Canada Post books $28M quarterly loss on falling letter mail revenue

Canada Post vehicles sit outside a sorting depot in the Ville St-Laurent borough of Montreal, in this June 6, 2011 photo. (Graham Hughes / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

OTTAWA, Ont. -- Canada Post Corp. says the sale of its processing plant in downtown Vancouver helped soften the blow of its first-quarter losses.

The Crown corporation reported a loss from operations of $28 million for the three months ended March 29, which factored in a $109-million gain on the sale of the plant.

Before taxes, Canada Post lost $37 million compared to a loss of $51 million a year earlier.

Revenue slipped to $1.87 billion from $1.9 billion.

Canada Post says its operating losses are mainly from the steady decline of mail volumes which fell 6.9 per cent, while parcel volumes increased 4.9 per cent.

After the end of the quarter, the postal service raised the price of letter mail through a new tiered pricing plan that was designed to help counter the decline of monthly bills sent through the mail.

The company is also focused on growing its parcel business with retailers.