How come mailing a letter in Canada is so much more expensive than in the USA?

Question

I was just looking up the price of stamps on the Canada Post website.  It's 92 Canadian cents, or about 71 US cents to mail a normal letter domestically in Canada. 

Here in the USA, normal domestic letter postage is 55 US cents.

So why is mailing a letter 30% more expensive in Canada than the USA?

Update:

The losses the USPS runs are entirely due to a crazy law mandating they fund retiree benefits 75 years in advance.  If they went with more of a normal business requirement to prefund retiree benefits, they'd be at roughly breakeven.

Answer 1

Favourite answer

Remember, Canada is a larger country with a much sparser population density.  It probably costs them that much extra to deliver.

As to USPS, that prefunding requirement is ridiculous. It's an accounting trick, of course. But I know of no other government agency that has to do that.

Answer 2

You might have heard that the USPS is losing money.

Answer 3

The USPS has been operating at a loss ever since I can remember. Apparently, our Canadian neighbors are more efficient.

Answer 4

Everything is more expensive in Canada.   They have higher wages and higher taxes in exchange for things like socialized medicine. 

Answer 5

Canadians are a technologically advanced people. The people use e-mail and private delivery services for the most part.

The majority of stamps are sold to collectors around the world.

Answer 6

Different countries, different pricing. A stamp is AU$1.10 in Australia. 

Answer 7

Maybe they don't run at huge losses like the USPS?