What's the Deal With Stock?
2021 has been a wild year, to say the least. Coming off of the chaos of 2020, our culture is trying to bounce back. Even with COVID still trying to shut us all down, businesses and restaurants are open. Schools and their programs are back in full swing. In a lot of ways, things feel back to normal…sort of.
The New Norm
By now, you have probably noticed that multiple industries are experiencing delays, supply chain issues & price increases. Maybe you have tried to order something online and the ship date is a month out, or have gone into the grocery store to see that your favorite food item is now more expensive. We know multiple people who are renovating their homes and construction supplies just aren’t readily available.
Unfortunately, we are also noticing this in our industry. Across the board, from screen printing and embroidery apparel to promotional items, most of our vendors are not up to full staffing and inventory capacity, which means that turn around times are being pushed back and delayed. We get an email, almost daily, from a vendor saying they have extended out their turnaround times. The tough reality is that stock is very fluid right now. Most of the time, we don’t even know if there is available stock until we place an order with a vendor.
What Does This Mean?
As we all adjust to this new normal, we appreciate your patience and understanding as we do everything we can to navigate these supply chain issues to meet the deadlines for your orders. What normally takes us 5-10 minutes is now taking us 30 minutes to an hour to search for available stock and put together the best possible quote to send to you. In addition to that delay, our normal turn around times have been extended. Depending on the product you are wanting, it could now take anywhere from 12-20 business days, to get your items in your hands. We are truly sorry about these delays. Please know that we are doing everything we can to get you your order processed and started for you as quick as possible.
The second thing that will help, in addition to your patience and understanding, is to make sure that you approve the quote and art as soon as you possibly can, as well as make sure that you get us the apparel sizes you need up front. This will allow our team to search inventory and get you the product you need, so that we can stick to the 12-20 business day timeframe. If you are not sure about how to start an order with us, click the button below to see how it all works.
Hopefully, this 'new norm' won't last forever. Hopefully this sheds some light on our reality in this season so that you can better prepare for your screen printing, embroidery, branding and promotional needs. As always, our team is committed to doing everything we can on our end to make sure that your experience with us is excellent. You are our priority and we care deeply for you.
