Deliveries in COVID-19

I’m sure you’ve noticed as you stare out the living room window, the couriers are run-off their feet. Our next door neighbour literally gets about 5 deliveries a day.

This is obviously going to cause problems with delays and customer expectations as we only have roughly the same amount of delivery guys. 

So I wanted to spell it out for you how this is really affecting deliveries in Adult Toys

Couriers Struggling

Adult Toys are Classed NON-Essentials ???

I know crazy isn’t it? The couriers are all prioritising essential deliveries of Medical and Food so there are some deliveries that aren’t getting through as quickly as normal. Especially foreign deliveries as they are passing a few depots meaning more opportunity for delay.

These deliveries can sit in the depot for days and we’ve experienced this first hand on our own supplier deliveries, I think we’d all agree this is right and proper but just another thing you need to take into account.

Take-away :- Foreign deliveries are taking MUCH longer but all non-essential deliveries are prone to delays

Retailers Having Stock is Critical

Especially in Ireland but all over really loads of online retailers hold very little or no stock. They dropship meaning when you place an order they pass that order on to a distributor (usually UK based but often China) who picks, packs and ships. Fine normally but now those deliveries are all delayed.

Also retailers that hold stock are struggling as deliveries are taking twice as long from suppliers so they need the space and systems to manage much more stock than usual.

Take-away :- Make sure your online retailer actually holds stock as if they don’t, it will take ages - ask them straight before ordering - PlayBlue holds everything we sell.

Couriers are Swamped

Our couriers say it is like a double never-ending Christmas. The amount of deliveries has doubled and the social distancing and staff reductions are hampering deliveries. The truth is all the Couriers are struggling to cope. Over the last month we have still shipped over 96% of orders the same or next business day but only about 63% are being delivered the next business day. 

This is unavoidable, some deliveries are taking 3-4 days to deliver. We try our best to push the couriers and with the systems we have in place like Track and Chase, Eircode Checking on orders we are doing much better than most. 

Imagine how long deliveries from the UK or Europe are taking.

Take-away :- Everyone is delayed but shop local is your best bet, but be realistic and understanding please.

Retailers Don’t have the Capacity

As an online retailer you can hope for 1,000 orders a day but what happens if you get them? Will you cope? Do you have the stock? Do you have the Staff and Facilities to Pick & Pack them?

Sadly loads of online retailers operate in hope without planning and when the flood of orders come they drown. A shop switching to online trading is really not as trivial as it might seem and even online retailers operating out of their bedroom have no chance of operating at scale.

Most shipping delays are with the retailers as if they can normally pack 10 orders a day and get 30 orders you are talking serious delays.

Take-away :- Order from the established professionals, pop-up or bedroom operators are going to really struggle to pack any sort of scale.


How to Get Your Parcel 

  1. Buy off a Irish online retailer - Orders from the UK are taking at least a week and even the retailers themselves are admitting that now. At PlayBlue we ship the vast majority next day and still the majority of orders are arriving next day.
  2. Order from Retailers with Irish Based Stock - No good ordering from Drop Shippers or resellers if the stock is all in China or even the UK you are talking a serious delay. At PlayBlue if it’s for sale we have it in stock in Tallaght ready to go.
  3. Order from Retailers with Experience - You want an online retailer that can cope not chancers. PlayBlue has the biggest Adult Sex Toy/Lingerie Warehouse in Ireland and we have been selling online for 10 years we know what we are doing.
  4. Give us your Eircode and and Irish Mobile it really can speed things up.

But at the end of the day Adult toys are non-essential and couriers are swamped so please bear with us if there are delays we promise at PlayBlue we’ll chase every order. Ordering from PlayBlue is the quickest and Cheapest you’ll get Adult Toys or Lingerie in Ireland.

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