Guy Quenneville
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, November 28, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife's Canada Post office has changed its holiday parcel pick-up policy this year in hopes of improving service to customers.

Laura Lloy, post office manager at Shoppers Drug Mart, and Darryl Dolynny, store manager, at the downtown store location. Holiday parcel pickups for all customers who don't have their own boxes at the store will be re-routed to the main post office on Franklin Avenue. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

In past years, people expecting parcels could pick them up at either the downtown post office on Franklin Avenue or the franchise location inside Shoppers Drug Mart in Yk Centre West.

This year, except for the 200 or so people who already have mailboxes at Shoppers, everybody will be directed to pick up their packages at the main post office.

The move, suggested by Canada Post area manager Lorette Ellis, is meant to lift the burden of handling enormous volumes of Christmas mail in cramped conditions from Shoppers' shoulders.

The change will last until shortly after the new year.

"Shoppers did everything in their power to make (the service) the best it could be," said Ellis.

But attempting to increase the handling capacity at Shoppers by renting a room completely separate from the store didn't work well.

"It was inconvenient. Because it was a separate room, the parcels were not being scanned in our system. When the customers would look at the Internet and trace their parcels, it wouldn't have a confirmation of delivery. "

"Shoppers couldn't scan it because they didn't have a (scanning) system in that little room," Ellis added.

Customer feedback regarding the shortcomings of the system prompted the change, said Ellis.

Daryl Dolynny, owner of Shoppers Drug Mart, said he welcomes the shake-up given the sheer number of parcels coming through Yellowknife at this time of year.

"I would say that the four or five weeks leading to Christmas is, in terms of parcel volume, probably equivalent to the other 11 months of the year combined," said Dolynny.

It will be interesting to see how the change plays out, he added.

"I'm very confident that it will be handled as good, if not better, than years past. So I'm not worried about it," he said.

Dolynny is confident the elimination of the service during Christmastime will not hurt business at Shoppers.

"This time of year, the store itself is busy anyway just because of the Christmas sales," he said.

Ellis said she could not comment yet on whether Shoppers will resume holiday parcel pick-up services next Christmas, when the store has moved to its new and considerably larger location.

Construction is currently underway on the new 15,000 square foot Shoppers Drug Mart on 49 Street which is slated to open in summer 2008.