We sent a letter out to all of our customers today explaining Festive’s position on shipping surcharges for the 2021 season, see below for the full text of the letter.
Dear Valued Customers,
I am writing to you regarding the ongoing challenges facing UK suppliers who are bringing in product from the Far East.
As you will be aware, in the last 18 months, there have been numerous additional issues with shipping goods into the UK, relating not least to COVID-19, Brexit and the blockage in the Suez Canal. This has resulted in an ongoing huge increase in freight rates, a shortage of containers and a major lack of space on vessels.
Festive has over 30 years’ experience of trading with Far East factories, but 2021 has without doubt been the most challenging, and unfortunately the current situation appears to be worsening day by day.
You may already be aware that several of our competitors have recently taken a decision to increase trade prices retrospectively, due to increased freight costs.
To that end I wanted to update you on the situation at Festive. As things stand it is our firm intention to hold our prices and deliver as planned, with some inevitable delays on certain lines. I must though stress, that it is an ever-changing landscape, and we are monitoring freight rates daily, so cannot guarantee that we will not review our position over the next few weeks.
What I can promise, though, is that any product already shipped and/or in stock at Festive, will not be subject to any price change – regardless of what happens in the future. We have prided ourselves on our service levels in recent years and we want to support you as much as possible through this difficult period.
The field sales team will offer further updates as we move forward but for now our pricing will be maintained at the previously agreed levels and it is our sincere hope that it will stay that way for the remainder of 2021.
Thanks as always for your continued support.
Rob Fox
National Sales Manager