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Christmas Delays - Why Your Shipment May Be Delayed

Like many small businesses, our customers are seeing an increase in mail system delays this holiday season. This has increased substantially as we get closer we to Christmas. Please read this guide before emailing us about your delayed shipment, and hopefully you've also read our Shipping FAQ. We are a very small team and are struggling to respond to emails during a very busy time. 

If your shipment is delayed by the carrier, our advice is to wait it out and it should eventually reach the recipient. Unfortunately we do not have any more information about the status of your shipment than you do with your tracking number, and we have no leverage over the carriers to speed up already-shipped orders. Right now, many packages seem to be stuck for several days at sorting facilities. We understand that this can be quite frustrating, but again, there is nothing The Card Bureau can do. We are relying on carriers to ship your packages and cannot personally do anything that would speed shipment up if your package is stuck. 

We are continuing to honor our promise to ship orders within 1-3 business days of receiving it. Once your order ships out, the duration is out of our control. if you pay for expedited shipping, this may not necessarily make a difference given how severe delays are all around. We do, however, strongly recommend you ship with UPS instead of USPS whenever possible to ensure a more timely arrival and more accurate tracking updates. 


WHY THE DELAYS? You can do your own research on why this is happening but I've gathered some info and summarized it below to help us all understand what's behind these delays and what you can do. Here's why your shipment might be delayed:

  1. PACKAGE VOLUME IS VERY HIGH: The postal system is experiencing an unprecedented volume of shipments. Why? Because we're living in a pandemic and everyone is shipping more than they have in previous years. The postal system is not built to handle this much volume. Their sorting machines are getting overwhelmed and in some instances they're having postal workers sort mail by hand to try to keep up.  

  2. COVID IS STILL A CONCERN AND CAUSES LABOR SHORTAGES: Also consider that when a postal worker gets sick or exhibits symptoms of COVID, teams of people have to be quarantined. That's a huge setback in terms of labor during peak holiday shipping time. 

  3. EXISTING STRUCTURAL ISSUES HAVE BECOME WORSE: The USPS has experienced financial difficulties for a while. Cutbacks and structural changes by Post Master General DeJoy this year have amplified those struggles and made things worse. 

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU:

Your order will eventually arrive. If it does not, please use your tracking number to contact the carrier and file a complaint. If you paid for Priority Mail or UPS Ground, the package is insured and you should be able to receive the full value of your order up to $100. There is a possibility that you may not get your package in time for Christmas even though you ordered way in advance. We are sincerely sorry if this is the case but we ask that you do not blame The Card Bureau and hope you will be understanding of the postal service given the challenges they are facing.

 


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