The weather is starting to cool, the leaves are starting to change, and pumpkin spice is being sold just about everywhere. It won’t be long before the snow starts falling and parts of the country are in the deep freeze. With that in mind, we wanted to take a couple of minutes to give you some reminders and service updates about our winter shipping as you stock up on supplies for the winter.
Many of the products that our customers count on for day-to-day production, like Indigo Primers, are water-based and not freeze-thaw stable. If the products freeze, they will not work properly. S-One Labels and Packaging has created some options and shipping rules to help our customers avoid any issues during the coming winter months.
How we can help you:
Extended Terms: A new policy we started offering last year is extended terms on large stocking orders. Typically, a customer orders primer once a month and has Net30 terms. We now offer to order a second month’s supply at Net60. This way you can safely stock up during the coldest months without affecting cash flow. This is highly recommended and we have brought in the extra inventory of our fastest moving SKU’s to support large stocking orders over the next few months.
Inventory in the closest warehouse: If the time in transit is reduced the likelihood of that product freezing in transit is greatly reduced. We have six warehouses evenly spread out through Canada and the U.S. ensuring that 99% of our transit times are less than two days. The warehouses’ locations are below.
– Sparks, NV
– Carol Stream, IL
– Atlanta, GA
– Harrisburg, PA
– Ft. Worth, TX
– Toronto, Canada
Planning Assistance: Our team has been shipping water-based products for over 20 years, and we are here to help. We can help with inventory planning, weather warnings, and scheduling assistance. Just email or pick up the phone and ask.
Winter Shipping Guidelines and Rules for Less Than Truckload (LTL) Shipments (orders over 150 pounds)
Limited Shipping Days: LTL shipments can only be shipped on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday. Any LTL order received Thursday or Friday will be shipped the following Monday, at the earliest. This is to help make sure that your product isn’t stuck in a warehouse over the weekend, where it is likely to freeze.
Protect From Freeze (PFF) in the US and Heated truck in Canada: All LTL orders originating in the US must ship with PFF insurance. It typically adds about $50 to the cost, but the carrier covers the shipment with insulation and takes extra care to avoid leaving your material in non-climate controlled areas. If the weather is too cold, carriers may refuse to pick up LTL shipments when they are unsure if these precautions are enough to protect from freezing. This is one major reason why we strongly recommend stocking up. This can also negatively affect lead times, so please order 10-15 business days before you absolutely need product, instead of the typically 1-3 days. In Canada, heated trucks are easily accessible. Again, the upcharge for this is around $50, but since the truck is heated, carriers won’t refuse to pick up a shipment if the weather is extremely cold.
Small Parcel Shipments (orders under 150 pounds)
Orders shipping via UPS or FedEx ground during the winter must be shipped in insulated boxes at a cost of $45.00 per box. You can also expedite shipping, like choosing Next Day Air, so the material isn’t in transit long enough to freeze, but an insulated box is still recommended. Insulated boxes and expedited shipments can be costly, so we strongly recommend ordering more to bump it up to an LTL shipment. That also allows you to take advantage of our extended terms so you can order plenty of stock.
Important Details
Responsibility for Product Due to Freezing: A customer may refuse to add any of the additional protection options on a shipment, but doing so puts the responsibility of loss solely on the customer. This includes filing a claim with the carrier, as well as payment to S-One LP for the cost of the product. Payment of the product’s invoice cannot be delayed pending the resolution of the claim with the carrier if the customer waived freeze protection.
Receiving and Reporting Policy: It is extremely rare, but sometimes the product still freezes when it is shipped with the necessary protections in place. It is extremely important to examine all inbound shipments for freeze (or any other) damage before signing the BOL with the carrier. If the product is found to be frozen, it is necessary to note that on the delivery receipt. Also, pictures of the frozen product, along with the delivery receipt noting frozen damage must be submitted to us within 24 hours of receipt or the claim may be rejected by the carrier.
Thank you for working with us, and please communicate any questions to our team at (941) 256-7900 or labelsandpackaging@sone.com.
