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Order Fulfilment Timetable - Non-Expedited Orders Ship in 1-2 Business Days Orders with Standard UPS Shipping: • Orders specifying standard UPS Ground shipping typically ship within two business days (Monday-Friday). Larger or more complicated orders may require an extra day or two. • UPS Ground orders received on a Friday or over a weekend will usually be shipped the following Monday, or at the latest Tuesday. Orders with Expedited UPS Shipping • An order specifying expedited UPS domestic air shipping (Next Day Air, 2nd Day Air) or UPS 3-Day Select service must be received by us before 2 pm Eastern Standard Time Monday-Friday to ship on that same day. If received after that deadline, the order will ship on the next business day. Expedited orders received over a weekend will ship the following Monday. Please try to submit expedited UPS orders as early in the day as possible. • Orders specifying expedited UPS international shipping (Worldwide Express, Worldwide Saver, Worldwide Expedited) must be received by us before 12 noon Eastern Standard Time Monday-Friday to ship on that same day. Additional Notes on UPS Shipping: • Please keep in mind that UPS does not pick up or deliver on weekends. Essentially UPS packages do not move on Saturdays and Sundays. For example, a package shipped UPS 2nd Day Air on Thursday will not be delivered to you until Monday. UPS transit times are always calculated in business days (Monday-Friday). • UPS Saturday delivery is available for an additional surcharge on Next Day Air and 2nd Day Air shipments only. Call or email us in advance if you need this add-on service for your order--it cannot be specified within our shopping cart shipping options. Orders with USPS Shipping: • Domestic orders specifying shipment by US Postal Service Priority Mail generally go out within 1-2 business days (Monday-Friday). Occasionally an additional day is required. • International orders specifying shipment by US Postal Service Priority Mail International are also usually ready for mailing within two business days. Occasionally an additional day is required. • USPS Priority Mail orders received on a Friday or over a weekend will typically be shipped the following Monday, or at the latest Tuesday. • International orders specifying shipment by Post Office Express Mail International must be received by us before 10 am Eastern Standard Time (Monday-Friday) to be mailed out that same day. Shipping General Information • The majority of our domestic customers select UPS Ground Service as their shipping choice. Click here to see a map of estimated business day transit times within the USA for UPS Ground Service packages sent from our North Carolina location. • A comparative explanation of all of our domestic and international shipping choices is available here. This same information is also posted for reference on the shopping cart entry page where you make the initial shipping selection for your order. • Once your order is in the shopping cart, you can compare shipping costs for it by clicking on the "change shipping method" link on the shopping cart form to recalculate the shipping cost. You can do this as often as you like before placing your order. • The approximate weight of your shipment (not including packing material) appears on the shopping cart page as you build your order. Be aware that UPS rate charts round up package weights to the next pound. • We will email you promptly if we encounter any unusual delay shipping your order. Larger or more complicated orders may require slightly more time to pack and ship. Let us know in advance if you must have delivery by a specific date (see our order fulfilment guidelines above). Domestic Shipping - Additional Information • We offer the following UPS Shipping Services for delivery within the United States: Ground, 3-Day Select, 2nd Day Air, Next Day Air. We also offer domestic shipping by USPS Priority Mail. For an explanation of each of these options, go here. • Depending on your Zip Code, small (under 1 lb.) orders can sometimes be shipped most economically by USPS Priority Mail. As package weights increase, this situation is reversed and UPS Ground generally becomes more affordable than Priority Mail. • If you live in a remote or rural area of the United Sates and your order weighs under 2-3 lbs., you may save money by using USPS Priority Mail. UPS charges more for rural deliveries, the Postal Service does not. • UPS Ground Service packages will take 5 business days (1 week) to reach the West Coast from our location in North Carolina. Priority Mail may save a day or two, but the Post Office does not guarantee Priority Mail delivery by a certain date. UPS 3-Day Select is often a sensible option for California and the other "Zone 5" states if Ground Service is too slow for you. • If you live in Alaska or Hawaii, USPS Priority Mail is often the least expensive shipping option. UPS Ground Service may not be available to Hawaii and some parts of Alaska. • Oversize Items: Please note that we carry some large, heavy or long hardware items that cannot be shipped through the Postal Service. In these cases the designation "This item must ship UPS" is shown below the order form. Select any UPS domestic shipping option if your order contains one of these larger items. • UPS cannot deliver to Post Office Box addresses. Select Priority Mail if you want your order delivered to a domestic PO Box. Remember that our oversize hardware items cannot be sent through the Post Office. • The guaranteed delivery time for UPS Next Day packages will vary depending on the delivery address. Usually it will be "Before 10:30 am" on the next business day, but it may be "Before 12 Noon" or even in the case of some out-of-the-way addresses "Before End of Day." UPS 2nd Day Air packages are guaranteed to arrive "Before End of Day" on the second business day. • "Early AM" delivery (usually before 8 am) is available for UPS Next Day and 2nd Day packages. There is an additional UPS surcharge for this service. Call or email us in advance if you need UPS Early AM delivery for your Next Day or 2nd Day package--it cannot be specified within our shopping cart shipping options. • Please refer to the UPS zone map here for UPS Ground package transit times from our North Carolina location. International Shipping - Additional Information • We ship internationally via Post Office Priority Mail International and Express Mail International and also by the three UPS International Services: Worldwide Express, Worldwide Saver and Worldwide Expedited. These shipping options all provide reliable delivery to most countries outside the United States. For an explanation of these options, go here. • We no longer offer UPS Ground shipping to Canada (Canada Standard). Problems with the COD add-on fees charged by UPS for "customs brokerage" on Ground packages sent to Canada have forced us to discontinue this UPS option for our Canadian customers. • When submitting an international order, select the destination country on the entry page to our shopping cart, insert the destination address Postal Code, then select the international shipping method of your choice. • Oversize Items: Please note that we carry some large, heavy or long hardware items that cannot be shipped internationally through the Postal Service. In these cases the designation "This item must ship UPS" is shown below the order form. Select any UPS international shipping option if your order contains one of these larger items. • Important Note: International package shipping charges are prepaid with your order, but you will be solely responsible for paying any taxes or import duties/fees imposed on the shipment by the Customs Authority of your country. Shipping to US Territories • We ship to US Territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, etc.) via USPS Priority Mail only. Enter the destination US Zip Code on the shopping cart entry page and choose "US Postal Service Priority Mail" as your shipping choice. Shipping to APO/FPO Addresses • We ship to Military Post Office addresses by USPS Priority Mail only. UPS cannot deliver to APO/FPO addresses. Please insert the correct address code (AA, AE, or AP) in the State box on the shopping cart form and make sure that the rest of your address is accurate and complete. Select "US Postal Service Priority Mail" as your shipping choice. Tracking Notifications UPS Tracking: • When we generate a UPS package label for your order a tracking notification email from UPS is automatically transmitted to the email address you provided to us with your online order. Package information, address details and a tracking link are contained in this email notification. • Our UPS package pickup takes place around 5 pm EST, Monday-Friday. Initial tracking information for your package typically will not be available from the UPS system until late in the evening of the day that UPS picks it up from us. • If UPS has an issue with the shipping address you provided to us with your order that will result in a UPS delivery delay, or if some other in-transit problem occurs, you will receive a second email message from UPS alerting you to this. To avoid shipping delays, please enter your shipping address in the shopping cart as accurately and completely as possible. You can quickly validate any domestic address here. • Please also make sure that the email address you submit with your order is entered correctly and that the address is active. Order confirmation and tracking notification emails bounced back to us as "not known" (or held in your email spam folder) creates a situation that cannot be corrected from our end. • You will also get an auto-generated email notifying you that your package has been delivered. While this may be redundant in the case of a residential delivery, deliveries to businesses can get held up on loading docks or in mailrooms so we have found this to be a useful notification in many cases. USPS Tracking: • We use the Postal System's electronic Click-N-Ship system to mail USPS packages. This system provides delivery confirmation and some limited tracking capability. In cases where we have your email address from your online or phone order, you will receive an email notification when we generate the USPS package label. This email message will provide you with the label number and information on how to check the delivery status of your package. • If the Click-N-Ship system rejects your mailing address as you have provided it to us, we will attempt to mail your order manually. This will delay delivery and no tracking information will be available. To avoid shipping delays, please enter your shipping address in the shopping cart as accurately and completely as possible. You can validate your domestic mailing address against the USPS database here. • USPS tracking is not as comprehensive or robust as the tracking offered by UPS, but it will usually provide date and time notification of "Acceptance" (package pickup from us), "Arrival" (package arrival at your local PO) and "Delivery" (package delivery to your address). Your USPS package can be tracked here. Some Final Notes on Shipping • Upon special request by existing customers only, we can ship UPS orders to you with the UPS shipping cost billed directly to your company's UPS account. Your order will then contain no shipping charges from us--UPS will bill you directly for shipping. • We do not use Federal Express for shipping. We have found that UPS provides better, more affordable service than FedEx. • Our shopping cart imposes a 15 lb. weight limit per shipping box. If your order weighs more than this, additional boxes are specified. If we are able to consolidate your order into fewer boxes, we will do so. • We do our best to pack our products as sturdily as possible, but if UPS delivers a package to you with obvious shipping damage, such that the contents appear to broken or missing, refuse it (do not sign for it). UPS will notify us of this refusal, the damaged package will be returned to us and we will resend your order. • If UPS fails to deliver any Next Day Air or 2nd Day Air package on time due to an avoidable error on their part, we can file a claim with UPS and eventually refund the shipping cost of your order to you. Keep in mind that UPS does not consider weather-related delays or train/airplane mechanical problems to be "avoidable."
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