Category: Chit Chats Blog

Useful Features To Save Time For Multiple Shipments

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Here are some helpful features that can help you save time and automate your process.

Chit Chats’ integrations

We offer direct integrations with popular e-commerce stores:

Bulk edit multiple shipments

If you upload multiple shipments at a time you can bulk edit them too! The following can be updated simultaneously:

  • Type of contents
  • Description of contents
  • Retail value
  • Package
  • Weight
  • Size
  • Postage
  • Ship date

Shipping presets

Easily create a preset for commonly used fields that can be applied to imported shipments. This feature will allow you to alter the following in any combination:

  • Type of contents
  • Description of contents
  • Retail value
  • Package
  • Weight
  • Size
  • Postage
  • Ship date

Printing labels

Stay organized with labels as they will now print out in the order they were imported.

Don’t forget about our Help & Support that contains useful articles, instructions and valuable resources about our platform. If you can’t find what you’re looking for reach out to our support team.

Share the love with our Referral Program

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In the theme of Valentine’s Day, we wanted to thank our clients for always showing us so much love. We are so grateful that you, our clients, share your passion for Chit Chats in your seller communities and entrepreneurial circles.

You can easily share your unique referral link right from your account. Feel free to spread the love on your social media accounts or invite friends by email!

Anyone you refer must sign up using your unique referral link  to ensure they receive the $10 credit and you get the commissions on their shipments.

Learn more about our referral program. 

Happy Valentine’s Day.

The Chit Chats Team 

USPS Specific Packaging

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USPS offers packaging that can only be used when shipping with USPS. There are various types of packaging that USPS provides.

If you use a USPS service that doesn’t correspond to the postage rate selected it can cause either the package to be returned to sender or the shipment may incur a postage adjustment.

Some examples include:

  • If you have a Media Mail postage label on a Regional Rate box, USPS can return this package as the correct postage was not used
  • If you have a First Class Package postage label on a Priority Mail Flat Rate box a postage adjustment may be applied

USPS Priority Mail & Priority Mail Express Packaging

USPS offers Priority Mail and Priority Express Mail packaging that can be used when shipping with these specific services. These are branded as USPS mailers that are not tied to a specific rate and can only be used when shipping with USPS. The postage rates must be either Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express and are determined by the weight and destination of the package.

USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Packaging

USPS also offers flat rate packaging that allows you to ship for a flat rate no matter where it’s going in the U.S. If it fits, you pay one flat rate! To be eligible for this postage type the specific USPS flat rate packaging must be used and the postage label must correspond. The most common types are:

USPS Regional Rate Packaging

For packages traveling short distances, USPS Regional Rates are a cost effective solution. The postage rates are zone based and there are two types of Regional Rate boxes provided by USPS:

The postage label must match the Regional Rate box used.

Reference our handy guide to help you determine when to use Flat Rate or Regional Rate packaging.

Hours of Operation: Family Day 2019

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February 18 is Family Day, a statutory holiday, that is observed in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan. In Nova Scotia this is observed as Heritage Day.

Find our hours of operation below and don’t forget to plan ahead.

Friday, February 15, 2019

  • Regular business hours at all branches & drop spots
  • Chit Chats Canada and Chit Chats International shipments received on Friday, February 15 will be processed Tuesday, February 19
  • USPS shipments received Friday, February 15 will be handed off to USPS as usual on Saturday, February 16
  • All shipments received in the Atlantic region on Friday, February 15 will be processed on Tuesday, February 19

Saturday, February 16, 2019

  • All branches & drop spots will be closed 

Sunday, February 17, 2019

  • All branches & drop spot locations will be closed except for regular hours at the following branches:
  • Mississauga 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
  • Markham 10:00 am to 2:00 pm

Monday, February 18, 2019

  • All branches & drop spot locations will be closed except for special holiday hours at the following branches:
  • There will be no pick ups scheduled for BC, Ontario and Atlantic region clients
  • Vancouver After Hours Drop Box will be checked on Tuesday, February 19

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

  • Back to regular business hours for all branches and drop spots
  • Regular pick up schedules will resume

We wish everyone a restful Family Day.

The Chit Chats Team

Asendia Updates for BC clients

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For our clients in the BC region the Asendia pick up schedule will change starting Monday, Feb 11.

Currently for BC clients Asendia shipments:

  • Dropped off Tuesday to Thursday are handed off to Asendia on Friday
  • Dropped off Friday to Monday are handed off to Asendia on Tuesday

Starting Monday, Feb 11 Asendia shipments:

  • Dropped off Monday to Wednesday will be handed off to Asendia on Thursday
  • Dropped off Thursday to Friday will be handed off to Asendia on Monday

How to Track Asendia Shipments

To find the latest tracking updates for Asendia Priority Tracked shipments, enter the secondary tracking number from Asendia’s tracking page on:

  1. The partner carrier’s tracking page (USPS, Swiss Post, La Poste) or
  2. The destination country’s local postal carrier’s tracking page

You can reference our previous blog post with further details and examples.

Postage Outage: USPS First Class Thick Envelopes

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2/8 UPDATE: All known issues have been resolved. Thank you for your patience.

2/7 UPDATE: Error impacting rates for zone 1 shipments under 1 lb has now been resolved. Invalid parameters were passed and the record could not be persisted should no longer be displayed. We are still waiting for a resolution for:

  1. Postage rates not being displayed for ‘thick envelope’ under 1 lb for USPS First Class International. Temporary workaround: Use ‘parcel and enter dimensions.

2/5 UPDATE: Postage rates for ‘thick envelope’ under 1 lb for USPS Media Mail has been resolved. We are still waiting for our postage provider to resolve the following issues:

  1. Postage rates are not being displayed for ‘thick envelope’ under 1 lb for USPS First Class International. Temporary workaround: Use ‘parcel and enter dimensions.
  2. Shipments going to zone 1 that are under 1 lb using ‘parcel’ or ‘flat envelope’ will not show rates and give the error: Invalid parameters were passed and the record could not be persisted. Temporary workaround: select ‘thick envelope’ or increase weight to the nearest lb

1/28 UPDATE: This issue has been resolved for USPS First Class postage. Issues with purchasing USPS Media Mail and USPS International postage types for thick envelopes still persist. Our postage provider has identified the issue and is working on a resolution.

As of Saturday, Jan 26, USPS postage is not available for “thick envelope packages”. We are working with our postage provider to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Depending on your individual or business needs, here are some options while we wait for a resolution:

  1. Buy USPS First Class Parcel. It’s a bit more expensive than the ‘Thick Envelope’ rate but will produce rates and the ability to buy. Choose ‘Parcel’ type instead of ‘Thick Envelope’ for package type.
  2. Buy postage from another platform (i.e. Stamps.com or another postage platform).
  3. Sit tight until the issue is resolved.

We will continue to monitor the situation and send an update once postage has been restored. 

You can sign up for postage and carrier status updates on our Site Status page.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Feature Release Notes: Jan 2019

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We are already a month into the New Year! That means we’ve got our monthly round up of all the new features and latest updates for the month of January.

New Features & Improvements

  • Improvements to eBay integration and API
    • Cancelled orders will not import
  • Search by tracking code in shipments’ search bar
  • Platform performance improvements
  • Other small bug fixes
    • Shipping calculator
    • Buying shipments from shipment search page
    • Bug fix with Internet Explorer layout

Website

Branches & locations

Shipping Delays Due to Severe Winter Weather

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Winter is here and we wanted to advise our clients of some service delays that carriers have been experiencing due to cold weather.

Severe winter weather conditions in Northern and Midwest regions of the U.S. are impacting package processing and delivery resulting in delays. Carriers are working to ensure the safety and well-being of workers and minimize the effects of the weather disruption on service.

Find more details for carriers on their service update pages provided below. Don’t forget to advise your customers accordingly.

The Chit Chats Team

Service Update: Chit Chats Canada Tracked

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We are committed to providing the best shipping options and appreciate your feedback during the Canada Post strike last year.

Effective tomorrow, Thursday, January 31, our Canada Tracked service will be upgraded to a new and improved Canadian Tracked service partnering with Canpar.

What does this mean for you?

There will be no changes to how you create Canadian shipment labels or how you drop off. The service level will stay the same:

  • Same great rates
  • Transit times are the same
  • Tracking will still be visible within your account and will link to the carrier’s tracking page
  • Carrier insurance $100 liability included – excludes coverage during Chit Chats’ care. Add Chit Chats Insurance for complete coverage.
  • No changes to how dimensional weight is calculated

If for any reason Canpar cannot safely deliver to your customer they will redirect the package to a SMARTSpot. These are convenient and trusted partners that allow packages to be held for pick up. These pick up locations are chosen to be the most convenient option and packages will be held for up to 5 business days.

Chit Chats Canada Tracked Service is currently only available to clients in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic regions. We will roll out a Canadian domestic service soon for Alberta clients.

This is the first step in our longer term vision of reducing Canadian domestic shipping rates. Stay tuned as will be releasing improved local rates for Canadian shipping within the coming weeks!