Picking and Packing

Here in the warehouse, we take pride in how your parcels get to you and we strive to pack everything as neatly and efficiently as possible to give it the best chance of arriving safe and sound. We love it when a box is perfectly packed! Sometimes orders with more awkwardly-shaped items require quite a lot of thought and creativity to get everything in a box. Oh how we wish Balloon Arch Kits could be folded!

As you will see from the two signatures at the bottom of your packing slips, our Picking & Packing process is a two person job. One person picks and another packs, which we find minimises mistakes. We endeavour to dispatch all orders on the day they’re placed, however, we have a cut-off time of 3.30 pm in place to give us half an hour to finish off before the courier arrives. Fortunately our courier drivers are happy chappies and will usually wait for five minutes whilst we finish the last few orders, especially if there’s chocolate or a cup of tea on offer! Having said that, they are very busy bees and it’s not always possible for them to wait. So, if you’re planning on placing a large order, or wish to add to an order you’ve already placed, it’s advisable not to leave it until the last minute!

Stock

In an ideal world we would always have everything in stock that is needed to fulfil every order. In the real world, however, people keep buying things! This means we occasionally may not have everything for your order. There is a way to check. After adding all the items to your basket, if you click Checkout and Edit Basket, this will show if any items are out of stock. If you have ordered more items than are available, you can try reducing the quantity until the item shows as being in stock again. If you need a specific quantity of an out of stock item but and are happy to wait until more comes in, you can leave the warehouse team a note when you place your order. Similarly, if you would like us to offer a suitable alternative should something be out of stock, please just write us a note in the comments box during checkout. We have a very good stock system that tracks everything coming in and everything going out. But occasionally it can be out. If so, we will always try to contact you by ‘phone and/or email so please do make sure your details on your account are up-to-date.

Delivery

If you’ve chosen the courier delivery option, both DPD and Parcel Force offer a service where they send you a text message to let you know about the delivery of your parcel. These services vary slightly depending on the courier: DPD will give you an hour’s time slot to expect the delivery on the morning of delivery whilst Parcel Force contact you 1.5 hours prior to delivery. In order to receive SMS notifications, please ensure you add your mobile number to your account.

Perks of the job

• One of the best things about being in the warehouse is that we’re the first to open boxes with lots of lovely new products in… very exciting!
• When there is an influx of new products (usually following a visit to the Spring Fair!), it can be a challenge to find everything a place on the shelves. The first batch of the new Dancing Olaf latex balloons sold out before they were even put away!
• We have created what is affectionately called ‘the homeless boxes’, where new stock and ‘homeless’ products live until we find them a more permanent home. Don’t worry though, they’re not homeless for long and are usually re-homed within a few days of arriving!
• We also like to use stray balloons to decorate our workspace too!!

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little insight into what goes on between clicking ‘Place Order’ and your parcel(s) being delivered!

Louanne