eBay

byto253 · ‎12-03-2024

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.

mrdutch1001 · ‎12-03-2024

If 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 · ‎12-03-2024

Another Christmas present from the CP strikers...Well, they are getting snowed tonight and tomorrow, in the GTA. A bit of poetic justice.

mrdutch1001 · ‎12-03-2024

nah,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 · ‎12-03-2024

All 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 · ‎12-03-2024

This 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.

sin-n-dex · ‎12-03-2024

@byto253 wrote:
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.

I 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 · ‎12-03-2024

I 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 · ‎12-03-2024

@byto253 wrote:
I 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.

I 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.

recped · ‎12-03-2024

Not 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.

"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.

regs43 · ‎12-04-2024

@byto253 wrote:

I didn't take a picture because people would have been in the shot but really wanted to!

Got you covered! lol I took one at 2pm when I was there LOL

byto253 · ‎12-04-2024

I 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 · ‎12-04-2024

I 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 · ‎12-04-2024

@chicweb wrote:
I 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.

@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 · ‎12-04-2024

You 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.

byto253 · ‎12-04-2024

Curious. Did you see my post before going there or did you just take a picture 😁😎

chicweb · ‎12-04-2024

Wow 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. 🙂

ilikehockeyjerseys · ‎12-04-2024

You 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 · ‎12-04-2024

No 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)