There is no avoiding it – the holidays are around the corner and will have unique challenges (insert = stress) this year than in the past. Many families and friends will forego traveling and gatherings and are actively on the look for ways to still share the holiday spirit.
Enter two things : Zoom Holiday parties and for the gifts … SHIPPING.
Now, I don’t claim to be a shipping expert. If you would talk to March 2020 Kelly, I would tell you shipping was easy. I had not done it for a very long time, but I didn’t have any ill-willed memories of it. Amazon shipping is free, it must be easy peasy and cheap right? WRONG.
Fast forward to today’s Kelly, who has had the opportunity to ship 67 packages in the past few months of varying size, weights, and contents – to locations across the country. Today’s Kelly will tell you – shipping can be an unexpected expense and major pain if not well planned for.
In an effort to help my fellow shipping friends, Zeal presents : 5 Tips for Low Stress Holiday Shipping!
- Think twice before you ship liquor. If you think sending your bestie in Florida a bottle of your favorite wine for Christmas is a good idea, think again! Shipping liquor across state lines as a non -liquor licenses/non-winery sender can be a major offense depending on the state rules. Check out state-specific liquor shipping laws here: https://2ndkitchen.com/breweries/how-to-ship-alcohol/. Back up plan? Ship a bottle direct from wine.com, Drizly, or other online distributors. Unless your pal lives in South Dakota. Then you are bum out of luck. No shipping at all to our friends in this north-central state
- Go to the Post office/Fedex/etc… first thing in the morning. Similar to the DMV, get there early. The lines get long very quickly for shipping and when you need 6 feet between each person, you may be standing outside the door in snow come December holding your stack of boxes.
- Go for the small, light presents this year. If shipping is part of the gift story, your best option is gift cards or light fuzzy socks. Recently we had a medium-sized, heavy box to ship to Florida – it was $60 to ship. Ouch. Replace those awesome Doc Martin boots with a lightweight robe this year!
- Shop and ship early. If you have been following the news, you know the Post office is in trouble. So… more people are heading to FedEx and UPS than ever before – the cumulative effect of this is that all 3 shipping giants are seeing unprecedented volumes. Ship early friends… it may take a very long time to get to your destination.
- Outsource the shipping tasks. Don’t be afraid to skip all the lines, packaging costs, etc… and get help. There are courier, personal assistant, and delivery services out there (like Zeal! www.zealhelps.com) who will pick up your package from your home and ensure it gets safely in the hands of the delivering experts. Yes, this is a thing.
Happy holiday shopping and shipping!
