Journey of a shipment: US & Canada
The journey of a shipment can often have unexpected twists and turns. You may be scratching your head thinking your package is on a wild goose chase. Not to worry! Shipping and logistics operates on a transportation network designed to make sure your package arrives at its intended location. Considering that there are millions of pieces of mail destined to U.S. and Canadian addresses daily, that is a pretty amazing feat!
U.S. Packages
Once your U.S. packages arrive at a Chit Chats branch, a member of our team will sort them for their journey to the U.S.-Canada border. It’s why compliance with U.S. Customs and Border Protection regulations is extremely important for your shipments. Once in the U.S., we’ll hand off your shipments to one of our U.S. partner carriers. Typically, our partners scan your shipments upon receipt at their facility, known as an acceptance or origin scan.
Each carrier does things a little differently but from here, they will sort your shipments. Once sorted, they forward them onto the next processing or regional hub(s) where you may expect to see additional tracking updates. You may notice several stops for your shipment as it gets closer to its destination.
After arriving at the correct regional facility or local post office, your shipment will then board a delivery vehicle. At this point your shipment will be out for delivery to the address indicated on your postage label. Delivery can happen in a different few ways: to the recipient’s front door, to a mailbox or parcel locker or even for pickup at a local post office if your recipient isn’t available at the time of delivery.
Canadian Packages
Once you drop off a Canadian shipment at Chit Chats branch we will scan and sort it for the journey. We will then collect your shipment from our branch for consolidation at the nearest Chit Chats hub. Depending on the destination, your shipment may visit another Chit Chats hub along its journey for further processing and sorting. Following the Chit Chats tracking for your shipment will provide the greatest insights into its journey.
Once ready, we will hand over your shipment to our partner carrier for the final mile delivery to the recipient’s address.
Why does it take so long for a package to go an hour away?
Often, clients will notice that their shipment has seemingly passed by its intended destination. Or it may seem like a shipment takes what seems like a long time to travel a short distance. One reason for this is because of how shipping networks optimize the transport of shipments using regional hubs.
While a delivery address may only be one hour away by car, individual shipments won’t typically transit directly to the destination. In most cases, the carrier sends them to the closest hub for consolidation with other packages headed in the same direction before moving into the final delivery. Sometimes, the nearest hub may be in the opposite direction of the delivery address, resulting in what may seem like unexpected tracking updates. Rest assured that your package is safely on route to its final destination.
Why is the shipping cost not dependent on my proximity to the destination?
You may have also noticed that shipments sent one province away, can cost more than those sent across the country. In many cases, postage costs will depend on the size or weight of the shipment. However, destination also plays a large role in determining the cost of a shipment. The density of an area and proximity to a regional hub can impact how frequently and efficiently shipments can flow.
For that reason, it may be cheaper to ship from Vancouver to Toronto, located across the country, than it may be to ship the same package from Vancouver to Calgary. Similar can be said for shipments addressed to city centres as opposed to more rural areas within the same province. And often, there are also more steps involved with package delivery in rural areas. You can read more about the cost of shipping in Canada in our post “Why is Shipping in Canada so Expensive.