Ogdensburg, NY UPS Store has 9,000 to 10,000 packages for Canadians waiting to be picked up when border reopens
The UPS Store in Ogdensburg, New York has thousands of packages addressed to residents in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario waiting for pick-up when the Canada-U.S. land border reopens next month.
A White House official says the U.S. will announce Friday that it will reopen its land borders to vaccinated non-essential visitors on Nov. 8.
With the border being closed to travellers for 19 months, some packages have been sitting at the UPS Store in Ogdensburg for nearly two years.
"There's at least between nine and 10,000 (packages)," said Orin Wing, manager of the UPS Store in Ogdensburg during an interview on CTV Morning Live.
"It's been continuing. We've had packages coming in the entire time, just nobody coming in the door from the Canadian side."
Wing says the freight section of the facility has been full since the start of the pandemic.
"We have packages still here from December 2019," said Wing Friday morning.
"We used to charge holding fees for packages – once a package is here longer than two weeks we charge $5 a week for those packages. But once the pandemic hit we understood that the Canadians weren't going to be able to come over and it's not their fault at all, so we waived all the holding fees for all our customers. We still got everything here."
Wing says businesses in Ogdensburg are "relieved" the border will soon be open for non-essential travellers.
"It has been tough for a lot of the community, a lot of restaurants have closed, a lot of people have lost their jobs, lot of people running short staffed," said Wing.
"The fact that it's happening right now, we're losing another business here by the end of the month, the fact that the Canadians are going to be able to come back over is going to help a lot of people over here on this side."
If you have a package to pick up at the UPS Store in Ogdensburg, Wing has some advice.
"They can either call us ahead of time and let us know if they've got more than one or two packages – just let us know the day they're going to be coming over, we can pull them ahead of time and we'll set them aside. It will make it a little bit easier for each of the customers when they come in."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
The story of how a B.C. man found his birth mother
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
Montreal man on the hook for thousands of dollars after a feature on his Tesla caused an accident
A Montreal man is warning Tesla drivers about using the Smart Summon feature after his vehicle hit another in a parking lot.
Italy's white-collar mafia is making a business killing
Italy's mafia rarely dirties its hands with blood these days. Extortion rackets have gone out of fashion and murders are largely frowned upon by the godfathers.
Spike in 'violent rhetoric' since Oct. 7 attack from 'extremist actors,' CSIS warns
The Israel-Hamas war has led to a spike in 'violent rhetoric' from 'extremist actors' that could prompt some in Canada to turn to violence, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warns.
Russia announces nuclear weapon drills after angry exchange with senior Western officials
Russia plans to hold drills simulating the use of battlefield nuclear weapons, the Defense Ministry announced Monday, days after the Kremlin reacted angrily to comments by senior Western officials about the war in Ukraine and Moscow warned that tensions with the West are deepening.
Summer forecast: What to expect as El Nino weakens
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Actor Bernard Hill, of 'Titanic' and 'Lord of the Rings,' has died at 79
Actor Bernard Hill, who delivered a rousing cry before leading his people into battle in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' and went down with the ship as the captain in 'Titanic,' has died.
Dash cam catches moment suspected drunk driver hits parked car, sends it careening into North Shore flower shop
Police say it’s fortunate no one was injured or killed in a collision at North Vancouver’s Park and Tilford shopping centre Saturday evening that sent one vehicle careening into a flower shop and another into a set of concrete barriers outside a Winners store.
Israeli army tells Palestinians to evacuate parts of Gaza's Rafah ahead of an expected assault
The Israeli army on Monday ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza's southern city of Rafah to start evacuating from the area, signalling that a long-promised ground invasion there could be imminent.