Nunavut’s only Amazon pickup hub has entered the new year on a confusing note, some Iqaluit customers say.
“It’s bizarre. It just seems like they’re adding extra steps to problems that never really existed,” said customer Madelyn Moore.
Unlike in the rest of Canada, where Amazon orders are often delivered to customers’ doorsteps, Iqaluit residents have to pick up their orders at the Amazon warehouse hub, operated jointly by Canadian North and Amazon.
There is also an option to place Amazon orders to the Canada Post office, but that can take longer.
Moore got an email from Amazon on Jan. 13 that said the pickup hub near the Iqaluit airport would be updating the address of its pickup location on the Amazon app.
“The physical pickup location isn’t changing – only the address details in our system,” the email said.
But for about three weeks after, Moore couldn’t place any orders to the pickup location. After that, the app would only allow her to place orders with four items or fewer.
If she tried to order more items the pickup location would be marked as “out of service.”
“I don’t understand why they would do that,” said April Peters, who has been having similar issues as Moore.
“If you’re ordering four things and another four things and another four things, they all end up coming.”
Amazon acknowledged the four-item limit and said it was a mistake.
“This was due to a short-term technical error that Amazon has resolved. Customers are now able to once again order more than four items for Hub Counter shipping at a time,” said Kristin Gable, a spokesperson for Amazon.
Peters orders gluten- and nut-free food from Amazon because much of it is not available in Iqaluit stores.
“We’re super-dependent on Amazon because we have a child with severe food allergies,” she said.
“And oh my gosh, the amount of stuff that we get from there, like diapers and clothes and stuff that’s just not necessarily available.”
And often, items on Amazon are cheaper than in Iqaluit stores.
Moore said she recently ordered a five-litre jug of laundry detergent for $20, which she says would have costed more than $60 at Northmart.
The new Amazon hub address has led to other changes. Both Moore and Peters said they haven’t been able to order any electronic items containing batteries to the hub – those orders have to go to the Canada Post office.
New rules by the International Air Transport Association regarding the shipping of lithium batteries that “may have a role” in the change, Gable, from Amazon, said in an email.
However, these regulations have existed since at least 2009.
Markus Ruediger, spokesperson for the International Air Transport Association, deferred to Amazon to explain changes to its delivery policy but said it could be related to batteries being classified as “dangerous goods.”
Gable said Amazon is still investigating the questions about the shipment of batteries.
Meanwhile, for customers, the inconsistency at Iqaluit’s Amazon’s hub is “annoying,” Peters said, and if its services deteriorate even more she might look for workarounds with other websites and stores.
Moore agreed.
“I don’t think they realize just how much we rely on Amazon to get even some of just the basic necessities,” she said.