Happy Holidays!
It’s that time of year again to get together with family, drink some nog, watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” five times and gorge ourselves on the yummies! We wish you ALL a Merry Christmas, and to all during this night the factories in China will be chugging and plugging away to restock all those shelves that we eagerly emptied during our holiday season before they take their annual break during the Chinese New Year.
Except for a slight reprieve from customer’s inquiries, China manufacturing is hitting one of its two peaks of the year. The first is in August to prepare all the shipments to reach warehouses around the world before the end of November for the holiday rush, and the other is now when factories are making a mad dash to get everything they can out before they close down typically between two and four weeks.
It’s good to be aware of these times for a couple reasons. One is that if you are trying to get samples made or prepare for an upcoming shipment, factories won’t be able to devote their resources to non-urgent tasks and most likely they will cut some corners and send you something easy, versus something right, so that they can buy a little time until things slow down. It can save you some hassle and money to simply schedule your sample when the factory can devote the necessary attention to it.
The other reason is that if you are looking for product to arrive at your US warehouse before the end of March, you will need to have it on the water before their Chinese New Year, which starts around the end of January.
One note, these peak times are a bad time to negotiate pricing! If you don’t prepare well and absolutely need your order to come before orders from the factory’s other customers, you are going to pay for it in one way or another. You may need to pay a little extra, but don’t let this seasonal price become a baseline. Make sure to negotiate up front that you are paying for some expedited service this time. In general though, try not to allow yourself to be put in this position by being ahead of the crowd and getting your order taken care of early at the normally agreed to price.
With that, enjoy the good food and all the quality products that you and your loved ones will cherish this holiday season that are being made diligently all over the world. Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!