A quick guide: how to arrange your shipping around a holiday or closing days
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by Verpakkingdeals.nl
6 min reading time
A closure that nobody notices starts two weeks earlier: determining your last shipping day, counting packaging supplies, pre-folding packages, and preparing your messages.
The most annoying order of the year is the one that comes in on a Friday evening before you leave for a week. The customer has paid, you're in the car, and the package sits on your workbench until you return. What follows is an email saying "has my order been shipped yet?", and a customer who will think twice about ordering from you again.
Every webshop and every small seller closes a few times a year: for a holiday, renovation, illness, or an extended Christmas break. The difference between a closure that no one notices and one that costs you reviews lies almost entirely in what you arrange in the two weeks leading up to it. Here’s the sequence:
Step 1: Determine your last shipping day, not your last working day
These two are not the same, and that's usually where things go wrong. Your last shipping day is the day a package actually leaves your premises and is picked up or dropped off by your carrier. If you tape up your last box at five o'clock on Friday but the drop-off point closes at four, your last shipping day was Thursday.
Therefore, work backward from the closure:
Last day of collection — check the current opening hours and latest drop-off times of your own carrier; these often differ around holidays.
One working day buffer — for orders that come in the evening and you pack the next morning.
Your final order date — this is the date you communicate. Set it at least one day before your last drop-off time.
Communicate one date and stick to it. "Orders placed after December 18 will be shipped from January 2" is clearer than "delivery may take longer around the holidays" — the latter says nothing and customers read into it what they want to read.
Step 2: Count your packaging material stock, not just your products
Before a closure, you usually neatly order your products. What people forget is that a peak before a closure also means a peak in boxes, tape, and void fill. Running out of tape two days before you leave is a more annoying problem than it sounds, because you can't just pick up half a roll from your neighbors.
Boxes in your two most used sizes. Not all sizes — the two that account for eighty percent of your orders.
Void fill. A Bubble Wrap Roll 500 mm x 500 m (€ 12.95) lasts a long time, but if it runs out halfway through your peak, you'll be stuck.
Seals or sealing stickers, if you use them. Security Seal Stickers VOID, 60 pieces (€ 9.95) show if a package has been opened en route — useful especially during a period when you can't inquire yourself what happened.
Order these at least a week before your closure, not two days before. Your supplier will also be busy during the same period.
Step 3: Prepare a stock of pre-folded packages
If you know you'll have little time in the final days, move the work forward. Fold a stack of boxes in advance, tape the bottoms shut, and set them aside. This can save you an hour in the last week.
Three pieces of text will save you the most emails during your absence. Write them on your last quiet day, not on the day of departure.
A notice in your webshop, visible before checkout. State the last order date and the day you will resume shipping. Someone who reads that and still orders will not complain afterward.
A line in your order confirmation for orders placed during the closure period. This is the most important of the three: that email will be read.
An automatic reply to your email with the same date included. One date across all three texts, otherwise discussion will arise.
Also state what you will not be doing: no urgent shipments, no return processing, no phone calls. Managing expectations is the whole point here.
Step 5: The day you reopen
Don't fill your first day back with new tasks. You'll need it to catch up. A workable order:
Order
What
Why first
1
Pack oldest orders first
Those customers have waited the longest and will email first
2
Respond to returns and complaints
Takes minutes, prevents escalation
3
Count and reorder stock
Your peak will have emptied your shelves
4
Remove notifications from your webshop
An expired notification looks sloppy
The last point is consistently forgotten. A banner saying "we are closed until January 2" that is still above your webshop in mid-January will cost you orders from people who think you're not shipping.
What to save for next time
Afterward, write down three things: how many boxes you used in that last week, what you ran out of, and what question customers asked most often. This is your checklist for the next closure, and after two times, it will be a half-hour routine instead of a week of stress. Store that list on the inside of your pantry door, not in a folder on your computer — you won't look there.
Order your materials in bundles if you know a peak is coming: you pay less per unit and immediately have enough for the next closure. Moving boxes are also useful as temporary storage for packed orders — the Action Moving Box 480x430x330 mm, 50 liters (€ 3.50) keeps a stack of prepared packages dust-free until you drop them off.
If you are unsure whether a bundle will arrive in time before your last shipping day, or if you want to know what stock is available for a specific box size? Email your closing dates and quantities to info@verpakkingdeals.nl, and we will find out for you.
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