Well I completed my walking tour introduction to Old Crow this morning. My initial impressions that this is a great little community have been reinforced. It’s neat and tidy, the people are friendly and the countryside appeals to my nature. I’ve posted a number of photos on my
Flickr and
Facebook sites so the ones here are just teasers for you.
Now, I do have one big disappointment however and even if the powers that be in our head office read this and choose to “disagree” with me I still have to say it. My problem is that we do not have the facilities to service this town properly. I understand that our store, warehouse and staff house are leased from the local Band Council but these buildings are woefully inadequate and since we are the one and only store in town it genuinely bothers me. We have space to carry only the very basics in groceries, no retail display unless it’s piled high above the grocery shelves and while the produce department is looking pretty good, three of our freezers are broken and can’t be repaired so there isn’t even room to display much of anything. We do however have 4 chest freezers full of ice cream and frozen novelties. Hmmm… think I’ll shift priorities this coming week.
To tell you the truth I personally find it a little embarrassing that I’m not able to provide better customer service here. There are just too many things required that I either haven’t done in years or ever done at all. (Does anyone out there know how to complete a Post Office accounting week-end and month-end?) In the meantime I’ll keep plugging away and try to get things cleaned up enough so we can do a proper inventory and determine a solid starting point to get things rolling from. The new District Manager is coming up the first week in June so we’ll see what he feels can be done to improve the situation. Time for a joint venture to upgrade a few things?
The town has a
great web site where you can get all kinds of information and you MUST read the “
Caribou Coordination” page as it explains the importance of this location in relation to the 150,000+ strong herd. All parts of the animals are used from the meat to the antlers, hoofs, hide, head and hair. Nothing is ever wasted in a First Nations community as they understand and appreciate how the lives of themselves and the wildlife must co-exist in harmony with each other.
Again, it’s a great place and I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to visit here. The town is in the process of building a fancy new visitors center so that, combined with a couple Bed & Breakfasts that I saw this morning means that the community of Old Crow is ready, willing, able and eager to welcome you to the shores of the Porcupine River. I highly recommend it for tourists and let me know if there is any information I can get for you and I’ll meet you at the airport!
Well I completed my walking tour introduction to Old Crow this morning. My initial impressions that this is a great little community have been reinforced. It’s neat and tidy, the people are friendly and the countryside appeals to my nature. I’ve posted a number of photos on my Flickr and Facebook sites so the ones here are just teasers for you.
Now, I do have one big disappointment however and even if the powers that be in our head office read this and choose to “disagree” with me I still have to say it. My problem is that we do not have the facilities to service this town properly. I understand that our store, warehouse and staff house are leased from the local Band Council but these buildings are woefully inadequate and since we are the one and only store in town it genuinely bothers me. We have space to carry only the very basics in groceries, no retail display unless it’s piled high above the grocery shelves and while the produce department is looking pretty good, three of our freezers are broken and can’t be repaired so there isn’t even room to display much of anything. We do however have 4 chest freezers full of ice cream and frozen novelties. Hmmm… think I’ll shift priorities this coming week.
To tell you the truth I personally find it a little embarrassing that I’m not able to provide better customer service here. There are just too many things required that I either haven’t done in years or ever done at all. (Does anyone out there know how to complete a Post Office accounting week-end and month-end?) In the meantime I’ll keep plugging away and try to get things cleaned up enough so we can do a proper inventory and determine a solid starting point to get things rolling from. The new District Manager is coming up the first week in June so we’ll see what he feels can be done to improve the situation. Time for a joint venture to upgrade a few things?
The town has a great web site where you can get all kinds of information and you MUST read the “Caribou Coordination” page as it explains the importance of this location in relation to the 150,000+ strong herd. All parts of the animals are used from the meat to the antlers, hoofs, hide, head and hair. Nothing is ever wasted in a First Nations community as they understand and appreciate how the lives of themselves and the wildlife must co-exist in harmony with each other. 
Again, it’s a great place and I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to visit here. The town is in the process of building a fancy new visitors center so that, combined with a couple Bed & Breakfasts that I saw this morning means that the community of Old Crow is ready, willing, able and eager to welcome you to the shores of the Porcupine River. I highly recommend it for tourists and let me know if there is any information I can get for you and I’ll meet you at the airport!
2 comments:
Hello,
Did you figure out the post office balancing, of course by the time I read this you've probably moved on but it can't hurt to ask. Glad to see you up in my neck of the woods.
Take Care
CG
Hey there Curtis! I thought everything was going smooth with the Post Office but it turns out that the report I was told to send in to Luz weekly is only supposed to go in by-weekly and has been messed up since March. I was only copying what the guy before me was doing but I guess it's not right. The situation will be corrected this week as my replacements arrive Monday and one of them knows Post Office procedures inside out and backwards. One problem solved.
Next problem... having LOTS of trouble getting stock into here. Orders I placed over 3 week ago are just starting to dribble in and yesterday we've run out of toilet paper! Horrors! Have to call Inuvik in the morning and see if I can beg some off of him... plus camp fuel and DUSTBANE! Hard to keep the place clean when the dust can't be controlled and there is no place in the store to fill a bucket of water to wash the floors. Have to haul it from the house. Been there, done that, but a long time ago.
Keep in touch!
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