As the nation prepared for COVID-19 in early 2020, Whiplash partner locations took immediate action to follow all directives from the CDC and WHO.
We are entering into a resurgence of COVID-19 and want to make sure that we are communicating the steps we are taking. Additionally, we would like to help set expectations of how this will affect your customers during this confusing time of states re-opening and cases on the rise.
Our teams will continue to take protective measures such as but not limited to;
- Additional sanitization and increased frequency of cleaning.
- Employees who are sick or have been exposed staying home and being tested.
- Screening and visitor policies.
- Carrier and Freight no touch policies.
- Quarantining incoming shipments.
These policies are still in effect and may cause delays as additional time is required throughout the order process.
Inventory Receiving:
Shipments are generally held in quarantine for a period of 3 full days, and are not marked as arrived until pulled from quarantine. You may not see action on your incoming shipments as frequently as expected. Once out of quarantine, your shipment will begin to process, and depending on size, will take on average between 2-5 business days to be fully received. Shipments are processed in the order received, please alert us if you have any large shipments or releases during this period.
Order Processing:
Orders may be delayed an additional business day. We are no longer able to prioritize orders for same day processing when placed before noon facility time or orders with a 2 Day or Faster Named Shipping Method.
Shipment Tracking:
Outgoing shipments tracking may be delayed. This means there may be no updates in tracking or entirely no tracking details. While carriers are working hard to get your shipments delivered, we have seen an increase in delays across the board.
Due to the no touch policy and amount of shipments currently moving through the carriers hubs, shipments may not pick up tracking right away. Additionally, no carrier is offering refunds for 2 day or faster methods that are not delivered in the expedited timeline.
Helping Your Customer Experience:
- To make sure that we are able to ship the orders as quickly as possible, you may want to change notifications on particularly popular products. This will assure that you can reorder them sooner to allow enough processing time for any incoming shipment and prevent issues with orders going out of stock.
- Post a message at checkout letting customers know that you ship Monday-Friday and updated processing times are typically between 24 to 72 hours.
- Let your customers know there may be delays with receiving their packages due to COVID-19. Being proactive and transparent means your customers know what to expect and translates to less work for your customer service team.