Our New Office (and what this means to you)!

First, all orders have been shipped out as of today! If your tracking hasn't updated yet, it should update by Monday. I want to thank everyone for their extreme patience with their orders while we had to deal with our previous office flooding (3 times in one week) for the 2nd time in a year. The recent flooding damaged many of our products and some of our equipment.

Last week we were able to finally move into a new home, one that will not only improve quality of life for Girl in the Graveyard, but also allow us to get orders out MUCH faster. For those interested, I am going to be 100% transparent below, and probably give a too-detailed overview for you (because that's how my ADHD/ASD brain works).

1. Shipping/Receiving

Our old office was not good at post office pick-ups and deliveries. It was essentially just a back room of a shop that didn't allow ease of access for drivers to get to. Thus, many days we would not receive scheduled deliveries or pick-ups, and essentially lose a day or more of productivity.

This means that whenever we had orders to ship, we would need everything packed up in my car by 2:00pm so I had time to go home and print shipping labels (I'll explain this next) and get them to the post office before closing.

If I was expecting a delivery, be it ingredients, bottles or shipping supplies, I would need them to be delivered to my 2nd apartment. The amount of time I would waste having to wait for the deliveries, or leave the office to go pick up deliveries and drive back, definitely hurt our turn arounds as well. 

Our new offices have dedicated daily pick-up and delivery for all carriers. And since we are in an industrial part of town, the deliveries come early, and pick-ups are consistent. So this means that we can work on your order without losing hours a day to having to figure out a pick-up or delivery schedule.

2. We have heat, air, wi-fi and trash! 

Everyday basics luxuries one needs to run a business, and takes for granted unless you have to go without. The old office was essentially a concrete box that would get up to 110 in the summer, and teeth clatteringly cold in the winter. And with no wi-fi, we essentially had to do all our printing and order management from home. I had access to my phone hot-spot, but reception was limited at best. 

This means that in the mornings before heading in, I had to make sure I had printed and cut all the product labels, packing slips, and shipping labels I needed for the day. If I was missing any of those things before heading in, that would definitely cause a shipping delay. 

And the fluctuations in temperature would vastly and drastically change the outcomes of my recipes. Humidity and temperature plays a big role in how my products are made. Any extra moisture can cause the body wash to separate or become a water-like consistency, and the sugar scrubs to come out slimy. 

Our new office has it all! A giant printer, beautifully fast wi-fi as well as a temperature control. If we're missing a label or a packing slip, we print it on demand without any further delays!

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With that, I hope this behind the scenes look at what was going on throughout the end of February and most of March helps you get a better idea of what effects the turnaround of every order. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at cs@girlinthegraveyard.com