SHIPPING DELAYS

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Just a general shipping update for everyone this Wednesday 3rd June 2020 - I know there's lots of questions and I've not got that many answers, but I'll try my best

AUSTRALIA: No significant updates for the Aussies except to say that Australia Post is still struggling with volume and limited services to most destinations within the country.  To be fair, we've not seen too much of a delay locally, so that's a win :)

NZ / USA / CANADA: DHL have advised that they have managed to find a few extra flights that return us to daily uplift into NZ & onward into the USA & Canada.  However, USPS are having some fairly significant difficulties still and the volume of post inbound to these countries remains significant.  We're still expecting longer than usual shipping times as the freight network struggles with larger volume of parcels and less available flights on which to carry them, along with other challenges like increased absenteeism and heightened safety precautions through the network.  Essentially, shipping will be a little better than during March, April & May but we're still expecting it to be slower than usual.

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST, ASIA: We are aware of an issue with some freight that was dispatched from us in late March through to early April, where DHL had temporarily changed the route on which they transfer our parcels from Australia to their central hub in Frankfurt for onward distribution.  Unfortunately, some 70 tonnes of freight became stuck in Hong Kong, and much of it is still there, being released slowly as authorities there prioritise other matters.  Most of you will likely receive "Love Bug" before "Sail and Sea", despite the fact that it shipped 4 weeks later, and if you'd ordered anything from our past kit store in that window it is also likely stuck.

DHL have advised that this freight is  moving, albeit slowly, and there is no reason to think it won't be delivered.  I know that this is frustrating and I thank you for your patience and understanding.

Also, somewhat strangely freight to China that is stuck with this shipment will go from Hong Kong, to Frankfurt, then back to Shanghai.  The routing of international freight will never make sense to me, but that's what it is!

BRAZIL (and most of South America): Good news!  After a little over 2 months we can finally commence shipping to Brazil again!!!! That said, I've been told to expect some rather long shipping times at least in the short term, as a backlog of freight is sent your way.  Those customers who are waiting on both your "Love Bug" and "Sail and Sea" kits to be dispatched, where possible we'll combine those kits and send to you, so look out for your tracking numbers soon!  Any orders for other items will dispatch separately.

AFRICA, SOUTH EAST ASIA, CARIBBEAN & Others: Unfortunately, there are still around 50 countries around the world that we're as yet unable to send freight to.  I keep a keen eye on the updates from DHL and will release freight to you as soon as we're able.

GENERAL UPDATE: I did ask when we're likely to see a return to the past normal in terms of delivery times (for reference, pre-Covid our average to the USA was 8-11 days, to Europe 5-8 days and most other destinations were 14-21 days), but there was simply silence broken by nervous laughter on the other end of the phone.  I guess my take on that is that is that we need to remain patient for the time being, as the freight companies work on ways to improve the shipping times and as our medical professionals work on solutions to the pandemic.

Thank you to you all for your patience and understanding.  Stay safe and well!

Michael

We have had many people asking if their parcel has shipped as they haven't received a shipping notice from PA. This is a very manual process that we need to run after shipping has been completed. Due to the complexities in this months shipping, and the surge in customer service messages, the process has been delayed. Please check your email for messages from DHL or AusPost which will include your tracking details. We will update our website as soon as we can.

The good news is a bunch of countries have opened up for shipping. We are currently getting your boxes labelled and ready for pickup.

Sail and Sea shipping announcement: Very happily I can let you know that we've started shipping Sail and Sea today, though thanks to Covid-19 there is a lot more complexity this month than usual....

As per my previous post, there are a large number of countries that we're temporarily unable to ship to. This list changes daily, and unfortunately today France and Canada were both added to the temporarily suspended destinations. In many other countries the postal services are having particularly hard times coping and have placed some additional constraints on how they accept freight, adding some time to shipping. No surprises to anyone, but this does mean we can expect additional wait times for the Sail and Sea kit.

We've also had to make changes to the way we pack our kits to ensure safety of our team, which has added some time to our process and may result in orders taking a little longer to process than usual through our system.

If you've received a notification from DHL or Australia post today, the good news is that your kit will start its journey soon. If you haven't just yet, please don't worry too much - we're working as quickly as we can and will get every order under way as soon as we can.

If you happen to live in a country where we can't currently ship (and there are lots of you), we're holding your order in our mail room until we're able to dispatch to you.

Thanks so much for your patience and continued support!

Michael

Just a general shipping update for everyone. The situation is going to change daily, I'm sure, and I know that our planner goodies will prove a welcome distraction to you when they arrive!

We rely heavily on air freight to get our kits to everyone worldwide (including those within Australia), and with the large number of travel restrictions in place currently, there will be delays to freight - both inbound to Australia and outbound. DHL, who we use to send packages out of Australia have advised that there will be at least a 2-7 business day delay to most locations globally. The good news is, at least, that the freight lanes are still open (for now) - it just may take more time than usual.

For those customers who live in Spain and South Korea, the news isn't so great. Unfortunately, DHL have advised that for the immediate future we can't get parcels to you :( We'll be keeping watch over the situation as it changes and will of course send your orders off as soon as we're able to!

Remember - we're all in this together :)

Michael