Mikey, on social media, keeps referring to the Canadian and USA warehouses for Yarnspirations sales, as the difference in inventory between the countries is a factor.
Over the years, Yarnspirations has switched the locations of origin where the yarn comes from a few times. In the world of online, the area of origin matters the most for a cost factor and also technology from each location.
Border and courier services play a vital role in the online sales market. In Canada, especially, it's a lot more complicated, thus why we don't sell anything for shipping from The Crochet Crowd here in Nova Scotia. I'm not a big enough player to get a deal on the shipping.
Looking Back
Yarnspirations used to be only in USD, as the warehouse was only in the United States, in Michigan. This was a massive deterrent for Canadians, as our currency is much different. We were charged a service fee from our credit card company for paying USD. Also, we were charged a duty and import tax upon delivery, which can be very substantial.
It was then switched to Ontario. Packaged and then driven across the border and released into the USA postal system in a bulk format. It wasn't shipped daily but in lots. It caused a delay in shipping and eventually became a daily need to ship across the border. Absorbing the Duty and Import Tax so that the USA didn't have to pay the tax upon arrival.
Yarnspirations then had to come up with a solution to get the yarn to be on the right side of the border for the customers: for Canadians to shop only in the Canadian Warehouse and for Americans to shop only in the USA warehouse. However, the locations of both of these warehouses were switched several times.
Currently
In the new year 2024, there were notes that the warehouses were severely behind in orders. The warehouse was being switched, and products were moved behind the scenes before finally being put back where the yarn was made and/or stored. In the USA, the warehouse is in Albany, Georgia. In the USA, the yarn warehouse is only yarn.
The warehouse is in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is a joint warehouse of other online products not related to Yarnspirations that share the same warehouse and staffing.
Inventory Fluctuating Online
Former locations had issues with inventory not updating fast enough for online sales, causing orders to be cancelled when too many people ordered simultaneously, and inventory ran out, but the system hadn't caught up. This can still happen today, but the inventory is nearly close to real-time.
When you place an order, it puts a temporary pending charge on your credit card. Still, it's not physically charged until the order is picked by the associate and put into a box and the shipping label is generated.
However, you have less than 1 hour to cancel a shipment because it's spitting on the pick tickets in batches and the associates are standing by ready to go.
Items that are for sale or there is a push to move the inventory are brought forward from the area they're sitting in and brought close to the processors to save the associate time from running back and forth to the location. There are no conveyors or robots to bring the products to the associate. It's manually picked and pulled.
How Does Yarnspirations Know What Warehouse To Use?
When you visit Yarnspirations, it will either know or ask you which country your yarn will ship to, even if you aren't buying anything. The system will send you either to Yarnspirations.com (USA or non-Canadian) or Yarnspirations.com/en-ca (Canada). This automatically changes the prices to reflect either the USA or Canada. It automatically loads the inventory levels from either warehouse.
If you override the country, which you can do, the system won't let you ship items to Canada from the USA warehouse or for Americans to shop in the Canadian Warehouse. It's to prevent the item from crossing the border by applying more taxes and duties in cross-border shipping.
Unusual Inventory Levels
You may notice an inventory of 10 boxes left... then revisit an hour later and notice 13 boxes left or even 45 boxes; the inventory got higher. One of four reasons:
- If a customer didn't complete their order, the inventory allotted to that consumer was taken out of hold and put back into the general inventory level.
- A customer's final payment had an issue, and the card wasn't processed. The item is removed from the shipping box and returned to inventory.
- Box(es) may have been found lingering around the warehouse, and the system was updated to return it to inventory. This is typical when boxes go out by the handful.
- A shipment from the yarn manufacturing line was moved over and assigned to be allocated for online orders and not for a retailer. Retailers' stock levels and orders are the priority.
In 2024, it's much faster product movement behind the scenes to offer online shipping before a store gets its products on the shelf. You are seeing more yarn hitting online before your local store gets it. With Michaels having over 1200 stores and JOANN having over 800, it's many locations to be stocked where the warehouse is just one location for each country. The leading retailers have multiple warehouses that need stocked to feed their closest assigned stores. Retailers also sell online even before their stores are fully stocked. People love the convenience of online shipping.
Biggest Pet Peeve
One of my biggest pet peeves is people who complain that their local store has the stock, that they don't need to shop online, or that they are offering it cheaper. Shipping costs money from the box and assigned courier drivers. Not everyone is within a reasonable distance of a craft store—myself included. While I have Michaels and Walmart, they don't sell some of the brands I love, so I can only order online.
People forget we are global and that not everyone has the same circumstances where Joann and Michaels are within a quick drive. While it's easy to complain, not everyone has the same convenience.
Leave me your thoughts...