I've gotten some really nice customers this weekend...
I read lots of "bad stuff" in the forum about buyers... here's an opposite take.
Thursday night I packed up 14 orders with the intention of getting them to my shipper on Friday (that would facilitate delivery to USPS on Saturday). The shipper is only open Monday to Friday, and Monday this weekend is a holiday in Canada as well as it is in the US.
After packing everyone's stuff, putting tracking in and marking it all shipped once I packed it, I get up Friday morning to see an inch of ice all over my car, lots of ice on the roads, the walkways, everywhere. I also heard my neighbour scraping his car for half an hour so he could go to work.
Well on Friday I didn't have to go to work. In fact, I didn't have to go anywhere, except to the shipper with those 14 packages. I decided not to go out after the freezing rain (and my street does not get salted quickly, in fact, wasn't salted at all, the ice melted today). I broke my arm slipping on ice just like this a few years ago and it was majorly inconvenient in all regards, so that reinforced my choice not to go out.
Friday night I send all 14 buyers a note to explain that their packages are ready to be posted on Thursday night, but when I got up Friday, we had a night of freezing rain and everything was ice covered. I stated I didn't think it was a good idea to go out on a day like that. Due to the holiday and shipper hours, I can't go out again until Tuesday (which means people will be trying to track their items and not know why it just says shipping label created).
Since last night, ten buyers have messaged me nice things like to take my time and ship when I can, and they can wait a few extra days for their package, and to drive safe. Just random nice things to make me not feel so bad about not getting their stuff out. I do have ten days handling, but realistically I ship in 2 or 3 days (generally ship three times a week). When it's a long weekend, I try to get out on the Friday before. I did ship on Thursday, so my customers were all Thursday customers who purchased before I was packing that night.
Anyway no one was mad, and several thanked me for the update on their package and explaining the delay. I've come to learn people get mad when they don't know what's going on and make assumptions.
Well all I can say is I have a whole lot of really nice customers and I feel a lot better about avoiding the freezing rain on Friday.
C.
rugerskick
·3 years agoWell I like good news and stories too. 🙂
deltilogical
·3 years agoIts winter!
sin-n-dex
OP3 years agoIt's also the middle of February, and where I live that's 20 degrees below freezing, and sometimes so cold it's not even going to snow (or it does snow and we get a blizzard).
Freezing rain was a weird thing to wake up to in February because it meant we were around 32F which is typical mid-March weather, not February weather in Canada. It's so warm in Ontario this year the Rideau Canal is closed for skating, probably for the whole season this year. My computer says it's 40F outside right now.
C.
12345jamesstamps
·3 years agoI had a similar thing. When I took a 2 week vacation I kept my site open for buyers to buy from me. I emailed all 65 buyers while on my cruise (while drinking since it was open bar) and told all buyers their items will be shipped when I returned. Not one buyer complained and so many told me to have a great time. Just takes a friendly email to a buyer.
sin-n-dex
OP3 years agoI've had similar things like this happen when I had to travel (due to family stuff or work). But I had the store in away mode with them being able to purchase. Many said they saw the notification and were already aware.
I hope you had fun on your cruise. Mind if I ask where you went? I've got one booked for South Africa in 2024, but I'm going to shut the store down while away to have no stress about orders. (I shut down the week before to give everyone a chance to get their stuff and complain if necessary, it's much harder to handle complaints while away). On longer trips I reopen one week before I get back, but possibly not on the cruise. I'm getting 10 messages a day from would be buyers with questions about stuff, and would prefer to not have to deal with that on vacation. (And my partner will probably forbid any kind of "work" while on holidays).
Last week it was that I had tracking uploaded for them all and knew nothing would show up for quite a few days due to the long weekend and people get upset when they can't track their item and don't know what's going on. I had some that weren't packed and I didn't notify them, just packed the order Friday night figuring no one would expect anything until after the long weekend.
C.
mg152
·3 years agoIMHO, most buyers are super nice and understanding as are most sellers. We only see the bad experiences here.
duncanvr
·3 years agoThat's nice to hear and no you shouldn't go out in the bad icey weather if you can avoid it. I am just wondering if there was a way you could have gotten those parcels collected by the post office? Or pay someone to take them for you to the post office on those bad weather days. I have someone local take all my packages to the post for me it just saves so much time. Stay well.
sin-n-dex
OP3 years agoThey had to go to my shipper, not the post office. They would collect them from me on Friday instead of me going down there, but then they would go to their processing centre in Burlington, Ontario with other packages and spend a few days being processed. It's way faster if I drop them off myself because the guy working there sorts the USPS ones out to go directly to Niagara.
I do have 10 days handling though, which is deliberate to keep my metrics from going down in the event of something happening. I have lots of stress in my life, I don't need to worry about a late metric. But I do my best to ship super fast (as my feedback indicates), so that I have happy customers. When people get their stuff a week before they expect it, they are usually quite delighted.
C.
mam98031
·3 years agoThank you for sharing.
The nature of forums like this is for negative things. That is just what they exist for. The feel good stories are rare because other posters just don't tend to joint the discussion unless it is a negative one.
Thank you again for sharing.
silverstatetreasureboxes
·3 years ago@sin-n-dex
That is a nice feel good story and thanks for sharing it!
A little human kindness goes a long way.