2023 Holiday Cutoffs & Best Practices

The holidays are around the corner, and i Logistics USA is committed to bringing you and your customers joy with streamlined fulfillment this holiday season.


While the labor shortage is real and we have to adapt by increasing incentives and wages for our staff, there are no seasonal cost increases for our services including warehousing fees, but carriers have implemented peak surcharges for domestic shipments that will result in a passthrough, some of which we are absorbing as well.


There are a few things we ask you to keep in mind to have the best holiday fulfillment experience for you and your customers. Below, we cover:


  • i Logistics USA holiday cutoffs and turnaround times.
  • i Logistics USA extensions.
  • Sending inventory this holiday season.
  • i Logistics USA holiday schedule.
  • FBA PREP for holidays.
  • And much more.

i Logistics USA holiday cutoffs and turnaround times;

Below is our holiday cutoff schedule for shipments as well as our operations. Our team has been making many strides over the past few months to prepare for peak season, including hiring more on our fulfillment, tech support, and Customer services.


Domestic shipments

While there is no guarantee for delivery by or on a particular day, the below guidance has been provided by our carriers for domestic delivery by Christmas.

Note: Orders must be imported by 11:00 am (EDT) on the dates listed below:

Standard:

Expedited - December 18

Overnight - December 20

US Domestic - December 14


Here are domestic carrier cutoffs for our most commonly used domestic Ship Options:

Cutoff Date:

USPS Ground Advantage; December 4

UPS Sure Post and FedEx Smart Post; December 6

UPS Ground; December 15

FedEx Home or Ground; December 15

USPS Priority Mail; December 14

2 Day Express; December 18


International shipments

Orders must be imported by 11:00 am (EDT) on the dates listed below:

Standard - December 1

Expedited - December 8


Inventory receiving cutoff

November 17 is the last day your inventory can arrive at our fulfillment center to ensure delivery to customers by Christmas via Standard Ground processing. Based on our standard turnaround times, it can take up to 5 days for your inventory to be completely received and stored once it arrives.

Without a Purchase Order (PO) filled out accurately and included in each package, we are unable to process your inventory and it will be moved to a status of on hold and incur daily Unidentified Receiving Order fees.


Kitting cutoff

To plan labor and resources accordingly, we need advance notice to kit and ship during the holiday season. The last day to submit a new kitting request to be considered for Christmas is November 17.

Please request a work order for kitting here with the desired date and details (volume, SKUs, etc.) to schedule the project. Any kitting requests that come in after Black Friday (November 24) will likely not be considered but will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.


B2B order cutoff

The last day to schedule a B2B order to be processed and shipped before Christmas is December 8.


Sharing your holiday forecast with i Logistics USA

i Logistics USA uses forecasting data to scale up our workforce so we can ensure your orders are fulfilled on time. To do so, we rely on you telling us when we can expect to fulfill an order volume that is greater than your typical volume.


If you project a large increase in orders, please fill out the Promotional/Bulk Upload Details form at least 72 hours in advance, especially if you plan on starting promotions earlier than Black Friday this year.


FBA PREP

Last day to send merchandise to Amazon FBA warehouses and sell on Thanksgiving, schedule the order until October 27. And for Christmas until November 23.


The turnaround time increases from 48hrs. to 72 hrs. And can take another day or two.


USPS Closures 

Orders shipping via USPS from any of our fulfillment center adhere to additional federal holidays and will see pickup and transit delays on the following dates:


Columbus Day: October 9

Veterans Day: November 11


i Logistics USA extensions

Our facility will hire hundreds of associates to meet the increased demand of the peak season, however, we expect to receive more orders than can physically be processed within our standard. As such, we will add extensions (in business days), which will go into effect starting on Black Friday (November 24) and remain in effect until November 30.


The extension applies to standard fulfillment for outbound B2C shipments, B2B orders, kitting, and FBA PREP. The outbound fulfillment extension does not apply to expedited orders. All Expedited, Overnight, Amazon, and Walmart will continue to be prioritized and fulfilled the same day as long as the order is imported pre-noon local time.


Please note:This temporary extension does not impact any of our 2023 holiday shipping cutoffs listed above.


Sending inventory this holiday season

We are expecting there to be continued delays across ports with greater amounts of containers being transported. We strongly recommend you order inventory from your manufacturer much earlier for the remainder of the year. Please read the info below on how to send inventory to i Logistics USA in advance of the holidays.


Reminder: Without a PO filled out accurately and included in each package, we are unable to process your inventory and it will be moved to a status of on hold and incur daily fees.


i Logistics USA holiday schedule;

Our warehouse will observe the holidays below and be CLOSED on the following dates:

  • Thanksgiving: Thursday, November 23
  • Christmas: December 25
  • New Year's Day: January, 1

Notes:

  • Customer Services team will be mostly off on both Christmas Eve (December 24) and New Year’s Eve (December 31) with limited phone support on those days (chat and email will be available).
  • Our warehouse will close on Christmas Eve (December 24) and New Year’s Eve (December 31).
  • The last full day of normal carrier operations before the Christmas holiday will be December 23. We will resume normal operations on December 26.
  • The last full day of normal carrier operations before the New Year holiday will be December 30. We will resume normal operations on January 2.

Tracking packages

As a reminder, our carriers do NOT scan packages at our facilities upon pickup. However, i Logistics USA has internal processes to monitor package status to ensure carrier pickup.


Important note: During the holidays, our carriers experience an increase in volume that can cause a delay in tracking scans and updates, especially USPS. We highly encourage our clients to consider alternatives to USPS during the holiday season as it is a subsidized service and therefore takes the lowest priority in the USPS network. When the network is very busy, you may see transit delays in excess of 3 weeks with the USPS.


Setting tariffs for international shipping

If you ship internationally, you must add tariff codes at the product-level to improve deliverability and prevent issues at customs. If this information is missing, international orders will be put on-hold and not fulfilled until resolved.


You can update your products individually or in bulk. We highly recommend that you update all customs-related fields for each of your products to avoid international orders getting held up, including:


  • Tariff Code (valid HS code is 6-10 digits, not including periods).
  • Value (cannot be 0).
  • Description.
  • Weight (Basic Product Information panel).

In addition, to avoid delays or hold your packages and to be processed efficiently we will need the packing slip and invoice of your order to be sent to our team.


You can do this in two ways;

  • Attach both documents (packing slip and invoice) to your order.
  • If you use FedEx, it is transmitted automatically.

Preparing for returns

For each inventory item, you can set a default action for returned items: we can restock, quarantine, dispose, or inspect a return. If you need to add inspection steps to products, there will be an additional per-touch fee. If you have more complex return steps you would like us to complete upon arrival, please reach out to your agent or our customer service team at WhatsApp's.


Adding gift notes to orders

New from last holiday season, i Logistics USA now lets you add gift notes to order (including for your customers to do at checkout when giving gifts). Contact your agent to set up an automatic rule.


Getting in touch with i Logistics USA

We remain committed to providing fast response times this season. While we do offer phone support, the best way to get in touch with us is by selecting the Chat in our WhatsApp's option or by writing to our email support@ilogisticsusa.com.


For any questions, please contact your Agent or by writing to our email support@ilogisticsusa.com.


Regards,

i Logistics USA Team

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