My 9-to-5 job is with a company that distributes art & drafting supplies. We sell to wholesalers and retailers (but not the general public), many of whom are online companies, both large and small. It is our customers who put our products on sale for their customers on Cyber-Monday. But we don't hire extra order-entry or warehouse workers for the one week after Thanksgiving; frankly, in order to train them (which would take longer than a week) we would have to pull our staff off of what they are already struggling to accomplish. We just get to every order as soon as possible. But we're frequently backed up for the first week or so of December. Add to that the sorts of weather-related shipping delays we've seen in the Eastern US in the past week, and the consumer (that's you) is left waiting... and waiting...

If you are ordering something online, it is HIGHLY likely that the company from whom you are purchasing does not even have a brick-and-mortar warehouse. So if the distributor for the widget you ordered from www dot stuffisus dot com is backed up due to so many orders coming in from multiple websites, you are just going to have to wait. It may or may not have anything to do with the company you're dealing with.

M*QC is unusual in that what we order from them is shipped from Hamilton, and when they are out of stock, we find out. I placed an order over a week ago and as far as I know, it has not even been pulled from the shelf yet. THAT'S OKAY. The reason I like to order from them (in addition to the hilarious emails! ) is that I feel that I know these people (even though I don't), and I am absolutely confident that they are doing the best they can. My order may not arrive as soon as I'd like, but I'm willing to wait, because I know how stressful their jobs can be. And I'd rather wait a few days than have some poor driver get into a wreck in the snow.

Do me a favor? Please email the head of any company with whom you do business that does right by you and let them know you appreciate it. Nothing motivates people to work harder than to know their efforts are appreciated.

*backs away from the soap box*

Blessings,
~ Sally \0/