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COVID-19 Updates

Current Status: All Systems & Services Fully Operational

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These are unprecedented times for the wine industry.

As the novel coronavirus outbreak continues to unfold, we know that many wineries are facing enormous challenges. At WineDirect, we are closely monitoring the rapidly evolving situation and looking for additional ways we can support our clients and broader community.

After the past few years of power outages and wildfires, our team is no stranger to outside disruptions, resilience and recovery. We have learned from those experiences and have well-established business continuity plans. Below, we share details about the steps we are taking to mitigate risk across our fulfillment and ecommerce businesses.

We will continue to update this page as the situation develops. We hope that the drastic measures taken now will alleviate the impact of the novel coronavirus in the long term to the benefit of us all.

Joe-Waechter-WineDirect-CEO-1

Joe Waechter
President & CEO

 


Ecommerce Updates

First and foremost, the risk for any technical disruption to WineDirect ecommerce services as a result of the virus is extremely low. All our software and data is hosted in the cloud with built-in contingencies to maintain a consistent level of operations, and no human action is needed to keep our systems operating and available. In addition, because all monitoring and engineering tasks can be done remotely WineDirect Ecommerce can function without access to any of our physical locations.

Beyond ensuring stability and availability of our software, our focus is on protecting our team, so that they can continue to serve you. With a distributed staff based in the US, Canada and Australia, we are insulated from localized outbreaks that might impact one location. To further mitigate risk, all staff are now working from home and we have eliminated work-related travel.

 


Fulfillment Updates

All of our fulfillment centers remain fully operational and our teams are available to support you. Click here for more information about how we are caring for our team.

We are waiving all redirect charges from March 15 – May 31. It is our priority to ensure successful delivery of your wine and minimize returned shipments. Here's how to reroute a package.


Update 4/2: In all of our fulfillment centers we are taking strong measures to protect the safety of our staff - and your connection to your consumers - as outlined below. These necessary actions are impacting our ability to fulfill your orders at the speed that you are accustomed to. As a result, we are relaxing our "same-day shipping" service standard. This means that orders arriving before 1pm may not be sent out until the following day.

Over the past two weeks, we are pleased to see an increase in “daily” orders, as many of you are having increased success selling online. So that we can appropriately plan for changes to your shipping patterns we also ask that you let your Account Manager know about any planned promotions. 


Update 3/26: Due to an increase in undeliverable packages, UPS and FedEx have updated their return to sender policies as follows:

  • UPS will hold shipments for 5 days before returning to sender.
  • FedEx will hold shipments for 10 days before returning to sender.

Due to space constraints, in some areas shipments will be returned to sender immediately if a failed delivery attempt has been made to the destination address previously.

As soon as you become aware that a shipment is en route to a closed address, please reroute the package. If the reroute request is submitted after the shipment arrives at the destination center, UPS and FedEx may not be able to reroute it and it will be returned.


Update 3/23: The impact of COVID-19 is causing many work and travel restrictions which are impacting both FedEx and UPS’ ability to meet their typically high standards of service. As a result, some shipments may be delayed in transit.


Update 3/20:  Under California's new statewide stay at home order, WineDirect is defined as an essential business and necessary to maintain continuity of operations under the federal critical infrastructure sector “Postal and Shipping” as outlined here.


Update 3/19: To ensure successful delivery, we encourage you to update shipping addresses to residential addresses where possible. Click here for instructions on how to reroute your packages.


Update 3/18: As an essential business engaged in shipping and logistics, WineDirect will continue to operate during Napa County's Shelter-At-Home Order that goes into effect on Friday, March 20.


Update 3/16: Due to the rapidly evolving situation, we recommend that those of you with May wine club shipments consider moving up your ship date. If you'd like to make arrangements to do so, please contact your Account Manager.

For additional guidance on managing orders and carrier updates, please refer to our Documentation Site.

Finally, no human action is needed to keep our essential technology available and operating and all engineering tasks can be done remotely if necessary. Because of our system architecture, we are at extremely low risk for any disruption to our ecommerce platform and fulfillment portal as a result of the virus.


Caring for our Employees

As consumers increasingly order wine online, our front-line fulfillment team has been going above and beyond, day-in and day-out, to ensure our clients’ wine continues to ship. As a gesture of appreciation and gratitude for their contribution, we have increased our hourly wages by $2 until early May. Additionally across our fulfillment centers, we have implemented a range of safety measures and made changes to our operation to protect our team members from exposure to the novel coronavirus including:

  • All staff are adhering to social distancing guidelines in the workplace.
  • All staff engaged in picking and packing orders are wearing gloves.
  • WineDirect has increased our workplace cleanliness practices, dedicated team members continuously wipe down equipment and work areas throughout the day, and hand sanitizer is available in all work areas.
  • All non-essential employees are working from home and non-essential activities have been suspended at all locations.