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A Permanent stamp is Canada Post's non-denominated stamp: it carries a "P" instead of a price and is always valid for one standard domestic letter, no matter how many times rates rise. Buy it today, use it in ten years, and it still covers the postage. It protects you from rate increases without you ever needing make-up stamps.
The "P" stands in for the current domestic letter rate, whatever it happens to be on the day you mail. When rates go up, the value of every Permanent stamp in your drawer goes up with them, automatically. You never add a one-cent or five-cent make-up stamp, because there is nothing to make up. Canada Post introduced the Permanent stamp in 2006, and every domestic stamp it has issued since for the standard letter rate has carried the "P" mark, usually set inside a small maple leaf.
| Situation | What one Permanent stamp does |
|---|---|
| Standard domestic letter within Canada | Covers it in full, forever, at whatever the rate is when you mail it. |
| Heavier or oversized domestic mail | Counts as credit toward the postage; add more postage for the difference. |
| Letter to the US or international | Counts as domestic-rate credit only; you must add postage to reach the international rate. |
| Old denominated stamps from before 2006 | Still valid, but only for their face value; add make-up postage to reach the current rate. |
The key mental model: a Permanent stamp is not a magic free pass, it is a token worth exactly one domestic letter rate. On a domestic letter it is the whole fare. On anything else it is a down payment, and you top it up.
Yes, as credit. There is no rule saying a Permanent stamp may only touch a domestic letter. If you are mailing a small parcel, you can stick on Permanent stamps and add whatever extra postage the parcel rate requires. The stamp's value on that day is the current domestic letter rate, and the clerk or the postage system does the arithmetic. This makes a booklet of Permanent stamps a surprisingly flexible thing to keep in a drawer: domestic letters, US letters with a top-up, small packets with a bigger top-up.
It is the classic move, and it works exactly as advertised: stamps bought before the increase carry the new rate after it. Whether it is worth doing depends on how much mail you send. If you mail a few letters a year, the savings are pocket change and the drawer space matters more. If you run a small business that mails hundreds of letters, buying ahead of an announced increase is a genuine, risk-free discount. Just buy from Canada Post or an authorized retailer: counterfeit stamps are a real problem, and a fake "P" stamp buys you a surcharge notice, not savings.
Same idea, different country. The US Forever stamp, introduced a year later, is also non-denominated and permanently valid for the domestic letter rate. The practical difference is jurisdiction: a Canadian Permanent stamp is domestic-rate credit in Canada's system, and a US Forever stamp is domestic-rate credit in the American one. Neither one crosses the border at face value for the other country's domestic mail.
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