Friday, November 03, 2006

Addendum to previous post.

I should point out that the ‘food by mail’ described in the Nunatsiaq News editorial is a little different for the Labrador coastal communities.
While the aims and objectives are the same the logistics are somewhat different than described.

It is similar with the ground portion, goods being trucked into Happy Valley-Goose Bay from Montreal; they have to be brought in for there anyway.
If the goods were air lifted to GB there still would be multiple handling to and fro, people got to get there cut, so that much is parallel with the article

There are at least two wholesalers who handle the goods; they take them out to the airlines.
There Canada post inspects the product for freshness; quality, correct storage, and puts there stamp on it. I believe that the two air lines servicing the coast, Air Labrador and Innu Mikun, divide the communities between them, but I can be corrected on that.
The goods are then taken into the communities where the retailers pick them up and rush them into the shelves without much fancy fan fair.

The program is a good one, helping keep the prices of fresh produce and dairy reasonable. It works well most of the time, but for reasons that I can not figure out things do regress at some time during a twelve month period.
If no one does or says anything it will slowly get worse, things like the plane not coming in when it is contracted to. Produce clearly not fresh when it was taken up to the air lines. Items not stored or packaged correctly.

I usually give it time to sort itself out, usually it does not, and then I’m off to the races contacting the overseers at INAC in Ottawa. I get good co operation from two of the store managers here, so it usually does not take that long before things get back on the rails. They know me at INAC by now.

As to if we [the consumer] are getting the full value of the savings in the program that I can not say. I have seen no evidence to the contrary, but I have heard rumblings at times to the effect we may not be, but that is for the fearless leaders who were elected to protect the public interest.

One aspect of the INAC program that is little known is that consumers can take advantage of it also. For example; I could place an order with a supplier in Montreal, have it trucked to Goose Bay, air lifted for the same price as the retailers get. The only catch is I would then be responsible for any spoilage due to weather delays, incompetent handling and the like. Believe me there is a hell of a lot of that.

1 comment:

Mr Dn said...

The food mail works with entry point and destination points. The only place a consumer in Nain can get food mail from is in Goose Bay (the official entry point). And if he knows the 2 or 3 stores that provide the service, he can order it directly. As it stands, the stores in Nain are getting their shipping subsidized and then selling the produce for as much as without the subsidy. So basically they are having their profits subsidized. I have talked directly to the man who oversees the food mail program, and I would suggest that with his attitude, we won't see any positive changes in a long while. However, he did give me the application that a retailer would use to apply to be a food mail customer. So if you knew of a store that you like to buy produce (or any groceries, and the list includes other things like cleaning supplies etc... that are elegible) from, you can get the manager to fill out this application and they can ship you the goods directly for what it costs on their shelves plus the postage (at the subsidized rate of course, which is still something like 80 cents a pound in the labrador region). I don't see why the stores here should be profiting due to subsidies.