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A good shipping label has three jobs: tell the carrier where the parcel goes, tell them who sent it, and survive the trip readable. Print the recipient address in full, place the label flat on the largest side of the box, keep the barcode clear of tape and seams, and cover or remove any old labels. A label done this way seldom causes a delay.
If you get your label through LetterAgent, it is a Canada-only, flat-rate Canada Post Xpresspost label for parcels up to 5 kg: you ask your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, pay once through Stripe, and receive a label PDF to print. The labelling advice below applies to that label and to any other Canadian shipping label.
| Part of the label | What it does | What goes wrong if it fails |
|---|---|---|
| Recipient address | Tells the carrier and the sorting machines where the parcel goes. | Missing apartment or unit numbers are the top cause of misdelivery in apartment buildings. |
| Return address | Gives the carrier somewhere to send the parcel if delivery fails. | Without one, an undeliverable parcel may be held and eventually discarded. |
| Barcode | The machine-readable key to tracking and routing at every scan point. | A creased, taped-over, or folded barcode cannot be scanned and the parcel stalls. |
| Service marks | Show the service level and any handling notes the carrier prints on the label. | Covering them with tape or another sticker can send the parcel down the wrong stream. |
Use the full address in this order: recipient name, street number and street name plus apartment or unit number, city, province, and postal code. Canadian postal codes follow a letter-digit-letter, space, digit-letter-digit pattern, and that space in the middle matters for sorting machines: write it exactly as the recipient gives it to you, rather than reformatting it.
Spell the city and street names out in full instead of abbreviating them yourself. Carriers match addresses against their own databases, and a creative abbreviation can fail the match even when a human would understand it. For rural addresses, include the route and box details exactly as Canada Post lists them, since a rural route number is not interchangeable with a street address.
Put the return address on the label too, in the sender field if the label has one, or in the top-left corner of the parcel if you are handwriting an address. A parcel with no return address has nowhere to go when delivery fails, and that is a worse outcome than a short delay.
On the largest flat side of the parcel, laid flat, with nothing folded over an edge. The label should sit fully on one face of the box: a label that wraps around a corner will crease at the fold, and that crease usually runs straight through the barcode. If the box is small and the label barely fits, put the label on the top face rather than squeezing it onto a narrow side.
Keep the label away from seams, tape lines, and the box's opening flaps. Tape over a seam can lift as the box flexes, and a label stuck across a flap may split open when the box is opened for inspection. One label per parcel, placed once, pressed down firmly at the corners so it cannot peel in rain or cold.
Three things, in order of how often they cause trouble. First, tape over the barcode: clear tape looks harmless, but it reflects scanner light and can make the barcode unreadable, so never run tape across the barcode itself. Tape around the label's edges is fine and actually helps it stay put.
Second, old labels left on a reused box. A second barcode on the same parcel is a genuine problem: a scanner may read the old one first and send the parcel toward its previous destination. Peel old labels off completely, or cover them fully with opaque tape or a blank sticker if they will not peel cleanly. The same goes for old handwritten addresses: cross them out thoroughly or cover them.
Third, water and rough handling. A printed label on plain paper smudges if it gets wet, so if you have a clear adhesive pouch or a document wallet, slip the label inside it, or print on a label sheet rather than plain paper. Parcels travel through rain, snow, and warehouse floors, and a label that survives the trip is worth the small extra step.
For a parcel staying inside Canada, no customs form is needed: customs paperwork only applies when a parcel crosses an international border. What you may want to add depends on the contents. A fragile marking is a request, not a guarantee, and it does not replace proper cushioning inside the box. If the parcel contains anything restricted, such as batteries or aerosols, the carrier's rules for that item matter far more than any marking you add by hand.
Finally, put a spare copy of the recipient and return addresses inside the box on a card. If the outside label is torn off, the carrier can open the parcel, read the card, and relabel it. Without that card, a parcel with a lost label is very hard to reunite with its destination.
Ready to ship it? Get a shipping label with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and get your label.
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