One aspect of living in a "remote" community (I put that in quotes because Inuvik doesn't feel remote any more!) is that you quickily discover the joys of online shopping. With the few clicks of a button, you can buy almost anything you need and it will show up a few days later. A lot of online shopping sites provide free shipping, even to Inuvik, especially if you order a certain minimum amount.
My most recent success story was ordering some products from well.ca -- "Canada's largest health, beauty and skin care store". I had never heard of the site before (because I'm old-fashioned and would rather go to a store), but a lot of people up here use it. I decided to order a couple of bottles of dry shampoo, for those days when I don't have time to wash and dry my hair!
The box showed up at the post office, and I was a bit surprised how big it was, considering I only ordered two bottles of shampoo.
By the time I had unpacked it, this was the total amount of packaging I had to deal with:
Although I am glad that my products arrived safely, this seemed like overkill, considering it would take a lot to damage these spray cans, as they're not exactly made of glass...
I found this slightly ironic, as well.ca markets itself as "the largest green and natural and health and beauty store online in Canada" and this flyer came with the box. They're trying, but they have a way to go!