That’s right, “Holiday Shipping Season” has arrived, my friends! With the upcoming holidays, comes a whole season filled with holiday traditions, family get-togethers, food, gift giving, never-ending Christmas music on the radio, and… a massive amount of shipped items clogging up the shipping system for ALL carriers. Read on to find out what to expect & what to do if your package gets stuck in transit!
How Long Does It Last?
Unfortunately, we have already started experiencing the shipping delays at Taunton Bay Soap Company. As I type we have several packages delayed in transit or with tracking pages that aren’t updating with their whereabouts. We’re going to be seeing more of this, likely through January, & I personally consider the end of “Holiday Shipping Season” to be Valentine’s Day.
Why so far out? Because along with the influx of packages around Christmas time, also comes an influx of holiday gift cards & their redemption with various retailers after they receive them. People usually spend gift cards within a few weeks, so at least in part, the shipping delays will continue until that “second wave” has ended. Hence the estimated 6-8 weeks after Christmas, just to be safe.
What To Expect
You can expect any packages coming your way to be delayed several days to a week in most cases, maybe a little more in rural areas & closer to Christmas. December 1st-30th is really our hot spot since it’s directly after Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales, when the majority of Americans do their online shopping due to major sales (which we will also be having so follow us on social media & sign up for our newsletter to get email alerts!), as well as the “Christmas Crunch” when folks order last minute gifts in hopes they arrive on time.
What Can We Do?
Here’s the kicker – absolutely nothing! The shipping delays are likely come no matter what carrier you use or day you order, & unfortunately once USPS has your package, it is completely out of our hands. But, we do offer expedited shipping by phone order only before 12pm EST, which is USPS Priority Express, costs $35, generally arrives in 1-2 business days, & comes with a guaranteed delivery date & time.
However, it’s important to know that during the holiday rush & unavoidable events such as extreme weather, USPS may not honor the money-back guarantee they normally offer on Priority Express packages. If they will honor the guarantee though, we make a note on your account for a $35 credit towards a future phone order, or if you have a customer account with the new website, we’ll deposit the store credit directly to your account to be used on any online order. Either way, we highly recommend you order 1-2 weeks earlier than usual & even a little extra if possible, just so that the delays don’t disrupt your product levels.
What Happens If My Package Is Delayed?
While we use USPS Priority shipping for most orders, it does not come with a guaranteed delivery date or time & any date you see on the tracking page is simply an estimate of when it may show up. So even outside of the Holiday Shipping Season, we generally allow at least 2 weeks for delivery before we take further steps. During the holidays, we give it some additional time – 3 weeks – before we really start to worry about delayed packages.
If it’s been more than 21 days since your order shipped & you haven’t received updates on your tracking, we ask that you call us at 207-669-8246 Monday-Friday / 9am-5pm EST, message us on live chat, or send an email support@tauntonbaysoapcompany.com so that we can look into it. Once we learn of a potentially missing package, we reach out to the delivering post office (the one located in your zip code) to get more information on the last scan the package had. Then if needed, we also will create a missing package search request through USPS. If they believe the package is missing, we will re-ship your order at no cost to you. We just ask if you do receive the “missing” package at some point, to please contact us so we can either work out a payment for it, or email you a pre-paid shipping label to return it.
We know the holiday season is already stressful enough, so we thank you so very much for your patience with us during shipping delays! Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns & we hope you all have a wonderful holiday season ahead!
-Bekkah with TBSC