The Chitchats Zoo!

[byto253]

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.  

[regs43]

Im 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

[canada-vintage]

About 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]

Many 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]

Nice 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]

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@byto253 wrote:

Nice 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.  

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@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]

I 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]

I 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.

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

Chit 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]

I'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*

[marnotom!]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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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.

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We'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]

@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.

2024-12-06 10:07:42

WITH COURIER

CALGARY

Status

Out for delivery - by end of day

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!]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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.

2024-12-06 10:07:42

WITH COURIER

CALGARY

Status

Out for delivery - by end of day

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I'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]

Their 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. 

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@marnotom! 

https://www.chch.com/chch-news/fedex-survey-says-61-per-cent-of-ontario-shoppers-worry-about-porch-p...

FedEx recommends online shoppers to use online tracking, setting delivery instructions or to redirect a package to a more reliable location if someone isn’t able to receive it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nbXXDB_OJU

[marnotom!]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

Their 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. 

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Mine might have been volume related in the sense that there was a weather event that delayed the movement of my item from Quebec to British Columbia, so Canpar may have ended up dealing with a backlog of items travelling west from Central Canada.

My experience and yours makes me wonder if Canpar or Loomis doesn't scan items in the last stages of delivery and simply inputs data based on the batch or truckload in which the package is located.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@marnotom! 

Delivery notes show like this in real time. 

2024-10-10 12:15:09

DELIVERED WITH NO SIGNATURE REQUIRED

CALGARY

Front Porch

Proof of delivery link should give you an image of where item was dropped off. In my situation front porch.  My front porch is 10 feet from curb so extremely easy for anyone passing by to snag. The biggest issue is couriers do not ring door bell even if it is marked on package or door is marked. If you review the news story posted previously and by the notes at bottom this is a common occurance. 

[byto253]

Ottawa 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!

[marnotom!]

I have a feeling your item will arrive tomorrow, @lotzofuniquegoodies.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@marnotom! wrote:
I have a feeling your item will arrive tomorrow, @lotzofuniquegoodies.

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@marnotom! 

For anyone still paying attention to my CanPar parcel delivery nightmare, here are the final details.

It went out for delivery a total of 3 times. 1 day it was a miss sort and didn't  go out. Showed up yesterday Dec 11 at 7:30 pm. In past latest I've seen a delivery from them was around 5 PM. At 1 point in time due to their error they wanted me to pick up at the opposite end of town. I did get a email notice that it had been delivered with a photo of my house number. 

Order placed: Nov 27.

Picked up: Nov 29. Mtl

Arrived in Calgary: Dec 6  6:21 AM

Delivered: Dec 11. 7:11 PM Calgary

This is mostly about a CP strike and side affects it has on everything else going on delivery wise in Canada.