Uniform Delivery Delays

To those of you who have already returned to the classroom, we hope your school year is off to an excellent start. To those still preparing for your first day back, we're thinking of you and wishing you luck this year!

The purpose of today's email is to provide another update on the status of school uniform delivery to your families this season, and to once again ask for your patience as we navigate this especially challenging year.

Like so many other retailers across the United States, FlynnO’Hara Uniforms is working through our peak back-to-school season significantly under-staffed.  Although we have an incredible team of employees carrying us through these high-volume weeks, we have not been spared the impacts of the national labor shortage; it has been incredibly difficult to attract the volume of seasonal talent we typically require at this time of year. 

As a result, we are experiencing significant delays on some mail orders, and have begun to see longer lines in many of our high-volume stores. We do anticipate that these delays may continue to grow as we approach the start of the school year.

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Order Processing Estimates

Plain Product Orders: Up to 5 business days
Orders that contain only plain products (items that are not customized with your school logo.  For example: pants, shoes, kilts, etc.)

Customized Product Orders: Up to 21 business days
Orders including products customized with your school's logo.

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Shipping Estimates

Northeast & Mid-Atlantic Regions: 1-4 days
South, Southwest, and Midwest Regions: 5-7 days

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These estimates represent expected lead times for orders placed today forward. For customers whose orders were already received, order processing times may be shorter. We are prioritizing orders according to the date they were received.

The good news is that our in-stock rates remain strong despite these challenges.  However, for the very small number of back-ordered products, we are seeing replenishment lead times of 4-6 weeks due to international supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19.  If your families receive a backorder notification and prefer not to wait, our customer service team is available to help them cancel and refund the back-ordered products or find an alternative item from your school's uniform profile.

Moving forward, in the event that one of our stores runs out of a product, we'll ship those items to the customer's home free of charge.

While we have been actively stressing the importance of early back-to-school shopping and communicating these delays via email, social media, and our website, we do not have contact information for all your families - many of whom still have not shopped for uniforms. Depending on your school’s start date, we do want to be transparent that these families may not have everything they need for the first day of class.

We want to very sincerely apologize both to you, and to your school community for any inconvenience these delays may cause. We are doing everything we can to deliver your uniforms as quickly as possible, but also want to be realistic about the challenges we're facing.  This will be our busiest season in fifty years, which we're working to fulfill with a fraction of our usual back-to-school staff, all while navigating state and local COVID-19 restrictions to keep customers and employees safe.

Here in our Philadelphia warehouse, a quote attributed to Churchill hangs above one of our embroidery lines: "The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." FlynnO'Hara is a company of optimists. We look forward to using the challenges we've faced under COVID-19 as a springboard to strengthen our business and to offer a customer experience that not only meets but surpasses the expectations of your school community in the years ahead.

If you'd like to discuss the status of your school's uniform orders, specifically, please email your sales rep at the address below to set up some time. We look forward to answering any questions or concerns you may have.

Sincerely,
Kevin Flynn & Sean Flynn
Co-Presidents, FlynnO'Hara Uniforms