The Chitchats Zoo!
Summary: byto253 describes a chaotic scene at Chitchats, with packages piled across the floor due to a postal strike and Christmas rush. mrdutch1001 mentions predicting such issues and highlights possible delays with all courier companies. john_koenig99 and mrdutch1001 discuss the weather conditions affecting deliveries. sin-n-dex and byto253 share their experiences with Chitchats and other couriers, noting the challenges but also efficiencies of their services. Participants discuss strategies for managing shipments, including batching and consolidating packages. canada-vintage shares their positive experience switching from Canada Post to Chitchats, while byto253 and others discuss regional variations in courier service quality. Overall, the discussion highlights the struggles and adaptations of businesses during the postal strike and holiday period.
Wow. I dropped a bunch of shipments off at Chitchats today and there were literally overrun. Normally there are a couple of bins on one side that may get filled up. Today almost the entire floor was covered with stacked up parcels from one side to the other with a small area in front of the door. One person out front and the other in the back scanning like a madman. I don't think they will be going home early tonight.
I didn't take a picture because people would have been in the shot but really wanted to! And 4 more cars pulled up with deliveries while I was there. It was just crazy. The post office on strike and the Christmas rush is on full force now.
Keeping an eye on the tracking to see when they are scanned and moved on.
byto253
OP1 year agoOttawa to Calgary was delivered in 4 days, but 2 Toronto area items are still in transit though with the courier. Toronto would normally be delivered by now so a couple of days behind but still within the eBay time frame.
Chitchat put out this notice.
"Due to high volumes, we ask clients to bring shipments to a branch as early as possible to ensure same-day departure. Until January 10, same-day departures are guaranteed only for shipments received at least one hour before closing. Shipments arriving afterwards may not depart the same day. We apologize for any inconvenience caused."
I have shut down for Christmas, as I normally do, and am happy to watch all this from the sidelines until January!
ilikehockeyjerseys
·1 year agoChit Chats to the USA is fantastic because it's just USPS. After the 24-48 hours it takes for the package to be inducted, the customer is dealing with USPS.
Batching into Chit Chats is a better option than going completely dark. When Chit Chats first started, I sent batches via CanPar because there was not a drop spot in my city. My only concern with this is that the liability is very high. If CanPar or Chit Chats lose the batch, or it gets temporarily misplaced, you will have to deal with multiple affected orders and possible INRs.
Also, I don't believe Chit Chats insurance qualifies until an order is handed off to them. So there is an added liability where you may have to get third party insurance. I don't recall what the insurance offers are like from CanPar. Of course, you can use another carrier to do this, when I used to do it Chit Chats had integration with CanPar that would make it much cheaper and easier to send batches.
I still think that it is mostly worth it for sellers who have enough volume that sending in a batch only represents a small additional cost per item.
chicweb
·1 year agoI'm trying it right now with mail-in with CanPar. My concern is with volume.
Since I'm selling a lot of low profit items, I'm trying to incorporate some of the shipping fees into the item price, to still offer a rather low shipping price.
It's a similar gimmick as Free Shipping. But by keeping a shipping price in place, there's room for combined shipping in the end. Find it more interesting for customers, they can save a bit there.
But having to mail-in with CanPar, it cost around 15 to 20$ from my place with canpar... When playing with low-profit items, it's an headache. But hey.. I'm having fun trying things 🙂 Nothing to loose except a few bucks. I could even invest that 15$ just to try it out, if there's only one sale out of it. I'm learning at the same time.
Who knows, maybe I'll find the sweet spot 😉
So I'm testing this strategy. Will see how it goes. But it would work better with higher value items.
But I think selling CD/DVD/Low value items separately isn't very viable at the moment without Canada Post lettermail, unless selling a very very high volume or having a dropoff location near. Customers who buy those products on eBay don't want to pay for high shipping.
I find ChitChat VERY interesting for US shipping tho. If only I had a dropoff near... *sigh*
canada-vintage
·1 year agoAbout 99% of my sales are going to the U.S.A. After 10 days, I realized Canada Post & their union were not moving at all & it was smelling bad for the busy season ahead. Plus all the cancellations (because I could not ship to people who made offers or paid for items), I woke up & switched to Chitchats.
So far I love it, and I don't think I will ever return to Canada Post as they abandoned us. Everything moves smoothly in the Chitchat system & frankly it is not slower than Canada Post. My items values are in the 250-800$ range so I ALWAYS use USPS Priority Mail with full tracking (Equivalent to XpressPost USA), with signature for $250.00 & up as Ebay requests. It is not much harder that printing a Domestic shipping label.
With their $800 USD personal exemption, my buyers never had any bad surprises with brokerage fees like Fedex or UPS. I mail by "batches" of 5-6 parcels to the Montreal depot twice a week or more (depending on the sales), by Fedex (27-35$). At the end you might save a few bucks compared to Canada Post rates. But the most satisfying thing: you can keep selling & shipping as usual, and you don't care about their %?&* strike anymore! Buyers are more confident to buy when they see "Standard shipping from Canada 5-9 days" than "There is a strike up there, you definitely won't receive your things for Christmas"
mrdutch1001
·1 year agoMany Canadian sellers do NOT have access to ChitChats or Stallion,etc and although this is great for you and all those sellers that do have access to these couriers and may indeed bring great satisfaction that "you can keep selling & shipping as usual, and you don't care about their %?&* strike anymore! Buyers are more confident to buy..."; it is little comfort to those sellers, many large volume sellers who just do not have that option. Fortunately for myself I am not reliant on sales for income so it matters not that I don't have access to either ChitChats or Stallion, but I truly feel for all those sellers who have been so greatly impacted by not having access to economical alternate shipping companies.
byto253
OP1 year agoNice to see a situation and example where bundling up parcels and shipping them to a Chitchat depot makes sense for someone. Thanks for sharing that. Everyone has to find the setup that works for them, it sure is not one size fits all.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·1 year ago@byto253
@mrdutch1001
@canada-vintage
This may be why I and many others (i've spoken to a bunch of them) took a little offence to eBay's statement at the beginning of the strike...."Find an alternate carrier". For many there just isn't one. Sadly something eBay refuses to be willing to comprehend. (This was was why I was hesitant to switch to someone else along + throwing in I really don't have access to anywhere convenient for dropping off). One of the many problems with alternate carriers are not as reliable when it comes to the other side of the equation.....delivering. Especially if 1 lives in an apt/condo, only has a PO box or homes that have to worry about porch pirates. This is why end of mile knowledge of WHO is doing the delivery is so important. What happens when you have a situation like Covid that throws out what was once acceptable. Secure delivery to the very end.
The parcel I was expecting originally on Thursday with CanPar, showed out for delivery very late Friday morning. Tracking showed by end of day. It never arrived. Checking delivery status this morning (Dec 7 Saturday) it is still showing out for delivery by the end day. (Dec 6. Yesterday). Alternate methods "may" work fine for shipping internationally, maybe not so much for Canada. CanPar's chatbot only is alive Mon to Friday during business hours. Nothing like waiting at home all day for a parcel to arrive....that never does. So for anyone else that has had this happen to, I feel your pain.
canada-vintage
·1 year agoI agree with you, for some "lettermail style" Canadian deliveries, it does not look so exciting, I got some 100$ purchases dropped outside, at my front door like Intelcom does (Amazon); nothing compares to the safety of a locked mailbox. And yes some courrier companies are overwhelmed & don't repect their "promised delivery time". I think they do their best though, & they currently work much harder than my local post office guys behind their counter selling 3 stamps a day.
For U.S.A., I was hesitant to use Chitchats, because I'm 2 hours from the closest depot and it did not worth the hassle to drive to Montreal. But after testing with Chitchats, I found out that their "USPS Priority Mail with tracking & signature" rates are much lower that I was used to pay up here with XpressPost USA.
Yes you pay a 27-30$ extra to Fedex Ground so Chitchats can get your "batch" or grouped parcels the next day, but at the end your final shipping cost is almost the same (if not a bit cheaper) and delivery time is pretty quick as it cross the US border within 1-2 days. I saw that for 10 parcels a week or more, Chitchat offers a CanPar pick up at discounted prices at your door. (if they go to your area). Sales are almost like last year now at the same date, and buyers are happy. USPS Priority is a reliable & quick service I never had a lost item in years.
mrdutch1001
·1 year agoI also sell on another selling site(Etsy) and their approach really is no different than eBay...their advice also was "Find an alternate carrier". That site's Integrating of some of these other carriers is not without own issues and problems...
I was and still am very hesitant to try the likes of Sendle, SwiftPost,EasyShip when I have no knowledge of their system and especially at this time of year when everything is usually such a mess...
For personal needs all orders were from Amazon and even some of those were not delivered on said dates even though the status said they would be...
For my own selling, Purolator worked well for the 2 shipments to the USA from my other selling site(have not yet had any order for within Canada) and here on eBay have not had any sales at all as initially I went into "Time Away" mode and since it became obvious there would not be any resolve to the strike forthcoming, I kept a select few items active & increased shipping prices to accommodate Purolator shipping but that doesn't work for the bulk of the items that I would normally have listed....so for me I have to look to January & beyond for any hope of sales.
marnotom!
·1 year agoWe're getting off-topic here, @lotzofuniquegoodies, but my experience with Canpar is that it cab be a bit optimistic for delivery dates if the destination is some ways from a shipping hub. It also doesn't make adjustments to the delivery date if there are weather events or similar that could lead to a delay in the shipment.
My guess is that your item was supposed to be on a truck for Friday but didn't make it on, so it will be delivered on Monday instead. That seems to be what happened to an item that I ordered that was handled by Canpar, at any rate.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·1 year ago@marnotom!
It was showing OUT for DELIVERY Friday AM. To be delivered by end of business. Normally if they were not able to deliver that day it should show updated delivery status when it got back to the depot.
Canpar items go out on a CanPar vehicle. It becomes a problem when some of these not as well know services use sub-contractors which many do. Apple, eBay via Intelcom are 2 that come to mind.
The only reason I tied it to this discussion is how it relates to sellers shipping by courier vs the mail. As for shipping procedures I worked in warehousing shipping/receiving situations for 40 years.
marnotom!
·1 year agoI'm pretty sure I got the same "out for delivery" message as you did and had to wait another business day before my item was actually delivered.
How far away are you from the Canpar delivery hub or terminal, anyway, @lotzofuniquegoodies? I'm about 80 km away from the Loomis Express location from which my item would have been sent out and it's not a straight shot by any stretch of the imagination. The highway is winding and mountainous and no fun if it's snowing. On the plus side, it's better maintained than many Alberta highways.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·1 year agoTheir warehouse is in Calgary. 20 min drive away as crow flies. I get deliveries from Canpar about once a month. Always between 2 and 4 pm. No issues. This was volume related.
ilikehockeyjerseys
·1 year agoYou create what is called a batch. You send all the packages to the same batch in the website UI. Then you print out a label called a batch label. Your individual shipments will only have the Chit Chats shipping label on them. You put the individual shipments in one larger box and put the one batch label outside of the larger box.
Then you can either book a pickup using Canpar, who will ship it to a Chit Chats facility, or you can drop it off yourself.
You do not need to batch orders to drop them off, but with how hectic the branches are it might not be a bad idea to bach everything together to drop off.
regs43
·1 year agoGot you covered! lol I took one at 2pm when I was there LOL
byto253
OP1 year agoI was there around 1, when there was a bit of a path to walk to the desk! ...You're going to need a bigger boat...
Chitchats has been cutting back on Ottawa locations and moved the only other remaining drop off spot in the city from the Intlecom on Walkley to well outside the city to the Intelcom in Vars. It just caught up to them.
chicweb
·1 year agoI see open boxes with multiples packages inside.
I always wondered.. So it is possible to consolidate all packages into one that is sent to them? They open it and send each individually ?
If so, it's interesting since I don't have any ChitChats (or any other alternative except UPS/FedEX where I live).
But, logistically, that should be a nightmare for them, right now. All those boxes could contain a lot more to ship.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·1 year ago@chicweb
Re: Photos
Shippers most likely dropping off multiple packages at same time. Due to space they are keeping in those boxes until they get processed. Years ago a shipper using CP as an example would manifest shipments. One copy for their records and a second copy for CP. If you are a business using someone like Fedex, UPS etc at end of day shipper creates a manifest. Total pieces on manifest, if everything was done correctly would match number or pcs picked up. When driver arrives they scan manifest and sign copy for you for your files.
There are other companies available where you courier all your packages in 1 box. Unsure if Chit Chats is one of them.
byto253
OP1 year agoYou can ship a box with multiple boxes inside it to Chitchats and they will open and scan them. I believe to do that you want them all to have the same batch number. When you import sales info from eBay you have the option to bring them in under a new batch number, or add them to an existing batch number.
Chitchats has information on their site about doing this and have a deal with Canpar to do so, which they claim is cheaper than regular courier rates. You can send it in with any carrier though - I would check the website and also call Chitchats to check on the mechanics and how to address the box correctly.
chicweb
·1 year agoWow ok. Yes, I will for sure check that. Even if Canada Post come back if I can find a carrier that will allow me to be competitive in the shipping fees, that will be better.
With volume and the fact I can consolidate, I might be able to get something working. It's sure will be analyzed and tested.
Thanks. 🙂
byto253
OP1 year agoCurious. Did you see my post before going there or did you just take a picture 😁😎
regs43
·1 year agoNo just took a pic to send to my friend. I was on the phone with them at the time lol, I was a bit shocked when I opened the door lol (there was a fair stack on Thursday or Friday when I was there but not as bad as yesterday)
byto253
OP1 year agoSame reaction! At least things are moving and everything I dropped off has left Ottawa, and all the US stuff is across the border.
regs43
·1 year agoIm headed over that way shortly, ill see how bad it is compared to the other day lol. But yes agree, stuff is moving so thats good
recped
·1 year agoNot much of a surprise, Black Friday followed by Cyber Monday, going to be the biggest days of the year for many sellers.
The piles at my Stallion drop off were about average but I was there about 2 hours earlier than normal and that location only has a 4 hour window.
sin-n-dex
·1 year agoI got to Stallion, it's pretty busy, but wasn't insane any of the days I dropped off.
Stallion put a message when I logged into their site to say UPS and Purolator in QC and BC are to capacity and parcels aren't being picked up.
C.
byto253
OP1 year agoI have been to chitchats twice a week since the strike and it was normal other than today. And delivery during the strike has been standard and on time.
sin-n-dex
·1 year agoI just followed up on my in transit items on Stallion's portal and there's stuff that I dropped off on Friday that is showing tendered to UPS Mail Innovations only today.
Hoping i don't get any unreasonable buyers, but there's one in every bunch. My favourite was the guy who was arguing with me that the mail isn't slow (this was during COVID when USPS mail was slow) and it's a bunch of hype and he sees no evidence that his packages are delayed by COVID. Then his item got stuck for a week in Baltimore and I got three messages a day telling me the item's lost, please refund, it's your responsibility to track it down, blah blah blah. I told him the mail is slow and there's delays, I just said that, now here's proof. And he argued this is the first time ever he's had a slow package so he knows the item is lost because it should have left Baltimore 12 hours after arrival and been delivered to his house in Maryland the next day. Then finally he got his items and I got a "for the money I spent in your store I could have gotten this better thing instead". So I blocked him. End of problem.
C.
mrdutch1001
·1 year agoIf anyone recalls, several days ago, I made mention of this potential situation for these alternate courier companies that could face the inevitable situation of being overwhelmed with the influx of huge volumes of packages and may or may not be prepared with the manpower and/or vehicles to cope, and I suspected they themselves becoming backlogged....well here you go! Welcome to the reality of possible delays by ALL courier companies going forward...
john_koenig99
·1 year agoAnother Christmas present from the CP strikers...Well, they are getting snowed tonight and tomorrow, in the GTA. A bit of poetic justice.
mrdutch1001
·1 year agonah,that's just winter weather, and here in Sask. we have had-30C windchills ..
no poetic justice when it's just winter weather as none of this is anything not endured in their day to day tasks during Canadian winters...
byto253
OP1 year agoAll my parcels have been scanned in so they are moving along. Chitchats has an established network so we will see how they make out. I will follow these and follow-up - they are pretty mixed services. I dropped off 15, 3 for Canada, 7 are USPS media mail that get handed over the USPS right away, the other are 5 US ones that are couried most of the way and handed to USPS for last mile delivery.
As usual for this time of year I am done
lotzofuniquegoodies
·1 year agoThis is the message posted on the Canpar website when you check parcel status.
Boilerplate message when you check ANY Canadian shipment at the CP website, delivered or not. US shipments do not, from my testing have the same disclaimer.