Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Not too late to order for Holiday Delivery.

OK, you procrastinators, you?ll have to ask for guaranteed 2-day delivery but you can still get those gourmet food items to your friends and family. But you?d better make that call today. And check with your friends to make sure they haven?t gone out of town for the holiday already.

Holiday Shipping

With the holidays fast approaching, the shipping window for foods has become smaller and smaller, making planning critical. This may seem obvious, but it's all too important. Over the years I've seen and heard too many stories of packages not arriving on time and spoiling celebrations. Most mail order companies do their very best to get every package out, but the reality is that this time of year many are processing 10 times the volume they usually would. Add to that temporary package delivery employees and unpredictable weather, and it all can spell trouble.

The simple advice is: order today! This week is the busiest delivery week and also the busiest sales period of the year for food shippers, so I recommend placing orders today. Most foods will arrive frozen or with a shelf life of at least a week, so they will still be in ideal condition for Christmas.

There are a few exceptions to this rule, such as caviar, fresh baked goods, and fresh cut cheeses. I recommend requesting a delivery date of December 23 on these items, which may mean paying for overnight shipping. It's clearly worth it in the case of caviar (and if you're spending the money for good caviar, a bit extra on shipping to assure freshness is a minor addition), but I also believe it's important for most cheese as well. The highly regarded cheese-mongers have cheese cellars that keep fine cheeses in much better shape than the average household refrigerator.

Have a lovely holiday.