With everyone sending gifts and cards to loved ones, shipping during the holiday season can be a nightmare. Receiving materials late or having your consumers receive their products late puts strain on everyone. To ensure your business doesn’t falter during the holidays, here are a couple of shipping tips.

Communicate With Your Consumers

Communicating with your consumers is the best way to weather the holiday shipping storm. If you’re in business to business sales, this will probably require a personal call. Notify them that, due to the holidays, shipping may take longer than usual. However, if you’re in a business to consumer industry, announcements on your website and social media channels will usually suffice.

Shipping Ahead of Time

Try to ship products out ahead of your usual time frame. Your consumers will likely be impressed getting their goods earlier than expected. But even if their products are delayed, your earlier shipping will get them into customer hands right when they were expecting them anyway.

Raise Your Shipping Pricing

During the winter season, shipping companies usually raise their rates for next-day and two-day shipping. So it makes sense that your shipping prices would also increase accordingly. Be sure to make an announcement or talk directly with your consumers before you raise your rates so that the change doesn’t come as a surprise.

If you’re still struggling with shipping during the holiday season, reach out to other entrepreneurs in your community. If you’re an AFEUSA member, utilize your exclusive UPS discount.