OTTAWA -- Residents of eleven cities and towns will start collecting mail at community boxes this fall as Canada Post begins its move to end door-to-door delivery.

It's the first stage of a five-year plan announced in December and will involve about 100,000 addresses.

Canada Post says that in large cities during this phase, only a few neighbourhoods will be affected, and delivery will continue to businesses.

In the smaller municipalities, nearly all households and a higher proportion of businesses will move to community mailboxes.

Canada Post says these neighbourhoods are near areas that already have community mailboxes, so the infrastructure is already in place.

The Crown Corporation will ask for feedback about the change for use as the program moves to other communities.

The national mail service says rising costs and falling mail volumes have made it impossible to continue its traditional operations

It says only about one-third of Canadians are still getting home delivery.

The 11 communities and the approximate number of affected addresses are:

  • Repentigny, Que. (14,400 addresses)
  • Rosemere, Que. (3,350 addresses)
  • Lorraine, Que. (2,550 addresses)
  • Bois-des-Filion, Que. (2,750 addresses)
  • Charlemagne, Que. (1,300 addresses)
  • Some neighbourhoods in Calgary (Postal codes start with T2B, T3J) (10,450 addresses)
  • Fort McMurray, Alta. (8,450 addresses)
  • Some neighbourhoods in Winnipeg (Postal codes start with R2P, R2V) (12,500 addresses)
  • Oakville, Ont. (26,400 addresses)
  • Neighbourhoods in Kanata (Postal codes start with K2K, K2L, K2M) (7,900 addresses)
  • Halifax neighbourhoods in the Lower Sackville and Bedford areas (Postal codes start with (B4A, B4B, B4C, B4E, B4G) (9,950 addresses).