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Home > Guides > Shipping alcohol in Canada
LetterAgent cannot help with alcohol shipments: its Canada-only Xpresspost labels do not cover alcohol, so buy a label elsewhere or use a licensed shipper. In Canada, alcohol shipping is tightly controlled, with provincial rules deciding who may send it, who may receive it, and how much can move at once.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Alcohol is regulated province by province, not by one national shipping rule. Each province controls sale and distribution through its liquor board or licensed retailers, and those controls extend to shipping: a bottle that is legal to sell in one province may not be legal to receive in another, and the rules change with the type of alcohol and the quantity. Carriers follow the provincial rules on top of their own acceptance rules, which is why a carrier may accept wine from a licensed winery but refuse a bottle sent by a private individual. The short version: the sender's licence status matters as much as the destination.
Licensed producers, wineries, breweries, distilleries, and authorized retailers ship alcohol routinely through carrier programs built for them, with age checks and provincial paperwork included. Private individuals generally cannot ship alcohol to other private individuals through ordinary parcel services, and trying to hide a bottle inside an ordinary parcel risks seizure, a refused delivery, and loss of the shipment with no compensation. Some provinces allow direct-to-consumer shipments from out-of-province producers under specific agreements, but those routes run through the producer's licensed channel, not through a personal parcel. If you are a producer, ask your carrier about its licensed alcohol program before you ship anything.
| Sender type | Usual position |
|---|---|
| Licensed winery, brewery, or distillery | May ship through a carrier alcohol program, with provincial rules met |
| Licensed retailer | May ship where its licence and the destination province allow |
| Private individual to another individual | Generally not accepted by ordinary parcel services |
| Gift from a private individual | Still a private shipment; the gift motive does not change the rule |
Personal import limits are the most misunderstood part of this topic. Canada's interprovincial trade rules now allow individuals to bring alcohol across a provincial border for personal use in larger quantities than the old rules permitted, but that personal exemption covers alcohol you carry yourself, not alcohol you put in the mail. Shipping is a separate act with its own carrier and provincial requirements, so a quantity you could legally drive across a border may still be unshippable by parcel. Limits also differ by province and by product: wine, beer, and spirits are treated differently, and some provinces cap personal shipments from producers while others do not. Check the destination province's liquor board guidance for the current position before promising a customer delivery.
Where alcohol shipping is allowed, delivery always involves an adult signature. The driver or pickup clerk checks identification and proof of age, and a parcel addressed to a minor, or one nobody of legal age is present to accept, goes back rather than being left at the door. That is why alcohol cannot go to a parcel locker or be left on a porch: the age check is part of the delivery, not an optional extra. Businesses receiving alcohol shipments need a staff member of legal age present, and the receiver's name on the label should match the person who will sign. A missed age check means a second delivery attempt or a return, and repeated misses can mean the shipment is held and then sent back at the sender's cost.
Bottles need the same care as any fragile, liquid cargo, plus leak containment. Use moulded pulp shippers or foam bottle inserts made for the bottle size, wrap each bottle separately, and seal the whole bundle in a leak-proof bag so one broken bottle does not soak the box and the parcels around it. Mark the box as the carrier requires for alcohol shipments, since unmarked alcohol parcels can be pulled from the network when discovered. Never pack alcohol with food in the same box unless the carrier's alcohol program explicitly allows it, and never ship a bottle that is already open, damaged, or leaking. A carrier that finds an undeclared bottle can refuse the whole parcel, and the sender has little recourse.
Cross-border alcohol shipping is a different and harder problem. Imports into Canada face federal duties and taxes plus provincial liquor board control, and most ordinary parcel services will not carry alcohol across the border for private individuals at all. Exports face the destination country's import rules, which vary widely. If you run a business that wants to sell alcohol across the border, work through a licensed importer or exporter and a carrier with a cross-border alcohol program, rather than testing an ordinary label. For everyone else, the honest answer is that cross-border personal alcohol shipping by parcel is effectively closed, and a bottle carried personally across the border under the traveller exemption is a separate matter from mailing one.
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