Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Residents Martha and Mike Mackowiak launched Deliver2Alaska in August, a new business that forwards packages to residents from companies that don’t ship to Alaska.

Residents can ship items they purchase online to the company’s warehouse in northern Idaho via the company’s website, http://www.deliver2alaska.com. Warehouse workers then measure and photograph the package and a price is emailed to the buyer. The company offers several options through the United States Postal Service. The service costs $5 plus postage for each package.

“Here in Haines, we’re seeing a disparity with shipping costs and also choices,” Michael Mackowiak said. “You can only ship things like Amazon Prime or somebody else that ships free to Alaska. It limits your purchasing options to only those companies.”

Mackowiak said he was inspired to create the company after 40 years in the maritime industry, facing his own frustrations with vendors that shipped only to the Lower 48.

“I don't know how many letters I've written in the last 40 years trying to get suppliers to just use the postal service,” Mackowiak said. “Instead of complaining all the time we decided to be the solution.”

Shipping through USPS can be cheaper and faster than through private companies, he said. Alaska Seaplanes, Haines’ main transporter for mail, FedEx and UPS, has a priority contract with the postal service.

“Anything going to the post office will be the first to ship before we worry about Fedex, UPS or freight,” Alaska Seaplanes employee Austin Woodard said. “There's times where Fedex packages get stuck in certain locations, usually Anchorage. I'm not really sure why. It varies. UPS is more consistent, all their orders are relatively on time. Fedex might be extra days or weeks. Oftentimes Anchorage seems to be a big black hole for packages.”

Between a limited winter flight schedule and frequent weather days, USPS mail can be the only packages to arrive in Haines for days.

Deliver2Alaska is available across the state to both retail customers and businesses. Mackowiak said several businesses in Haines are already using the service.

“Customers are saving money on shipping, retailers are selling merchandise that might otherwise not be sold because the shipping exceeds the cost of the merchandise, and we are providing jobs for college students,” Mackowiak said. “There are so many good things coming out of it, we were willing to take the losses to get the volume up, because we really believe it will benefit us and a lot of other people, when we eventually get the word out.”

Deliver2Alaska uses the same regulations as USPS. Mackowiak said customers often ask about shipping ammo or other hazardous materials. Shipping hazmat is complicated, Mackowiak said, and can be accepted on a case by case basis but is overall discouraged.

“Our limits are the post office’s limits,” Mackowiak says. “The postal service has greater restrictions on hazmat than Fedex and UPS.”

Deliver2Alaska began moving packages in August and currently has six employees. This week, he said they’re shipping about 25 packages.

“We really need volume to make this work because we make so little on each transaction. There are many instances where customers are saving between one hundred or two hundred dollars on larger items compared to the other carriers, but we are still only getting five dollars,” Mackowiak said.

Mackowiak said they planned on operating at a loss for about a year. “It’s picking up quickly now and it's looking promising,” he said.

Registration is free and can be accessed on the Deliver2Alaska website at http://www.deliver2alaska.com.