Iqaluit (Dec 22/03) - There was a 48 cent postage stamp shortage in Iqaluit last week, around Dec. 10-11.

But workers at the Iqaluit post office said the extent of the shortage was exaggerated by the media and the rumour mill in Iqaluit.

Iqaluit post office worker Mathieu Beauchesne shows off some booklets of 48 cent stamps. - Kathleen Lippa/NNSL photo

While no one at the Canada Post office in Iqaluit would speak on record about the stamp issue, John Caines, manager of national media relations for Canada Post, said Iqaluit wasn't the only city to run out of stamps briefly this season.

Ottawa, where he lives, was out for a time, too.

You just have to restock, much like a grocery store, or bank, he said.

"You get a large influx of people coming in to buy the stamps.

"And a lot of people aren't stocking new (48 cent stamps) because the rate is going to change in a couple of weeks."

The cost of sending a letter will be 49 cents starting Jan. 12, 2004.

But Caines stressed mail could always be sent.

"It's not terrible if you don't have stamps. If people want to put mail in the system, we can take the mail and their money and put a meter impression on the envelope and it's going to go."

The manager of the Iqaluit post office contacted all outlets in Nunavut for stamps. Extra booklets were shipped to Iqaluit to meet the demand, said Caines.

"This happens," Caines stressed. "People run out of things."

While Caines did not know how many stamps Iqaluit shipped in last week, he said it was "certainly enough to get through to the end of the year."

The 49 cent stamp went on sale in Iqaluit on Dec. 19.