Havre’s package pickup service anxious to see Canadians again

By COLLIN GALLANT on May 29, 2021.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

A growing wish to see Canadians stream back to Havre, Montana is rivalled by a growing backlog of packages at a Havre business that holds online orders for Canadian customers to pickup.

“I’m sitting on pallets and pallets of stuff, and some orders from December 2019,” Erik Mies, the owner of Westwind Courier Service in Havre told the News on Thursday.

“It’s an unfortunate situation, but I’m not charging anything additional because I’m not going to profiteer off the border shutdown.”

His business receives and holds packages for Canadians who need to have online purchases shipped to a U.S. address for pickup.

Prior to pandemic border restrictions, that included a good customer base in Medicine Hat, Maple Creek, Sask., and surrounding areas, but land crossings between the two countries have closed to non-essential travel since March 2020.

That will continue until at least June 21, federal governments in Ottawa and Washington announced on May 20 in the latest of monthly extensions as the pandemic is brought under control.

Still, with restrictions mostly lifted in the U.S. state, and full vaccinations there approaching 50 per cent of the county’s population, other business leaders say retailers who have struggled for a year or more are hoping Canadian tourists will be back soon.

In Alberta as well, the province announced a staged reopening will proceed in June as hurdles are met for at-minimum first-dose shots.

That has business owners in Havre and surrounding area hoping for a quick return to a free-flowing border.

“We were really hoping that the border would have been opened late this month,” said Julea Robbins, the executive director of the Havre Chamber of Commerce.

She said spring marathon season, and even Memorial Day this weekend are typically big draws for tourists. After more than a year, it will be just nice to mingle again, though there is a strong hope that economic activity can get back to normal.

“Havre’s done well, we’re a resilient community, but businesses have struggled like any place. We’re definitely ready to have our Canadian friends come back. Everyone is very excited for it. It will be mind-blowing.”

Canadians are hoping for the border to open soon, as well, said Mies.

He continues to receive orders even though he explains that cross border trips are mostly impossible for non-essential workers, day-trippers or those who only need entry to the U.S. for shopping.

He said his Canadian customers appear to be more optimistic and are increasing orders recently, probably assuming the closure won’t last too much longer.

Robbins said beyond an influx of cross-border shoppers, many Havre residents and even other people in her office often come to Medicine Hat for weekends, to hit the casino, or to see family. They’re anxious to travel as well.

Mies himself misses his regular customers, and will be happy when things get “back to normal.”

“I do take all that money back up north,” he said, lamenting that annual camping and hunting trips to Alberta and British Columbia had to be cancelled in 2020.

20
-19