Residents in northern Labrador seeking a Valentine’s Day bouquet may face disappointment this year as freight costs have compelled a store owner to halt fresh flower orders. Franks General Stores in Hopedale, Makkovik, and Nain, serving the five fly-in Inuit communities along Labrador’s north coast, have ceased importing fresh flowers for Feb. 14 due to changes in shipping cost calculations.
Patty Dicker, the store owner, revealed that recent alterations in shipping cost calculations by the airline serving these communities have rendered importing flowers prohibitively expensive. The freight costs, already challenging, have become even more burdensome, leading to the decision to forego fresh flowers this Valentine’s Day.
Dicker expressed the difficulty of balancing the desire to provide customers with the traditional gesture of flowers for special occasions while grappling with the increasingly prohibitive freight costs. She emphasized that passing on the additional cost to customers was not a viable option.
This challenge highlights a broader issue in the region, where transport costs elevate the prices of essentials such as food, clothing, fuel, and building supplies. The winter months see the transportation of groceries and dry goods from Happy Valley-Goose Bay to the small towns along the coastline, utilizing an Air Borealis Twin Otter. The costly freight transportation is a necessity in the absence of a more affordable ferry option during this season.
Fresh flowers, susceptible to the harsh winter temperatures, also face logistical challenges in their transportation. The necessity of transporting them in warm vehicles from the plane to the store, instead of traditional methods behind snowmobiles, adds to the complexity and cost.
Other store owners in the region echoed Dicker’s sentiments, citing exorbitant freight costs and weather conditions as reasons for discontinuing fresh flower imports. Rachel Edmunds, owner of A & K Variety in Makkovik, and Brent Smith with the North West Company in Nain and Rigolet mentioned cost and weather factors as reasons for not stocking fresh flowers.
Dicker’s staff noted a significant increase in flower transportation costs last year, leading to losses for the stores. The shift in freight charges, based on package dimensions rather than weight, impacted non-essential cargo like flowers. While essential cargo like food is exempt from the new calculation, other critical items, such as snowmobile parts, are subject to the new system.
Residents, determined to procure fresh flowers for their valentines, may explore ordering from stores in Happy Valley-Goose Bay or Labrador City, bearing the shipping cost themselves. Despite these challenges, the resilient community is likely to find alternative ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day amidst the scarcity of traditional blooms.
