<<First Name>>,
We wanted to take a minute to thank you for your continued support and also update you on some of the changes we have made. This pandemic has made for an interesting year, to say the least, and we certainly struggled by our standards. Typically, during Q1 and Q2 we make countless adjustments in equipment, staff, and process so we can be better prepared for the Q3 and Q4 rush. While we consider ourselves very fortunate to be incredibly busy during this time, it certainly challenged our growth plans as we spent all of Q2 just trying to keep up with demand. Having to work on those improvements while running peak capacity added many additional challenges to overcome. The good news is we were able to make several key hires and added, or will be adding shortly, multiple pieces of equipment to improve not only capacity but also efficiency and accuracy. Maybe the most important addition will be our new production management system that we will be released mid-September. This has been in the works for 21 months now and we are really looking forward to this addition. There will be some changes as we transition over, but we will be in contact about those at a later date.
Back in March, we postponed our annual price adjustment and we will be implementing that this month, with the prices being fully transitioned by 10/1. (More details below). We will also be discontinuing several items at this time. These items should have little or no impact on most of you…(Hence the reason we are removing them from the offering). This is another important effort to help streamline the offering so we can better serve you.
As Q4 rapidly approaches we want to make you all aware there will be shipping issues this year. The news has been full of issues with USPS and most of the shipments we do rely on USPS at some point. All the carriers are trying to make improvements, but many are in the same boat as us. Our FedEx rep said “We have been trying to process Holiday volumes without being prepared and also without an end in sight.” These issues are going to continue. While there are other more expensive options...those are already running at or near capacity.
Please alert your customers to order early and give plenty of lead time and we strongly encourage all of you to start Holiday promotions early so we can give everyone the best opportunity to succeed.
Lead Times - We are going to make an adjustment to our lead times. Our goal is to offer 8 days lead time on all orders with a 10-day guarantee to our customers that we will not allow any items past 10 days. We will continue to process as we have in the past and want to exceed these dates, but we realize how important it is for us to give you a “not to exceed” date so this is where we are going to start.
Rush Options: Many have requested the option for rush options and we hear you!!! Once we get the lead times under control we plan to start by offering a 4 day rush option again. Look for this toward the end of the month.
Finally, we are also working on improving communication. In the coming days we will be using our update page on a regular basis for any type of changes from, lead times, stock shortages, shipping delays, discontinued or added product etc.
Please check here for these updates.
Please find a few other updates below and some more details about some of the topics above.
In Partnership,
Pic The Gift