What is Temperature Control?
There is nothing worse then needing to tell your customers that their wine cannot be shipped for a few months because of extreme weather. As a consumer I would rather pay extra to guarantee my wine is delivered safely and promptly, speaking from experience of course. So what options do you have? Do you provide discounted shipping on expedited orders during warm summer months. Or possibly an ice pack added to keep the contents cooler for a few more days. You must be thinking, "there has GOT to be a better way!". You're in luck, because there is when you ship with Wineshipping.
Wineshipping Temperature Control Service
Wineshipping offers Temperature Control services throughout the year. This service can protect your shipments during extreme lows or extreme highs to allow for maximized shipping all year. There are many variations to this service from holding orders back, to adding an ice pack, all the way to the holy grail of temperature control shipping - the TC (short for temperature control) truck. This truck will leave our Napa, CA facility on Friday to deliver across 4 hub locations strategically placed around the country: MO, NY, TX, and GA. Oregon and Southern California warehouses also partake in this service. They pack the orders and ship them to Napa, CA for consolidation for the Friday truck. Once the packages are dropped off at the TC hubs the carriers will arrive to pick up the packages for its final mile travel. Usually these packages have a first delivery attempt 1-2 days after it is delivered at the hub, provided there aren't any delays. Ice packs can be added to the packages at the hub as an additional service to ensure the final mile delivery is protected, this will require identification in the order data.
Contrary to what you may think this service is quite simple to manage.
Managing the Temperature Control Settings
The days have past when you needed to manage temperature holds on a spreadsheet or email a customer service representative daily to communicate any weather changes. When you ship with Wineshipping you have the power to manage the TC settings through the Awesome Client Portal as frequently as you desire. Dynamically control the settings per state to customize your preferences with added resources to make an educated decision. The temperature column displays the highest temperature for the capital of the state for the following day, allowing you to proactively protect your shipments. As Wineshipping improves the portal additional settings will become available.
Now that you know the process for Temperature Control, how can you accurately tell your customers about this service?
Notifying Your Customers About Temperature Control
Notifying your customers about the TC option can seem daunting. Trying to get a club member to see the club emails can be a headache inducing disaster. What other options are there for notifying your customers instead of email? You can always integrate with RedChirp, a texting service that can help you advertise promotional sales or inform customers on tracking. Send a quick text about the temperature control offerings, add a banner to your website or a popup during website purchases. The possibilities are endless!
Many clients forget what the service entails when you ship their packages so having a helpful reminder in your shipment notifications is imperative for a successful and safe delivery. Wineshipping has partnered with Aftership to provide an in-depth customized tracking experience for you and your customers. Through custom workflow emails you can send tailored information to your customers specifically informing them of these services and how they will work. In addition, the end customer will see tracking information informing them that the package was loaded onto a temperature control truck.
How do I get started?
Reach out to service@wineshipping.com to inform them that you would like to take advantage of this unique service Wineshipping offers and ask for further details on how to start shipping temperature control today!
Below is a guide on Temperature Control Settings and a pdf file with more information.