UPS ALMOST RUINED US
Our upcoming collection was shot downtown New York City this week. I was thankful for the creative outlet to help keep a major logistical mess off my mind.
A week ago, we got a scary notification from UPS that our shipment from Nepal was going to be destroyed due to customs policy. This shipment is worth a lot, especially since 140 customers have been waiting for items in those boxes. We did nothing wrong, and made countless attempts to find out how to get the shipment to move.
Our volunteer Logistics Coordinator and I dropped everything else we were doing and went all in to stop Elegantees from going in flames (figuratively and literally). We got extra passionate, as if our business relied on it. Our email thread extended to 26 people on the CC for this shipment, including three executives from UPS corporate.
Our cries to them worked because 10 of the 11 boxes are on the truck to arrive today! Beverly and some of her grand kids are going to be catching up on shipping customers' orders this weekend. What a relief!
REDEEMING
One of the worst parts of this fiasco was many of the customers were brand new to Elegantees through our Created Colorful collaboration. I hope they believe us when we said this is absolutely not the norm.
STAYING OPTIMISTIC
Despite the shipping fiasco, I enjoyed times of stillness. It helped me to refocus and make progress with our office loft for the additional 11 months we have in here. I ordered more furniture for the design section. It should look more like an office in a week.
Most importantly, I had interviews with students from a fashion college this week. Some are going to join us as interns! We are thrilled because we need more interns to do all we want to.
Saving our shipment felt like a full time job with the mental space it took up, and rest is needed. I hope next week will start a new week clear of a logistics disaster. Next week I plan to check in on our sisters in Nepal. May you all have a restful weekend also!
Thankful,
Katie
