The new Purolator headquarters in Prince George is supposed to have the bugs all worked out of its systems by now, but the next few weeks will test it to the limit.
The national courier service, a division of Canada Post, is already feeling the effects of the annual Christmas rush, but they have their hearts set on a new northern B.C. record for parcel delivery.
"In this district we are usually over 10,000 items per day for pickup and delivery. We hope to break the 11,000 mark sometime in this busy season," said Quin McGowan, the 10-year manager of the region's Purolator operation.
Handling the northern onslaught of parcels and special-delivery envelopes is exactly what the new facility is intended for. The shipping and retail complex on First Avenue, just west of Victoria Street, is massive compared to its previous location in the industrial area on north side of the Nechako River alongside the John Hart Bridge. Now there is easy access to both Highway 97 and 16 in all four directions.
Outside it has ample driveway space for safe, easy trucking. There are 27 bay doors to handle the fleet.
Inside, there is ample floor-space with a logical conveyer system allowing the distribution crews to direct the rivers of parcels coming in and going out.
"We've wanted to grow and expand in northern B.C. and finally we got our turn, and we feel like we can really fly, now," McGowan said. "A lot of places saw a reduction in their parcel volumes [during the economic downturn] but not here. They say northern B.C. has an active economy, things are heating up in oil and gas and mining, well we sure see it here. We never did drop off. We are growing."
Five days a week, the Purolator crews deliver planeloads of parcels and mail from the Prince George airport, sort it, scan it for customer tracking and roll it down the conveyer to the appropriate door for the destination address. All day long, trucks from other locations in Western Canada roll in and roll out as well.
"Logistically, it all has to connect, has to be on time, this is a snap-snap-snap environment. Your day goes by fast and there is always more work than there is day," said McGowan.
Shelly Todoruk has been processing Purolator post in Prince George for the past 25 years or so. Her husband has been doing it for the same length of time. She said she knows some of the courier drivers who have been at it even longer.
"We love it. This is a great place to work, but you have to be a certain kind of person," she said. "I have seen a lot of changes in the scanners, the measuring and weighing equipment, I've got uni-codes and postal codes forever in my head. It's a lot different than when I started and we were located over on Massey Drive, but it is still nice to see people's important packages getting to the right people fast."
Crew numbers vary, depending on the time of day and the sort of duty. The air crew has about six people, the morning crew has about 11 people and the afternoon crew has about five people, but there are sometimes overlaps and variations.
The Christmas season is hectic, due to the huge orders to and from retail stores and all the residential packages. Right after Christmas is another surge as stores re-stock their shelves and consumers either return unwanted items or catch up on late gift-giving. There is always a steady movement of business-to-business packages.
