Congestion...

While about 90% of my customer base is here in the US, that 10% is the rest of the world and it has been a rough couple of months. What was about a 2-3 weeks point to point shipping time(pre pandemic) has turned into 2 months or more. I get multiple emails a day asking “Where is my stuff?”. It hurts me to track an international package cause at this point I know what to expect. It will move to the port and then just sit. One package sat 8 weeks before it was finally released and on to it’s next stop. What can we do?

I have looked into other shippers like FedEx and DHL but I’m shipping smaller packages and the rates start out at $30-$50. That’s too high as in some cases it’s more to ship it than the actual product costs. What are we to do? Standard shipping rates have already gone up more than 20% and I have had to rase my international rates to make up for it. I’ve been trying to stay close to news about these issues. 2020 Covid-19 jammed up an already strained infrastructure and it has only gotten worse since then. The docks are running but busier than they ever have been.

Consumer demand has spiked, overseas goods have increased, as well our export has increased. Now with a back log of contains that will just sit at port, we start to run into container shortages. They are all sitting on the ships so they can’t been used.

For all of my international customers, I apologies for the delay. I will continue to look for better options. It’s a crazy time and there will be some adjustment period. Hang in there though.

-Dustin