No more free shipping to most Nunavut, Nunavik communities: Amazon

Amazon.ca’s Iqaluit customers appear to be the only ones in Nunavut to still qualify for the online retailers’ free shipping rates. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Shipping to Canada’s North can be a complex and expensive affair — so much so, that internet retailer Amazon.ca has cut free shipping rates to communities in Nunavut and Nunavik.

The Canadian version of the e-commerce giant has for years offered customers what’s called free “super saver” shipping ¬— free shipping for purchases of $25 and up — making Amazon.ca one of the few online retailers still offering free shipping to northern communities.

But that’s about to change.

“Due to the economic and shipping complexities in remote locations of Canada, on April 8, Amazon.ca offers Standard Shipping to Remote Locations for customers shipping to remote locations,” the company wrote in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

“Our goal is to offer fast, affordable shipping to all of our customers and we are committed to exploring new delivery solutions that better serve customers in remote locations.”

But the company isn’t offering a clear picture of what constitutes a “remote location” or what is considered “standard.”

The company’s website defines remote locations as “towns far from a shipper’s hub” or towns “infrequently served by shippers.”

Amazon.ca says that affected customers who order items to be shipped to an address in a remote location will see personalized information and details about the shipping changes.

Due to the change, Amazon.ca says that its special “Prime” shipping benefits are also no longer available in remote locations. Those with memberships have been offered a full refund for the fees they paid, the company said.

Nunavut’s capital and largest community seems to be the only one in the eastern Arctic to have survived the cuts, allowing Nunatsiaq News to order a $26.99 item to be shipped for no extra fees.

But for the same $26.99 item, ordered to be shipped to Kuujjuaq, Rankin Inlet or Cambridge Bay, Amazon.ca charged an additional $32.99 in fees.

That will place the online retailer’s merchandise out of reach for many northern customers; many Nunavut shoppers have said there’s no advantage now to buy through Amazon.ca over purchasing locally anymore.

Shoppers in Rankin Inlet say they’ve been told by the online retailer that the new base shipping rate is $29 plus $9.99 per pound of weight.

One customer in Rankin Inlet posted to Facebook her bill for a $39.99 order of diapers on Amazon.ca which came to $186.12, once shipping was added on.

“It was good while it lasted,” commented Rankin Inlet resident Doug McClarty in a Facebook post.

Also hit by the change in shipping rates is the group Helping Our Northern Neighbours, who have been taking advantage of Amazon.ca’s free shipping rates to send household items to needy northern communities.

Amazon.ca made $1.5 billion in sales in Canada in 2013, a Bank of Montreal report found last year, dominating online retail in the country with seven per cent of all e-commerce sales.