eBay

teenytrinkets · ‎09-11-2023

I literally JUST moved to North Vancouver on Saturday, and I got an email today announcing the North Vancouver ChitChats branch is closing! DOH!

I am trying to figure out if this is because ChitChats as a company is losing money, and they need to trim their slower drop off locations? They were expanding like crazy before Covid - and now locations are shutting down!

Another possibility is that here in Metro Vancouver, the North Van is constantly plagued with traffic issues on the North Shore bridges. Maybe that's proving to be problematic because it's too time consuming?

I'm curious how ChitChats is performing in the other bigger cities closer to the border (Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa)? Have other locations shut down recently?

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎09-11-2023

@teenytrinkets wrote:
I literally JUST moved to North Vancouver on Saturday, and I got an email today announcing the North Vancouver ChitChats branch is closing! DOH!

I am trying to figure out if this is because ChitChats as a company is losing money, and they need to trim their slower drop off locations? They were expanding like crazy before Covid - and now locations are shutting down!

Another possibility is that here in Metro Vancouver, the North Van is constantly plagued with traffic issues on the North Shore bridges. Maybe that's proving to be problematic because it's too time consuming?

I'm curious how ChitChats is performing in the other bigger cities closer to the border (Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa)? Have other locations shut down recently?

@teenytrinkets

From their Bloggy thingie.

https://chitchats.com/blog/bc-location-updates

https://chitchats.com/blog/upcoming-changes-to-our-branch-network

-Lotz

byto253 · ‎09-14-2023

Ouch, thst sucks. I read on the blog that the closest one is now 25 minutes away, so you are looking at an hour round trip. That is similar to my distance, so I use it a lot less than I would if it was closer.

We had the Ottawa east location close and instead there is a drop off spot 8 minutes further away at Intelcom's warehouse location - now 18 km (25minutes) from me. I can see it is a lot cheaper for chitchats as it is just 3 bins inside Intelcom's door. I used it for the first time this week, and was a bit uneasy as the bins are just inside the door and there nobody at the door. Maybe there are cameras though.

For shipments inside Canada, recommend checking out Sendle Canada, as they will pick up your parcels at your house and rates are pretty good. They also work with set box and weight categories. They have expanded to provide US shipping, though when I checked the prices were not as competitive with chitchat as the in Canada service.

38e_avenue · ‎09-14-2023

That must be a bad news for you! I understand your frustration - I recently moved from CP to ChitChats just because they opened a new branch next to my home (literally!). Earlier, I needed to drive 20 km, spending about 1 hour in a heavy downtown traffic.

I think they might be in financial troubles, because running a little branch is finally not so expensive for a large and developing (?) company. I also noticed some strange movements here (Montreal). Before they shipped next day over the border directly to USPS - now, they move the stuff 600 km away to Toronto and ship from there. It means they have probably less stuff to ship and it's more economical to ship stuff from Montreal and Toronto together in one shipment (truck) through Niagara Falls.

Comparison between the usual route (70 km) and new route (700 km).

It's worth mentioning, that with CP level 4 their price are not so competitive any more. Do not forget about the returns, which work just perfectly with CP, and are extremely complicated or just not possible with ChiChats.

byto253 · ‎09-14-2023

Ottawa goes to Montreal then to Toronto as well, so even further. At one time they went from Ottawa to Toronto directly.

It would not surprise me if they expanded out to much and are now retracting to the heavier population areas.

I think they need to go the opposite way. Figure out a way to have more inexpensive drop off locations to push volume. In my area there is a dry cleaner that is a drop spot for a couple of courier companies - I don't think that would be to expensive and I would be willing to pay a small amount to drop off items easily.

38e_avenue · ‎09-14-2023

@byto253 wrote:
I don't think that would be to expensive and I would be willing to pay a small amount to drop off items easily.

I used one of their drop off spots - the small amount arose to 50 dollars at the end of the month .... 🙄

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎09-14-2023

They closed the 'Ottawa East' branch. A month or two ago, they opened a drop spot within 5 KM of that branch.

It would seem as though the drop spot made the Ottawa East branch redundant. It likely doesn't make much sense to pay to operate a third branch when they could strike whatever deal they have with Intelcom to accept packages in the same area.

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎09-14-2023

Chit Chats isn't really geared at being convenient. It is geared towards small businesses with enough volume to justify the hassle of not using a mainstream carrier. That is partly why they don't need to have the best locations. The savings for a business that ships smaller packages to US add up to the point that even with an extra 30 minutes of driving, the tradeoff would be worth it for most people with moderate volume.

Chit Chats has a location that is a sunk cost for me because I end up very close to there for other obligations. If they closed that location, with my current volume on eBay, I would likely just use Tracked Packet.

It doesn't seem cheaper for domestic shipments, but it is a great resource for sending smaller packages to the USA.

38e_avenue · ‎09-14-2023

@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:

It doesn't seem cheaper for domestic shipments, but it is a great resource for sending smaller packages to the USA.

It is cheaper. Before they started to offer the new cheap Flex service (Intelcom), I was scared by orders from BC or rural Saskatchewan. Now I can ship a small package 500 g for 10 dollars. With CP it still would be 17, even at the 4th level. I remember a customer from Northern BC. I charged the flat rate of 10 dollars, and I paid myself 35 .... 🙄

byto253 · ‎09-14-2023

The new drop spot was put in to replace the East branch. A few bins inside a door of a courier they have contract with vs. renting space and paying an employee. A for sure cost cutting move.

recped · ‎09-15-2023

@38e_avenue wrote:

I think they might be in financial troubles, because running a little branch is finally not so expensive for a large and developing (?) company.

I think you may be underestimating the cost of operating a standalone branch office, space rental, two full time staff, furniture & fixtures and basic operating expenses would put it into the 6 figure range which isn't peanuts for a low margin business like logistics.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

38e_avenue · ‎09-15-2023

@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:

It doesn't seem cheaper for domestic shipments (...)

Just got an order from Vancouver today (I live in Montreal). Here is the comparison:

38e_avenue · ‎09-15-2023

@recped wrote:
@38e_avenue wrote:

I think they might be in financial troubles, because running a little branch is finally not so expensive for a large and developing (?) company.
I think you may be underestimating the cost of operating a standalone branch office, space rental, two full time staff, furniture & fixtures and basic operating expenses would put it into the 6 figure range which isn't peanuts for a low margin business like logistics.

Maybe not 6 figure range, but you might be right. In my branch there is 1 guy only (always the same), but still the space they rent is quite large, so probably not that cheap. Well ...I hope they will not close it ..... 🙄

They rented an office in this little plaza - I love the parking - there is always plenty of space!