name attached. Choose Personalized Mail when you need to target specific customers or personalize each piece, and Neighbourhood Mail when you are covering a geographic area regardless of who lives there.
What does machineable mean for Canada Post mail?
Machineable means a mail piece meets Canada Post's format, weight and layout specifications closely enough that it can be sorted by machine rather than handled manually. Canada Post's preparation and design guides for each mail class set out the exact dimensions, indicia placement and packaging rules a piece needs to qualify, and a piece that misses them can be delayed or rejected at lodgement.
Where can I find Canada Post's current design specifications?
Canada Post publishes separate preparation guides and design guides for each mail class, covering Personalized Mail, Neighbourhood Mail, Publications Mail and Lettermail. Micro Mailing Canada keeps a current set of these guides on hand and checks new files against them directly, which is usually faster than tracking down and reading each Canada Post document yourself.
Do I need my own lodgement facility to send Personalized Mail or Neighbourhood Mail?
No. Lodgement is the handoff point where a prepared mailing is delivered to Canada Post for entry into the mail stream, and Micro Mailing Canada handles that step as part of preparing a mailing, including meeting the documentation and bundling requirements Canada Post's guides set out. You do not need your own lodgement account or facility to use either product.
Is Publications Mail the same as Personalized Mail?
No. Publications Mail is Canada Post's category for subscription newspapers, magazines and newsletters, while Personalized Mail is built for addressed marketing and transactional pieces sent to a named recipient. They are covered by separate guides with different preparation and content rules, so a subscription publication should follow the Publications Mail guide rather than the Personalized Mail one.
How do I know whether my mailing should be Lettermail instead?
Lettermail generally applies to single-piece mail such as invoices, statements and low-volume correspondence rather than a bulk marketing campaign. If you are sending occasional business mail rather than a full mailing campaign, the Lettermail guide is the right reference. If you are running a marketing mailing to a list or a neighbourhood, Personalized Mail or Neighbourhood Mail is the better fit.
How often do Canada Post's mailing specifications change?
Canada Post updates its preparation guides, design guides and pricing periodically, and a specification you relied on for a previous campaign is not guaranteed to still apply. Checking the current guide, or having Micro Mailing Canada verify a file against it, before you commit to print avoids finding out about a change after a mailing has already been rejected at lodgement.
Downloads
- Personalized Mail (Addressed Admail) - Overview (PDF)
- Personalized Mail (Addressed Admail) Machineable Mail Preparation Guide (PDF)
- Personalized Mail (Addressed Admail) - Machineable Mail Design Guide (PDF)
- Personalized Mail (Addressed Admail) - 2017 Pricing (PDF)
- Canada Post 2017 Business Services Pricing (PDF)
- Neighbourhood Mail (formerly Unaddressed Admail) - Overview (PDF)
- Neighbourhood Mail (formerly Unaddressed Admail) Preparation Guide (PDF)
- Neighbourhood Mail (formerly Unaddressed Admail) Design Guide (PDF)
- Neighbourhood Mail (formerly Unaddressed Admail) - 2017 Pricing (PDF)
- Canada Post's 2017 Pricing for Business Services (PDF)
- Canada Post's 2017 Publications Mail Complete Guide (PDF)
- Canada Post's Lettermail Guide (PDF)
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