How was the holiday season for Blaine package businesses?

Blaine has more than 20 businesses that receive packages so that customers – mostly Canadians – can come pick them up. The holiday season is the busiest time of the year for these businesses.

Despite changing relations between the U.S. and Canada, package businesses reported a holiday season similar to the past couple years.

Roger Benetti, owner of Pulse Packages

“It was an interesting year. We did basically the same amount of packages this holiday season, but what I did notice was the spread between November and December wasn’t as great. It looks like people are buying earlier. I think the vendors are starting to get smarter with their sales. They’re starting to spread them out a bit longer. That seems to be the trend and people like that. I looked at the whole year and basically we’re slightly ahead this year over last year.”

Dennis Wilson, vice president of Edge Logistics and Transport 

“We saw a slight increase, probably only about 15 percent. Nothing to write home about. We were prepared. We hired an extra person just in case and we almost didn’t need him, but it helped. The season started when it usually does – just after Thanksgiving.”

Todd Robinson, owner of Security Mail Services

“It was pretty similar to the last several seasons really. When the Canadian dollar dropped (in 2014 and 2015), business dropped and it’s been fairly consistent without much fluctuation since then. We found we were a little busier earlier on. The amount of stuff this year was consistent with last year, it just got stretched out over a couple more days since Black Friday was earlier.”

Photos and story by Oliver Lazenby