Ontario, which opted to go with a provincial store taking online orders, has had a rough time of it from the start of legalization on October 17. The province’s bricks-and-mortar retail storefronts are not set to open until April and is limited to 25 licensed retail stores.
Actually, during the first few weeks when the OCRC began sales online, they faced a lot of delivery delays. Some of this was caused by a shortage of product, the revolving postal strike and just the sheer number of online orders they were trying to process.
Additionally, the Office of the Ontario Ombudsman said in October it had received over 2,200 customer complaints against the OCRC The complaints involved delivery delays, billing problems, and poor customer service reports the Ottawa Citizen.
And on the 8th day….#ocs #dudewheresmyweed #ontariocannabis
Order number 29002, fulfilled!
(8 days delivery needs a lot of work however!) @canadapostcorp welcome back! ID – provided and, no way I look my age, but he bought it! pic.twitter.com/LRgayacpex
— Geoff Shier (@burntmeatloaf) October 25, 2018
Apparently, the OCRC’s problems persisted through November of 2018 because, in Statistics Canada’s monthly retail report that came out this week, Ontario’s cannabis sales dropped to $10.1 million in November from $11.7 million in October
Same-day delivery service wanted
On January 19, the OCRC posted a tender call for same-day delivery that would launch beginning on March 1, with the possibility of the pilot project being extended after the end of the year. Right now, the courier service is only going to be available in the greater Toronto area.
I did finally get around to picking up my order today. Overall it looks decent and the smoke has been good. No complaints of overly dry buds. Although one of my Saturday Afternoon half quarter had a decent amount of shake #OCS #OCSDelivery #OntarioCannabis pic.twitter.com/to2VZYEdbL
— Camacho (@MrCamacho_) October 25, 2018
“Customers have told us from very early on that they would like to have the option for same-day or expedited delivery service,” said OCS spokeswoman Amanda Winton in an e-mail. “OCS is undertaking a competitive bidding process to find the best option(s) that works for the greatest number of customers across the widest geography at the best price.”
while the OCRC would not confirm a March 1 starting date for the delivery service, a spokesperson said the organization “looks forward to announcing a timeline and service territory for the launch of same-day service as soon as an agreement is finalized and the service offering has been clearly defined.”
The province has not said how much the expedited service would cost consumers who choose to use it. The bid document says pricing proposals will be evaluated in the second stage of the contract – so that means everyone will have to wait.
OCRC also refused to answer any questions about its sales, including the dollar amounts or a response to the StatCan report. The organization also refused to give out any information about its distribution warehouse or even the number of employees they have working there.
