Shipping Woes
Recently we received a terse email from a customer disappointed with the shipping method we chose and the delays in receiving their order still in transit. In this case we shipped via US Postal Service. Currently we use either US Postal Service or UPS and there are factors that determine that choice. Cost and transit time are the main factors. It is sometime surprising to see the difference between USPS and UPS as it hinges a great deal on geographical location of the destination. We do not use Fed EX unless it is specifically requested as their track record with us is not good between lost shipments and not showing up to pick up packages.
When we say we typically ship next business day we mean it. The vast majority of orders hit the outgoing dock that same day in some cases or the very next day. Extremely few go past a full day and those are typically larger orders or customs.
Once the package is in the hands of the transporter it is figuratively and literally out of ours. Tracking is sent within 3-4 hours of shipping label creation and automatically sent to the email provided on the order. Unfortunately, many email programs will send these emails to your junk or spam folders but be certain it was provided and looking in those folders will be the answer to that. If you do not see the tracking email anywhere do not hesitate to call /email us because glitches can happen though extremely rare.
As to transportation of your order, myriad issues can occur. We recently had our local UPS warehouse burn and they also lost about dozen trucks as well. In a bit of panic we tracked the shipments processed that day and found they were safely already processed and on their way to their destinations. That was a huge relief. Suffice to say though UPS locally has had to do a LOT of shuffling and has caused days of transport delays. Snow events recently here in E. Tennessee had shut down transportation for a number of days as well (USPS and UPS). I’m reading where Florida is buried in up to 10” of snow in some areas, I am sure that is causing major delays with the carriers. We’re happy that didn’t happen here. Holidays are a stressful time for us as transporters are more and more pushed to move increased loads from ecommerce using temporary help. The chances for errors probably quadruple in these instances.
The point to all this is to help our valued customers to understand that we are doing everything we possibly can to get your order to you as quickly and cost effectively as we can. Unfortunately, there are numbers of things that can go sideways in the transit phase of your delivery that are totally out of our control. If something seems wrong with your delivery service and there are no current scans on your packages (in last 4-5 days), feel free to contact us and we will see what (if anything) can be done. I wish we could say things are getting better in the transportation industry but that would not be truthful. We hope this helps to add some perspective on this matter and we continue to appreciate your support.