Fort Smith residents have been unable to send mail for almost a month due to a problem with the town post office’s computer.
Hélèna Katz said she first encountered the issue in late January when she went to the post office to mail four books to Yellowknife. Staff told her the post office’s computer system was not working and they were waiting for a replacement.
Katz said the town can only receive mail and parcels at the moment.
“At first I thought, OK, well it’ll be a few weeks because they needed to send up a new computer,” she told Cabin Radio.
“When I went in on Friday, they had the new computer there – but they explained that they were waiting for Canada Post headquarters to send a technician up to connect everything up to their network.
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“I asked if they had any idea of when that would happen, and the person didn’t really know. … For me, it’s just not knowing how much longer this is going to take. That was a concern.”
Although Katz could not send her books herself, she managed to work around the problem because her distributor in Yellowknife, Northern Quill, already had copies of her books. They arranged to deliver the books to their intended destination despite the disruption.
Katz expressed concern for the post office staff, describing them as “lovely and always helpful” but noting they likely face constant questions from frustrated residents.
A sign on the door informs the public that the computer system is down and only package pickups are available. It does not indicate when service will resume.
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A spokesperson for Canada Post said the post office has been experiencing “technical issues” with its point‑of‑sale system for some time.
A replacement for the computer was requested last month and the organization delivered a new one on February 2.
Canada Post has not provided a date for when those services will resume in Fort Smith.
“We are currently awaiting the scheduling of a technician to travel to Fort Smith and complete the installation,” the spokesperson said in an email on Wednesday.
“In the meantime, incoming mail and parcels continue to be processed; however, the post office is unable to conduct any monetary transactions at this time.”
Canada Post is asking customers with questions about postal services to contact the customer service team at canadapost.ca/support or by telephone at 866-607-6301 (TTY: 1-800-267-2797).
