Pausing Sales During Holidays Due to Slow Shipping

[destrucity_shop]

I've decided to put my store on vacation mode for the month of December due to delays in shipping. This morning a customer contacted my about an item past due delivery, was shipped First Class a seven days ago-- tracking shows no activity. A forum search of recent discussions revealed many sellers complaining of severe delays in shipping. This makes sense with new disruptive Post Master rules, more people shopping online from pandemic lockdowns, postal workers calling in sick with covid, and the surge of holiday orders, the postal system is now overwhelmed. I've refunded the buyer, and will resume selling in January.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Thank you for sharing that good news.

[yuzuha]

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@maros9416 wrote:

Even under normal conditions buying a gift online with less than 10 business days before Christmas is a risk. I think mostly everyone considers that when buying. Particularly if eBay did the right thing and extended the delivery times. I do still see a lot of ' Fast and Free ' listings though.

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I'm hoping this all will teach a lot of people a lesson about waiting until the last minute to do their Christmas shopping/mailing. As a retail worker, there's nothing we hate more than the people who come in halfway through December and then whine when we're sold out of something.

Maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't wait until the last minute! It's not like Christmas changes dates every year.

[flubberdoo]

No joke, I had a media mail package bounce between two points, B'ham and Memphis, over 20 times back around August, at least that's what tracking said. After about 5 weeks in broke free and arrived somewhere in Georgia. And recently a package from Alabama to New Mexico toured the lovely (I assume) mail facilities of a couple New Jersey post offices. I hope the PO can get it together in 2021.

[maros9416]

Maybe, but there will always be the group that didn't have the time or perhaps didn't have the money until the very end. I happen to like that crowd because I do get a boost in sales even until the week after Christmas. I was that late shopper too, until gift cards came out!

[voguevintage]

For most of us the holiday season is the best sales we get all year do pausing is not a problem 

[tssully66]

I don't know why no one has thought of this but this year there has been a small army of unemployed "non essential" workers that have had to make do with unemployment. Even with a hiring freeze at most shipping services given that many employees are off work from Covid you would think that temporary workers could be hired to help out with the backlog. Granted they would not be able to drive the trucks but they could help out in sorting facilities without much training. Seems like a win win for everyone.

[0769gjc]

So many of my shipments are extremely late.  Paying for Priority but receiving  horse and buggy delivery service.  Customers getting agitated.  Opened lost item cases through USPS.  USPS closes them with not even a note to me.  Post Office offers NO HELP whatsoever. 

[0769gjc]

NO, priority mail is failing badly........

[0769gjc]

A joke, right???

[0769gjc]

And when you call into ebay, the first thing every rep says it "don't worry we will help you".....haha

[bltandcheese]

39 of our packages (first class, priority and a couple media mail) given to USPS between 11/23 through 12/10 are stuck in limbo as of today.  We  put our store on vacation (first time ever) yesterday through Christmas.  We don't want our buyers disappointed that their items didn't arrive before Christmas.  Still sending offers with the stipulation that they will NOT receive the item before December 25th.  There are going to be a lot of angry/disappointed people out there.  

[patriot_bearing_supply]

Hold on, hold on...... are you printing your shipping labels through ebay, or using a shipping program that loads the tracking to ebay immediately? All you have to do is SHIP immediately, and have a scan within your stated shipping period. Yes you may initially get dinged for the packages arriving late..... EVERYONES packages are arriving late. I ship over 1,000 orders a year. Everything I have shipped this month is late. You may have to call eBay and get the late shipping taken off. More likely, they will automatically take everything off, they have before.

[carolynnq]

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@patriot_bearing_supply wrote:

Hold on, hold on...... are you printing your shipping labels through ebay, or using a shipping program that loads the tracking to ebay immediately? All you have to do is SHIP immediately, and have a scan within your stated shipping period. Yes you may initially get dinged for the packages arriving late..... EVERYONES packages are arriving late. I ship over 1,000 orders a year. Everything I have shipped this month is late. You may have to call eBay and get the late shipping taken off. More likely, they will automatically take everything off, they have before.

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It's more than working with eBay on late shipping. It's dealing with the "where's my package?" emails. And the emails that say, "Did you ship my item? " (I've had scans that say accepted, then a scan at a distribution facility, and then the subsequent scan says "label created, awaiting shipment". It's dealing with angry/disappointed buyers when items they've ordered as gifts don't arrive in time.  It's buyers demanding a refund while the package is held up at a distribution center, etc., etc.

[patriot_bearing_supply]

Good point. USPS and UPS are union. Fed Ex and Amazon are not. Although UPS will hire temps for the Christmas season (they call them "runners"). USPS also hires temps....... but the powers that be in the federal government are trying to run the USPS under so they can privatize. I saw my UPS guy the other day making a delivery, he looked tired..... he was actually walking, not his usual brisk walk, and he got to the patio and did that "phew" face. I've never seen this guy tired. He's been doing the job forever, he's in great shape, always in a good mood..... I'm sure he will retire with a very nice pension.

[patriot_bearing_supply]

It's an industrial job, and not something you can just throw someone into. From my perspective, the backups started with a fast, heavy snowstorm that hit the North East December 1st. We got 8 inches of wet, heavy snow overnight. This shut everything down for a good day....... So the trucks can't move in or out of the sorting centers etc etc..... 8 inches of snow is a lot different than 4 or 5. Now everyone is backed up, and semi trucks start filling up with packages, then the next days packages come in....... the facility is full and now things are moving less efficiently inside too. I'm just waiting till after Christmas is past, hopefully the USPS will be able to dig out. I have a lot of packages that are past due.