Exactly a week after the opening of the Yukon government-run retail and online cannabis store, the government was subject to criticism for offering online sales with what the Yukon Party calls too-high shipping prices.

That’s after the Yukon Party’s Wade Istchenko took aim at the government’s strategy, once again expressing dissent with the Yukon Liberals’ decision to regulate the store. He also suggested the $12 that will be charged for online orders was too high.

The opposition’s criticisms stem from a CKRW item that saw a reporter place an order for the cheapest pre-rolled joint of cannabis, listed at $15.94 (also the cheapest the Star could find as of press time today, provided by Canna Farms).

According to Yukon Liquor Corp. (YLC) stats, the pre-rolled products have been the most popular, with Yukoners more likely to buy products in person rather than online.

For example: between Oct. 17 to Oct. 25, the retail store saw sales of just over $200,000, while the online store sold more than $16,000.

Also as of Oct. 25, the retail site saw more than 4,000 visitors and the YLC turned away about 50 people. Total online visitors amounted to 3,404.

As CKRW’s Tim Kucharuk noted in his Oct. 24 report, the shipping for his order amounted to about $12, just shy of the price of the joint itself by about $4.

That was to have it shipped from the Cannabis Yukon retail store at Industrial and Quartz roads to the radio station’s Fourth Avenue at Main Street office.

Noting that both sites are in the city’s downtown area, Istchenko said it was too high for consumers but also took too long (five days).

“Imagine how long it will take to have it shipped to Beaver Creek, Dawson City or Mayo,” he said in the legislature Wednesday, noting that may also have implications for illegal activity.

“Who is going to switch away from the black market if you have to wait so long and pay so much in shopping?”

Meanwhile, YLC spokesperson Scott Westerlaken confirmed Thursday afternoon that the $12 shipping fee was a flat rate that will be applied to all online orders.

That means that even if you order the cheapest product online (which YLC president Matt King explained last week could eventually go as low as $6.17 per gram), there will still be that standard fee even if you were to order a premium more expensive product.

It also means that the fee would be the same regardless of whether you were 20 kilometres away from the site or 200 kilometres – so every community would get the same fee for shipping.

Istchenko and his colleagues in the party continued to press Premier Sandy Silver in committee discussions Thursday, asking if 100 per cent of the $12 went directly to Canada Post.

Suspecting that the question was implying whether that means the government was keeping any revenue from the postage cost, the premier assured that was not the case.

“A private sector is still going to have to figure out shipping as well,” Silver added.

The minister responsible for the YLC, John Streicker, noted earlier that within the first week of about $160,000 in sales, Yukoners tended to lean toward the more premium products.

While that figure was for the store itself and tracked from Oct. 17 to Oct. 21 (a Wednesday to a Sunday), the total sales for both retail and online as of yesterday was about $234,000.

“The price range for a gram of cannabis at the new store range from $8 to just shy of $20,” Streicker said, pointing out to Istchenko that the $16 joint was in fact not the cheapest product.

“There is a product that is closer to the street price across the country, but they are providing a range of products because we do want to displace the illicit market,” he continued.

While the minister has heard of deliveries that lasted five days, others have taken only two. “I will work with our partners to try to make sure that the delivery system is as fast as possible.”

The real shipping of packages to communities is about $14 to $15, while in Whitehorse it sits between $10 and $11. But the $12 flat rate is “to not create a barrier between rural and urban,” Silver explained.

The YLC echoed these statements, explaining that the standard fee covered a portion of the Canada Post expedited parcel fee – which includes costs for the proof of age requirement.

The YLC also noted that all packaging must be child- and tamper-resistant, while still preventing moisture and contamination.

“We are currently looking into smaller shipping package options to improve our services to our customers, and would adjust shipping rates accordingly where possible.”

It pointed out that it’s unusual for somebody to order one-gram package size online as the typical amount spent per e-transaction is about seven grams or $130 (minus the $12 fee).

Wondering if the prices were set the way they were to pay for government wages and renovations costs, Istchenko added the packaging the reporter received was emblematic of a “wasteful strategy.”

As recently as mid-October, Streicker said the government has pegged the renovation and improvements to the store at about $400,000.

Addressing the packaging concerns, the minister suggested that his hands were tied, as it is “as per regulations from the federal government.

“I will have to work with the regulations that are set there by the federal government, and so would the private sector, by the way.”

That joint came in a six-inch by four-inch by four-inch box, Istchenko later explained in committee, to which Silver responded his government is also concerned about the shipping.

In particular, the “extra amounts of plastics that are being used.

“It is a big issue.”

The premier continued that as it was part of Ottawa’s regulations, he hoped to speak directly to finance ministers and at the premiers’ meeting about packaging.

The next confirmed Council of the Federation meeting is scheduled for July 2019 in Saskatchewan.