Lost Mailbox Key in Canada: Who Replaces It, What It Costs

The key ring is gone, and the small flat key for the mailbox went with it. Mail keeps arriving whether you can reach it or not, and some of it matters: a cheque, a new bank card, a letter from the government. You want two answers quickly. Who can give you a new key, and what will they charge for it?

It comes down to who owns the lock. A Canada Post community mailbox, a panel of small doors in an apartment lobby, a post office box and a mailbox fixed to your own house are four jobs with four different people in charge. Only one of them belongs to a locksmith. Any work on a mailbox lock is for its owner or someone the owner sends, so this guide covers who to call, what to bring and what each route costs.

The short version: for a Canada Post community mailbox, request new keys from Canada Post. It states the cost of replacing lost or stolen keys as $29 plus taxes, and gives people who moved in without keys a new set and a new compartment lock for free (Canada Post lost-key page and community mailbox page, read 27 September 2026). For an apartment, condo, strata or business mailbox, Canada Post sends you to your building manager or superintendent. A post office box goes back to the post office. Only a mailbox you own is a locksmith job, and two companies publish $95 to $125 plus taxes to replace that lock when the key is lost (Calgary Rekey Lockworks, page modified 4 June 2024; Mr. Locksmith Vancouver, page modified 1 April 2024). Those are published figures, not prices we verified.

Whose lock is it? Four kinds of mailbox

Start at the mailbox, because it tells you who to call before you spend a minute on hold. A community mailbox is the free-standing unit of locked compartments on the street, shared by a block or a subdivision, and Canada Post replaces its keys and locks. An apartment, condo or strata mailbox is usually a panel of small doors in the lobby or a mail room. Canada Post states that it “does not maintain locks and keys for condo, strata, apartment or business mailboxes” and sends residents to the building manager or superintendent (Canada Post, read 27 September 2026). A post office box, which Canada Post calls a Postal Box, is rented at a post office, and its keys stay Canada Post property. That leaves the locking box on the wall of your house, or at the end of the driveway, that you or a previous owner bought. That one is yours, and so is the lock.

Not sure which you have? Ask who handed over the keys. Keys that came with a house on a street served by a community mailbox point to Canada Post. Keys from a landlord, property manager or condo office point to the building. Keys issued with a rental agreement at a post office counter point to the post office.

What to have ready before you call

Whichever kind it is, these save a second call:

• Which of the four kinds of mailbox it is, and the compartment or unit number if you know it.
• Government-issued photo ID. Canada Post asks for it, with a notice card, when you collect new community mailbox keys.
• A recent bill or other proof of address, if a locksmith is working on a mailbox you own.
• Whether the key was lost or stolen, and when you last had it.
• For a building mailbox, the name and email of the manager or superintendent, so your request is in writing.

What a lost mailbox key costs, by type of mailbox

The table sets the routes side by side. The Canada Post figures come from Canada Post’s own support pages. The locksmith figures are what two businesses publish on their websites, and we have not verified them. That is the same rule our directory runs on: fee ranges come from the business, carry a date, and are a guide for the phone call, not a quote, as set out in how we check listings.

Read the table by row, not by price. The two lines that cost nothing apply only to a new arrival without keys and to a key that has stopped working. On every line, the route is set by whoever is responsible for the lock.

Canada Post community mailbox: how the replacement works

If one key is still around, you may not need Canada Post at all. Its lost-key page says: “If you have a spare key, you can have it copied at any hardware store or locksmith.” That is the simplest fix there is, and our guide to what a key copy costs covers what to expect at the counter.

If both keys are gone

Then the route is a support ticket, and the steps run in this order. You open a ticket on Canada Post’s website. A notice card arrives when your keys are ready. You bring the card and government-issued photo ID to the post office named on it, and Canada Post says the fee can be paid there when you collect the replacement keys. It states the fee as $29 plus taxes (Canada Post, lost or stolen community mailbox key, read 27 September 2026).

Two lines on that page are easy to miss. The first: “Once you open a ticket you cannot cancel the request.” So turn out the car, the coat pockets and the bottom of the bag before you file it. The second is a gap, not a line. The page gives no time frame, and the notice card is the only signal that the keys are ready. It does not say where the card is left, either, so if you worry it will land in the compartment you cannot reach, say so in the ticket.

Canada Post also says it does not keep spares. Its page for new community mailbox users puts it this way: “To protect the privacy and security of your mail, we do not keep copies of the keys to your community mailbox.” (Canada Post, getting started with a community mailbox, read 27 September 2026.) There is no spare in a drawer at the post office to hand over.

Why a locksmith is not the route here

You may read on some locksmith websites that the compartment lock on a community mailbox is the homeowner’s to change. Canada Post’s pages describe Canada Post replacing those locks and keys itself, and one Calgary locksmith’s page says that for a mailbox owned by Canada Post, “we can copy a key but lost keys or lock changes have to be done by Canada Post” (Calgary Rekey Lockworks, page modified 4 June 2024). Start with Canada Post.

Just moved in and never got keys

This route costs nothing. Canada Post’s community mailbox page says: “Fill out a request form if you’ve moved recently and don’t have the keys to your community mailbox. We’ll provide you with a new set of keys and replace the lock on your community mailbox compartment for free.” (Canada Post, your community mailbox, read 27 September 2026.) Ask the landlord, realtor or previous owners first; the form is for when they cannot provide the keys. And once you have submitted a service request for new locks and keys, Canada Post says you cannot cancel it.

A new compartment lock also means any copies the previous occupants kept stop fitting. The same logic applies to the doors of the house, which our guide to what changing locks costs covers.

When the key no longer works

A key that no longer works is a different request, and a cheaper one. The lost-key page says: “If your keys do not work, we will replace both the lock and your keys at no charge.” Canada Post’s page for a key or lock that is not working starts with “try your spare key”, then uses the same ticket and notice card route, and asks you to describe the problem with the lock or key in detail (read 27 September 2026). If part of a key is stuck in the compartment lock, leave it where it is and say so in the ticket.

Apartment, condo, strata and business mailboxes

Here Canada Post steps back. For these mailboxes its instruction is one line: “Contact your building manager or superintendent for keys.” No ticket, no post office counter. Whoever runs the building decides whether you get a copy of an existing key or a new lock, and what it costs. The same goes for a business mailbox in a commercial building, which Canada Post lists in the same sentence as condo, strata and apartment mailboxes.

If you rent

In British Columbia and Ontario, official guidance limits what a landlord can charge a tenant for a lost key. The Government of British Columbia’s page on rental unit locks and keys says landlords must provide all tenants with keys to any common areas included in the tenancy, and lists mailboxes among them. It goes on: “Landlords can charge tenants a fee for providing a tenant extra keys or replacing lost ones. The replacement must not be more than the actual cost of the key itself.” (Government of British Columbia, rental unit locks and keys, updated 4 March 2026.)

Ontario’s guide to the standard lease is worded much the same way. The landlord “can charge the tenant for additional keys that the tenant requests (for example, if the tenant wants an extra key or if the tenant has lost their key), but the charge cannot be more than actual cost of the keys.” (Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, A guide to the standard lease for rental housing, March 2021.) Neither page names a dollar figure.

So ask for the charge before the work, in writing, with what it covers. A key cut from an existing key and a new lock are different jobs, and the bill should say which one you are paying for. If the charge looks like more than the cost of a key, ask before you pay. The BC page tells tenants to contact the Residential Tenancy Branch for information and dispute resolution, and in Ontario the Landlord and Tenant Board publishes a guide to the Residential Tenancies Act. In any other province, ask your provincial residential tenancy office what applies.

If you own a condo, or manage the building

If you own your unit rather than rent it, the condo corporation or strata sets the process, and the property manager is the person to ask three things: whether a copy is possible, whether the lock will be changed, and what the building charges.

If you manage the building, the request lands on your desk with the same two questions: copy or new lock, and who pays. Ask the resident whether the key was lost or stolen before you decide. A key that went missing with a wallet or a driver’s licence is a different risk from one that fell out of a pocket at the gym. For rented units, the BC guidance and the Ontario lease guide quoted above both limit the charge to the actual cost of the key.

Post office box keys: a deposit, and no copies

A rented post office box, which Canada Post calls a Postal Box, runs on different rules. The rental page says: “You’re provided 2 keys to access your Postal Box and a security key (if applicable) to access the postal box lobby after normal business hours.” It lists a $15 key deposit and says: “We apply a replacement fee equal to the key deposit fee.” (Canada Post, included with a Postal Box rental, read 27 September 2026.)

The bigger difference is copying. A spare community mailbox key can be copied at any hardware store or locksmith, in Canada Post’s own words. A Postal Box key cannot. The rental page says “You are not to copy the keys” and that all keys remain the property of Canada Post. A lost Postal Box key goes back to the post office counter, not to a key-cutting kiosk. Hold on to the second key in the meantime: the page says a refund needs both keys back, and “If you return only one key you won’t receive a refund.”

A mailbox you own: when a locksmith is the right call

If the mailbox is on your house or at the end of your driveway, and you or a previous owner bought it, the lock is yours and a locksmith can replace it. Two companies publish a price for exactly this job. Calgary Rekey Lockworks lists $95 plus taxes to replace the lock on a mailbox when the key is lost (page modified 4 June 2024). Mr. Locksmith Vancouver lists $125 plus taxes for the same job from 8 am to 5 pm, seven days a week, and charges more after hours (page modified 1 April 2024). Both are figures the businesses publish, not prices we verified, so treat $95 to $125 plus taxes as the start of the conversation. For what drives a locksmith’s bill in general, see how much a locksmith costs in Canada.

Several of the locksmith pages about mailbox locks opened for this guide state no fee at all. That is not a warning sign on its own, since mailboxes and locks vary. It does mean the price is settled on the phone, so ask for it in writing. At least one Ontario firm offers exactly that on its page: “We stand behind our quotes and will give them to you in writing if you wish as well.” (Al & Gord’s Lock & Key, Durham Region, published 9 November 2020.)

Proving the mailbox is yours

Expect to be asked. Locksmith Vancouver, a different company from Mr. Locksmith Vancouver, says it asks to see identification with the matching address and a recent bill for the same address (page modified 20 July 2021). Direct Locksmith in Toronto tells customers to “bring identification and proof of address when the locksmith arrives, as legitimate professionals will want to verify that you are the owner or authorized user of the mailbox before changing the lock” (page modified 11 July 2025). If nobody asks, ask why. And for a Canada Post compartment or a lobby panel, the request still goes to Canada Post or the building, even if a locksmith is willing to come out.

If the key was stolen, or other keys went with it

Stolen, not lost

A lost key is an inconvenience. A stolen one, especially with a wallet or anything else that shows your address, puts your mail within reach of someone else. Canada Post’s advice on mail theft is short: “If you believe mail has been stolen from your mailbox, notify the police and report it to our customer service team.” The same page tells readers to contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and to call local police about suspicious activity near a mailbox (Canada Post, how to prevent mail and identity theft, read 27 September 2026). If you find your compartment damaged or standing open, Canada Post asks you to call and report it.

For the key itself, write “stolen” in the ticket, or tell the building manager, rather than “lost”. Canada Post’s lost-key page covers both words with the same fee and does not say whether the compartment lock is changed, so ask. An old key keeps working for as long as the old lock stays in place. In a building, put the same question to the manager, because the choice between a copy and a new lock is theirs.

House or car keys on the same ring

If the mailbox key was on a ring with other keys, the mailbox may be the smaller problem. If your house key went with it, see our guide for when you are locked out of your house, and think about whether whoever finds the ring can tell where you live; if they can, the locks are worth changing. If a car key or fob went too, our key fob replacement guide compares the dealer and locksmith routes.

If you cannot reach anyone today

Mail in a locked compartment is still locked. That is the one reassuring fact about a lost mailbox key: unless someone else has the key and knows which compartment is yours, your mail is waiting for you, not exposed.

If the online form is not an option, Canada Post’s support pages list call centre hours of 7 am to 11 pm ET, Monday to Friday, and 9 am to 9 pm ET, Saturday and Sunday (Canada Post, report a community mailbox problem, read 27 September 2026). The numbers are under Contact us on its support page. If the building manager does not answer over a weekend, send the request by email or leave it in writing at the office, so the date you reported it is on record. And if you are going away while you wait, Canada Post’s theft-prevention page points to its Hold Mail service, which pauses delivery until you return.

One case needs a different call. When something time-sensitive is on its way, such as a new bank card or a letter with a deadline, the sender is the one who can hold it or send it another way, so ask them.

Questions people ask

What do I do if I lost my Canada Post mailbox key?

If you still have a spare, have it copied at a hardware store or locksmith, which Canada Post allows for community mailbox keys. If both keys are gone, open a support ticket with Canada Post, wait for the notice card, and collect the new keys at the post office named on it with government-issued photo ID. Canada Post states the cost as $29 plus taxes (read 27 September 2026).

Can I get my mail today if I lost the key?

Usually not from a Canada Post community mailbox, because Canada Post replaces those keys and sends a notice card when they are ready. In an apartment, condo or strata building, ask the building manager or superintendent, who handles those locks. Either way, the mail stays in the locked compartment in the meantime.

Canada Post left a key in my mailbox. What should I do?

That is a parcel key. Canada Post says you will find either your parcel or a key to one of the parcel compartments in the community mailbox, and the number on the key tag tells you which one. Collect the parcel, then, in Canada Post’s words: “Lock the parcel compartment and drop the parcel key in the outgoing mail slot of the community mailbox.”

How long does it take to get a new mailbox key from Canada Post?

Canada Post does not publish a time frame on its lost-key page. It sends a notice card when the keys are ready, and the request cannot be cancelled once the ticket is open, so search thoroughly before you file it.

What proof do I need to get a replacement mailbox key?

For a Canada Post community mailbox, bring the notice card and government-issued photo ID to the post office named on the card. For a mailbox you own, the locksmith pages we read ask for identification and proof of address, and one Vancouver company also asks for a recent bill for the same address.

The one thing to do next

Look at the mailbox and name the owner of the lock before you call anyone. For a community mailbox, that is Canada Post, and the first check is whether a spare still exists, because a copy avoids the ticket altogether. For a lobby panel, it is your building manager, and the charge should be in writing. For a post office box, it is the counter where you rent it. Only a mailbox you own is a locksmith job, and then the right call is a registered local business that asks for your ID before it touches the lock.