TORONTO — A British consulting firm says Canada Post has made it into the Top 10 postal services in the G20.

Oxford Strategic Consulting says Canada Post takes the No. 8 spot in its ranking of postal services in the G20 countries.

The ranking is based on postal service providers' performance over the three years from 2008-10 looking at access to services, efficiency and performance.

The U.S. Postal Service took the No. 1 spot, followed by Japan Post, Australia Post and Korea Post.

Oxford says the USPS topped the ranking due to its high operating efficiency over the three years -- delivering eight times more letters per full-time delivery employee than Canada Post.

The report says the expansion of e-commerce means there is an even greater need for postal services to be fast, efficient and reliable - especially during the busy holiday season.

"People tend to think the Internet has made the postman redundant, but postal services provide the backbone for e-commerce deliveries," said report author William Scott-Jackson.

"If you could live anywhere in the world, and were sending a present to someone this Christmas, you'd want to be in the U.S., Japan or Australia," he added.