Got a U.S. mailbox? Blaine company to throw out unclaimed, unpaid items

The days of crossing to Washington state from B.C. for a quick trip to pick up mail or a package may feel like decades ago, but for a company left holding onto all of those items, the backlog leading to major storage concerns.

Hagen’s of Blaine Inc. is now telling its customers that daily fees will be put on unclaimed items and those left for an extended period of time will be thrown away.

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The company wrote on its website a few weeks ago that changes had to be made to its policies as it was seeing only a handful of customers a day due to ongoing border rules and bad weather in December. The company also reduced its hours due to the low number of pickups in recent months.

“Once the weather gets better, we have a better understanding of the testing rules and we see more of your wonderful smiling faces we will revisit the hours,” the company said.

The daily fees range between $0.50 to $1.00, and unpaid items left for more than 90 days will be disposed.

Customers are urged to make arrangements for long-term storage or to have another company pick the items up and courier them to Canada. The company does not forward items.

Prior to the pandemic, many people in B.C.’s Lower Mainland had made use of a U.S. mail box service, but due to the border closure many items have been left unclaimed for over two years. The land border reopened in the summer, but several restrictions remain in place.

Currently, anyone entering into Canada must show a negative molecular COVID-19 test, as well as be fully vaccinated.

Canada relaxed its testing requirements briefly in November for short trips of less than 72 hours, but those rules were reinstated three weeks later in the wake of the rising Omicron variant.