CURRENT EVENTS & CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Update:  8.1.2022
More good news!!!

Thanks to the efforts of many of the material manufacturers the lead times are starting to dwindle down.  We have been able to acquire more inventory then we had been able to for the last several months.  The lead times for OOS items has reduced and we expect this trend to continue.  If everything continues, as it is, we expect to be back to a more reasonable turn around time, of just a couple of weeks, within the next month.  Of course, we will still not be back to our usual turn around time, of two to three days, however, it will be greatly decreased. 

Update:  8.1.2022
Finally some good news!!!

We are able to reduce our turn around times.  We are now looking at an average of 5 days and we expect this improvement to continue as staff is becoming more available again.  We thank you for your patience and understanding during these challenging times.  We continue to work hard to find solutions that make will make your running of your business more efficient and less costly. 

Update:  7.21.2022
We have become aware of many businesses working hard to stay available for their customers as all costs of operating a business continue to increase.  We have been taking a hard look, and making some hard decisions, to help the struggling small business.  We are all facing some unique challenges and we are in this together as small business is what keeps commerce going. 

We understand that in these times maintaining inventory has become one of the most severe challenges.  We are working toward re-activating the small sizes in most of our product line with a priority focus on raw materials because our customers tell us that is the biggest challenge.  The small packaging is still in, somewhat, short supply.  We will not be able to bring back the one ounce as that packaging is still not readily available and both the turn around time for runs and the prices have continued to escalate.

We hope that this will help our customers to maintain their own inventory and reduce their costs.

SEVERE OOS ITEMS AND DELAYS!
As we all know, product availability is reliant on multiple factors, some within our control and others beyond our control.  The biggest factor being the production of materials by the manufacturer.  As the world continues to face severs staff shortages and increased work area restrictions the supply chains are severely challenged.  We continue to work hard to forecast sales in order to place our own orders far enough in advance, and in increased numbers, in order to keep our inventory stocked and readily available for prompt shipping as we try to stay ahead of these challenges.  Unfortunately this it no longer helping as much as it used to because many producers have had to push their slower moving inventory onto the back burner, in order to make room on their production lines for their fast moving inventory.  As a result the lead times, for those back burner materials, has suddenly increased ten fold.  While we did expect, and try to anticipate, this becoming a problem we did not expect this to be an overnight crisis.   Manufacturer lead times, on many materials, are now at 6 to 8 months, instead of the already horrible 2 to 4 months.  We have adjusted our purchasing pattern and we are ordering much further in advance, and have increased our purchasing to increase our own inventory levels.  We are confident that we will get ahead of this however, we are in a learning curve, as are all small businesses.  While we work this out we will face increased OOS items and longer lead times.  Please try to order as much in advance as possible and expect delays in material sizes.

We expect these increased delays to last for a few months however, we continue to work tirelessly to improve this situation and we will resolve it as quickly as possible.

We truly regret this inconvenience and we appreciate the continued patience and understanding that our customers have, and continue to, offer us during these challenging times.

We thank you!
 

Update:  6.13.2022

Due to the ever increasing cost of shipping we are working to restore USPS as a small order shipping option.  All of the posted terms will still apply.  However, delays beyond the usual delays will still exist as they continue to struggle to keep up with increased packages due to the ongoing increase in online shopping.  We expect this service to be available again within the next couple of months.

Update:  3.3.2022
We are no longer able to maintain sufficient inventory of the bags used for 15+ pounds of dry materials.  While this shortage lasts we will no longer double bag with our ziplock bags.  Only the inner bag will be the reuseable ziplock.  The outer bag will be sealed with a tie wrap.  Use caution when cutting the tie wrap to make sure that you don't cut through the bag when removing the tie wrap.  We know this is inconvenient and we will go back to the double ziplock bags as soon as the inventory is readily available in the market.  We apologize for the inconvenience to our customers and we appreciate the continued patience and understanding.  We will continue to work hard to lessen the impact as much as possible. 

Update:  1.17.2022
While this post is nothing new we felt that it was important to re-state the obvious.

As the world catastrophe of the pandemic continues, all of the world's markets are now showing the devastation of 2020 and 21.  Shortages are no longer a mere 2 to 3 weeks but are now pushing out to 6 to 8, even 12 weeks.  We would love to be able to advise our customers to plan, and order, ahead but that is no longer a means to avoid the situation, which is now unavoidable.  There is just no way to plan for the level of shortages the world is experiencing.  It may be time to downscale your product line, as it's impossible to know how long this will go on but, certainly is, likely to continue into mid 2023.  We apologize for the inconvenience to our customers and we appreciate the continued patience and understanding.  We will continue to work hard to lessen the impact as much as possible. 
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Update:  10.12.2021
The cosmetic industry is facing a new problem with packaging.  It seems that many packaging suppliers have changed the way that their packaging is being cleaned.  We have come across several that have residual chlorine.  While this may be fine for food products it is not fine for cosmetics.  Chlorine, and all it's by products, are very strong oxidizers and that can do anything from discoloring a cosmetic, to making it irritating, to destabilizing the emulsion, to having a negative impact on the shelf life.  Please be cautious when changing suppliers and make inquiries to determine how any supplier's packaging is being cleaned, especially if you are purchasing your packaging from a food grade supplier.
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Update:  10.1.2021
FedEx and UPS continue to be severely short staffed while at the same time they continue to have to deal with an ever increasing number of packages being shipped as the pandemic impact keeps online shopping at an all time high.  The unfortunate result is that both carriers have implemented drastic price increases along with the addition of some changes in residential delivery surcharges.  The cost to ship to a residential address is now quite high.  Now you will pay a much higher price to ship to your residence, in general.  Also, you will now be charged an additional surcharge for any package over 50 pounds.  These surcharges are fluctuating rates but the general residential surcharge is now from $7.50 to $12.00, where it used to be about $3.00 to $5.00, and the 'heavy weight' surcharge is now from $7.00 to $13.00.  Unfortunately one of the primary impacts to small businesses, during the pandemic, is the necessity to work from home and these small businesses will feel the cost of shipping more than anyone else.  In some cases, when ordering multiple heavy weight boxes it may be less costly to ship your order by freight with a lift gate.  It's important to make sure to select a company that does offer shipping to residential zoned areas as well as making sure that they offer a lift gate service to avoid complications with unloading.  We are working to have our suppliers pack our bulk raw materials, which are available in full bags, in quantities less than 50lbs. to avoid the 'heavy weight' surcharge.  This has been more difficult than we expected.  We now offer our E-Wax in a 33lb bag instead of the traditional 55lb bag.  We understand the significance of these price increases during an already challenging time and we will continue to work hard to find other solutions to minimize the impact of these shipping cost increases.

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Update:  9.2.2021
Well, we haven't done an update in a while because it felt like we were moving close to a return to some level of normal operations.  With the new wave of pandemic issues that turns out to not be true.  We are now facing a level of both staff and material shortages which has even surpassed last year's shortages.

We continue to see severe raw material shortages due to the combination of shutdowns and staff shortages causing production issues.  This year materials becoming a world market shortage is becoming  a common place rather than isolated incidents.  Right now we have several materials which are completely depleted in the world market:  BTMS, Optiphen Plus, GSB ...

• last year we faced distributor / supplier warehouses being depleted ...
• this year we face manufacturer warehouses being depleted and huge manufacturing companies wiping out a companies entire stock out of fear and panic for future production ...
• next year we will probably face producer materials being depleted as crops were not grown or harvested

So, one serious reality of these business challenges and a result of the ongoing pandemic is some price instability.  We have already seen huge price increases with all the carriers, especially with residential deliveries and signature required deliveries but now we're really starting to see them with all materials and some are beyond our capability to absorb.

It's more important, than ever, that we all continue to plan well ahead knowing that between the material shortages and the inability of businesses getting anything done due to staff shortages, the lead times will continue to be long and extreme in some cases.  We thank you all for your continued patience and cooperation during these continuing challenges.  We will continue to work hard for our customers both to keep things moving as well as possible but also to keep prices as stable as possible through increased efficiency and streamlining.  All of the temporary policy changes which we have made to get through the shortages and restrictions will remain in place so that we can continue to operate as efficiently as possible.
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Update:  7.27.2021
As the Covid reality of shortages in both staff and materials continues, with a severe instability in the raw materials market, we are seeing a serious impact to our contract and custom manufacturing services and product line offerings.  Since we can no longer count on knowing the true cost of labor or materials, and the fluctuation is no longer within our policy tolerance of 8%, all prices for these special order items will now be subject to the cost of labor and materials at the time of posting and / or processing.  When any custom order is placed, for either contract or custom manufactured products, the pricing will be what was established however, the price will be re-evaluated and based on market price at the time of posting and  / or processing.  We will add an item, for that price difference, to your account and you will need to place a new order to pay the balance.  You are welcome to cancel the order, if you disagree with this policy or the adjusted pricing is no longer cost effective,  We will offer a full refund until you have finalized an order for the balance.  At that time the purchase will be subject to our current cancellation policy. 

We apologize for this pricing instability and we regret any inconvenience.  Unfortunately these continue to be challenging times and we don't know when that will change.  We assure all of our customers that these policies will only remain in effect as long as necessary for us to avoid significant revenue loss as we continue to work hard to be here for our customers.  As always, we thank you and remain dedicated to our promise of fair pricing and reliability. 
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Update:  7.20.2021
As raw material shortages have become an ongoing and well known situation we will temporarily waive our policy to cancel any orders which have an out of stock item which is known to take more than 30 days.  Our customers have told us that they are aware of the situation and prefer to only shop one time and know that they will be at the top of the list when supplies are replenished instead of having their orders cancelled.  We will send out a notice to advise that something is out of stock.  If you prefer to have the item cancelled rather than wait then please send us an email response and advise that we cancel your back order, otherwise, it will remain on back order until it is able to be shipped.


BTMS is facing a severe shortage in the world market.  We expect this to be re-stocked toward the end of August.  Any back orders, which got through the system before it was updated to out of stock, will remain on back order instead of being cancelled.  We will continue to work on getting this back in as quickly as possible, as with all shortages.  We apologize for your inconvenience and we thank you for your patience.

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Update:  7.7.2021
The plastics shortage continues and we have chosen to accept a 32 ounce bottle which is about 1" taller than our usual bottle, rather than go out of stock.  Those products, which are filled in that bottle, will appear to be under filled.  They are not.  As always, we continue to fill by weight so the amount of product will be correct at all times, regardless of the bottle size.
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Update: 5.20.2021
As we continue to be severely short staffed we will no longer ship any order which has an add on order when any item in the add on order is out of stock.  In such cases the entire order will ship when that out of stock item is available and the entire order can be shipped complete.  We must do this to minimize order processing time since we do not have sufficient staff.  We apologize for any inconvenience.
    
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Update: 4.26.2021
Due to undiscovered damage in our primary sprikler system, as a result of the recent ice storm and power loss, we had a system failure which has forced us to halt operations while the damage is repaired and the system is re-certified.  This was an abrupt situation, on Wednesday the 21st, which did not allow time for the transfer of systems and we were without the ability to update the website or monitor orders or production status.  We expect the system to be back to normal and resume operations by Wednesday, the 28th. We apologize for this inconvenience.  We will expand our extended hours as soon as we are able to return to operations so that we can get as caught up as possible as quickly as possible.  We thank you for your continued patience and understanding while we all  continue to deal with the devastation of the ice storm as well as continuing pandemic issues.     
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Update: 3.23.2021
The supply chain for raw materials continues to be depleted and now we are facing additional delays due to severe shortages in plastics, metals, and wood which has impacted our suppliers abilities to ship paletted materials as well as drums.  This has caused serious inventory issues as well as warehouse issues which is causing some delays as we struggle to store, inventory, and work out of an unprecedented number of pails as some of our suppliers are having to ship materials in multiple pails when drums are not available.

Also, there has been a accident in the main port used for materials coming in from Europe which has resulted in a complete shutdown of the port and all cargo ships being grounded.  This is causing serious delays in material transport as no containers are being moved through the port.  As staffing continues to be short, across all industries due to the pandemic, this is expected to take several weeks to resolve.  Please bear with us as we will start to see these materials go out of stock.  We will do our best to keep the website up to date but due to the way the website works, and the number of orders which come in simultaneously, it is not possible to be up to the minute updated.  We will continue to back order rather than cancel out of stock items as long as we have a shipping confirmation from our supplier.  We, and our suppliers, are doing our  best to get smaller amounts of low stock materials flown in to tie us over, while we wait for the port issue to get resolved, but that is time consuming and we continue to be short staffed ourselves.  If you prefer to cancel, rather than wait, then please feel free to cancel an order from your account on the website.  We thank you for your patience. 
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Update:  3.22.2021
We are just starting to see the true severity of the material shortage due to pandemic shutdowns.  All raw materials are in very short supply, especially vegetable sourced fatty alcohols, esters, and waxes.  Stock warehouses are now mostly depleted and producers do not have the man power to ramp up production without excess cost.  We will be seeing serious price increases over the next several weeks or even months as suppliers pay what they have to in order to maintain supply.  As always, we will not increase our prices until we actually pay the increased price.  Please expect to see increases in the range of 5 to 10%.  We do apologize and thank you for bearing with us as we, like all businesses, continue to struggle with the reality of the pandemic.
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Update:  3.8.2021
Repairs are complete enough that we have returned to full operations.  We will stay dedicated to getting all orders out as soon as possible.  We are continuing our extended hours with a focus on filling and shipping during working hours and communication during the extended hours.  We are working almost around the clock to get caught up with order filling and emails.  We expect to be close to a regular turn around by the end of the month as we continue to work almost around the clock.  We are experiencing a higher level of inventory issues as many businesses continue to struggle with all aspects of supply and transit.  Please be prepared for more than usual out of stock situations.  We will continue to do our absolute best to fill every order as quickly as possible.  We do apologize for any inconvenience and we thank you for your continued patience and understanding. 
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Update:  3.2.2021
Damage repairs are not yet complete.  As our main production and filling labs are still under repair we have managed to shift some production and filling to other labs which has hindered our ability in multiple areas and caused additional delays for most bases and all filling.  As the city is facing extensive damage epairs and a lack of plumbers the repairs are slower than expected.  We continue to operate at limited capacity.  We expect repairs to be completed to allow us to return to full capacity within the next week.  We apologize for the continued inconvenience and we, sincerely, thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to work hard to get as much done as possible to minimize delays.  We regret that email responses will continue to be slow as all available staff is focused on production, filling, and shipping orders even during extended hours.  Again, we thank you!

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Update:  2.23.2021
Water bans have lifted and we are continuing to make headway in dealing with the resulting damage.  We expect to return to limited operations on Wednesday, the 24th, and full operations on the following Monday, the 1st of March.  We will do our best to process as many orders as possible as quickly as possible but please do continue to expect delays until the damage repairs are completed and we are able to return to normal operations. 

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Update:  2.20.2021
The city continues to struggle with the water issues resulting from the ice storm.  We will not be able to return to operations until water bans are lifted, whcih is expected within the week.  Once bans are lifted we will have to continue to deal with damage that will impede our operations for the first few days back.

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Update:  2.19.2021
Austin is continuing to struggle with the devastation of the ice storm.  All water is out, in our entire zipcode area, due to burst water lines.  The city has announced that they do not expect water to be restored for about one week.  As soon as we are able to get back into our building we will resume operations in limited capacity.  We will return to processing and shipping raw materials for as long as we have stock and that is unpredictable as freight warehouses have not returned to normal operations and have not announced when they will be able to resume deliveries.  We've already been made aware of severe damage, to several freight deliveries that were warehoused to wait out the storm.  We won't know the full brunt of this until things return to normal however, we don't expect too many issues with raw materials.

As it relates to production of cosmetic bases, the impact of the storm will be tremendous.  We utilize a on-demand purification system so we do not have enough back up tank water stored to get us through even the slightest amount of production.  We, at this time, only have 400 gallons of stored purified water and we will do our best to get out what we are able before we run out of water.  All surrounding areas that offer purified water have already incorporated limits and many are already out.  We will have what staff is available picking up water, from surrounding areas who still have water, for all purposes other than cosmetic bases.

Of course this came at the worst possible time and when we, and most businesses, were just getting caught up from the other crises.  We apologize for this situation and continued inconvenience and we thank you for your continued patience and understanding.  We assure all of our customers that we will continue to do our absolute best to keep as many things going as possible and as close to normal operations as possible.  Our dedication to our customers is unyielding and we will continue to stay dedicated because we know much our customers rely on us to keep their own businesses operating as smoothly as possible.

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Update:  2.14.2021
As Austin continues to struggle with freezing temperatures and power outages we have been forced to close.  At this time the best estimate we've been given, based on weather and state power shortage, will be Monday, the 22nd.  Please expect delays while we work to get caught up once we are able to re-open.  All available staff will be working so that we can do the best, we are able, to get orders out as quickly as possible.  We apologize for this inconvenience and we thank you for your patience and understanding.

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AS A RESULT OF THE CURRENT MULTIPLE CRISES
with:  long term shut downs; stay at home practices; and difficult working conditions with ever changing safety protocols; being experienced across the raw material and manufacturing industries, the days of abundant supply and speed of shipment are severely challenged. We feel that sharing this information will help our customer to understand how much this crisis has impacted the flow of business and what it means to current order processing.

Many factories are being emptied as they work to fill orders that have continued to come in for those essential businesses who have continued to operate and many are finding it almost impossible to move their inventory due to a shortage of truck driver availability. Many manufacturer's are even struggling with purchasing as their usual suppliers can no longer get their materials into their warehouses. The challenge created by this shortage has had a major impact on the essential business's purchasing departments, which are already challenged by significantly reduced staff and distancing protocols, making it a real job to get a simple purchase order into their supplier's system, much less get their order filled. The result is that what used to be a 20 minute process to place a purchase order has now become a lengthy, sometimes two to three week, back and forth with the supplier who no longer has easy access to materials, producer's, regulatory systems, or transit options. This has meant that materials are becoming harder to come by and as a result some bulk orders will experience longer delays.  Some materials will go out of stock and if we are not able to get a fairly certain shipping confirmation we will make the item inactive on our website to avoid longer than 30 day back orders.  Except with express permission from our customer we will not allow a back order for longer than 30 days except in the case of cosmetic bases.

INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS ::: Please contact us if you have not received your EPacking Slip, to indicate that your order has shipped, within thirty days of having placed your order.  With the severe staff shortage, and increased sales, we are struggling to update these orders after funding is confirmed and with the combined processing delays these orders are close to slipping through the cracks and surpassing our 30 day guarantee and we don't want anyone waiting more than that for their order to ship.  We thank you for your cooperation.

We truly regret any additional inconvenience to our customers.  We will continue to work through this and we will always do our best for each and every customer and each and every order.  We thank you for your patience and understanding during these challenging times as we all look forward to a return to "business as usual". 


... CURRENT DELAYS ...
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Update 1.13.2021 ... we now are back to full operations as our new service has been completed and installed.  We are prioritizing the completion of administrative tasks, such as credit card admin, which we were not able to complete while we were without internet.  Order filling and shipping will see further delays but we continue to increase our hours of operation to get production and order filling and shipping handled as quickly as possible.  Again, our many thanks.  We appreciate your patience very much.
 
As a further complication of the Covid stay at home practices businesses are finding it more and more difficult to get anything done.  Such has been the case for Ingredients To Die For where we are currently seriously restricted with what can get done, during order filling and shipping in our facility because we have no internet service.  We have a back up system, which is what we will be using to continue to fill and ship orders.  Unfortunately, this is a back up system which only allows internal functions.  We can not access email, orders, carriers, or credit card processors or or anything else that requires secure internet which is everything.  We do apologize for this inconvenience and we assure you that we are doing everything we can to get the situation resolved as quickly as possible.  We thank you for your patience and understanding during these challenging time.  In the meantime we will continue to prioritize the filling and shipping of orders and we will do our best with all other administrative tasks, which will be done remotely but with limited access,  and hours with some being done by top management only  so many of our usual daily administrative work will see serious delays. 

During our annual maintenance a repair was being done and a fiber optic line was accidentally cut and due to the nature of the damage this also impacted our back up system.  Unlike during business as usual circumstances, where this damaged line would have been repaired in a matter of hours or days, this repair may take weeks because a permit is required to complete the repair and due to stay at home circumstances and a lack of personnel on the job, the required permit can not be obtained.  We have already set up an alternative service who is faced with the same challenges and the installation may take weeks as they will also require permits.  We are continuing to operate.  During working hours orders will continue to be filled and shipped as long as they can be filled and labeled for shipping without additional administration.  Those orders which may contain address errors, or incomplete information, will have to be delayed because no changes can be made without internet.  We will get those order issues corrected and on their way as soon as possible but rather than a few minutes or hours this may take days.  Emails are not being monitored during filling and shipping hours and we will continue to get through them as quickly as possible however, with all business now being done remotely we are getting seriously back logged as we still face a severe staff shortage.  Credit Card administration is not being done during filling and shipping hours at all because access to sensitive information is restricted for anyone, other than top management with clearance, working remotely.  We will do our best to get any refunds done as quickly as possible while we're without internet and immediately once we have internet.  Any order issues which have resulted in short pay situations will be delayed until we can get the funds paid.  These circumstances may take days because we have to send emails about the issue, get specific approval for the additional charges, and get those charges processed manually and it all has to happen remotely.  Transit issues will be delayed since we can't access order details during filling and shipping hours.  which forced us to continue working with our hands tied because we too face the stay at home situation and access to sensitive information is restricted for anyone, other than top level management, working remotely.  As a result many of the day to day administrative functions had to be put on hold until our service was re-established in our facility.  Among those many administrative tasks which can't be done due to lack of access and staff: credit card admin is not being done and emails are not being responded to during facility hours of 7A to 8P.  We apologize for this inconvenience and continue to thank you for your patience and understanding during these challenging times.  As soon as service is restored we will immediately run all credit card admin and will continue to handle as many emails as possible remotely. 


... Shipping Changes :::

Due to ever increasing international shipping restrictions across the world, which have resulted in significant delays and an excess of package returns, we have disabled USPS Priority International and USPS Express International.

We are no longer shipping USPS.  Due to a back log and significant increase in lost and damaged packages, coupled with infrastructure issues which have been hard hit by the crisis, we have disabled all USPS shipping options with the exception of USPS International.

With yet another crisis added to the mix and evacuation areas being impacted by failed deliveries all commercial carriers have modified their policies as it relates to business closed delivery failures.  They will not make a second attempt and will automatically return the packages to the shipper.  We will not refund shipping costs on any returned package when the return is due to a failed delivery because the business was closed.  These products, if unopened and in original condition, will be re-stocked and refunded.  Please, please, please, watch for your EPacking Slip and tracking information and make other arrangements directly with the carrier as necessary. 

With the ever increasing challenges for carriers, during this crisis, we are seeing an excess of damage and lost / late delivered packages and as a result we are now evaluating the shipping method and we will ship all orders, except express and multiple box orders, based on carrier reliability.  Regardless of your chosen shipping method we will use the most reliable carrier for your area.  If this is not acceptable to you then please do not place any orders until things are back to normal.  This will not apply to bulk orders.

No damage claims will be accepted unless the claim includes pictures of the entire shipping box.

Due to the ever increasing difficulty and lack of safety for drivers FedEx and UPS are not making delivery attempts to all locations.  In the case of shipping addresses which have been declared undeliverable due to safety they will update the tracking to indicate that the package is being held for pickup.  In some cases this may mean that they have delivered the package to the pickup location, which may not be a terminal, nearest your shipping address.  You will need to track your package progress and make other arrangement if necessary.   

We are seeing a severe increase in package damage.  We understand from both FedEx and UPS that the reason for the increased damage is due to their being overwhelmed with deliveries and returns due to the crisis and a lack of staff.  We are struggling with these circumstances right along with our customers but we're trying hard to remember that this is not their usual and they are impacted by the reality of Covid-19, and all that that entails, just as much as any other business.  Please try to remember that when you receive any package with damage and know that we will make it right but these issues can't be avoided at this time. Everyone is working hard to solve issues with what little staff they may have.

Due to the lack of staff and excess orders we are no longer back ordering sample sizes of any materials and / or bases.  Rather than hold up any order we will issue credit at the time of shipping.  We regret this inconvenience but no longer have the staff to manage this efficiently.


... Supply Changes :::

The industry continues to see shortages with packaging and we will continue to eliminate the smaller size offerings.  We apologize for this inconvenience but, at this time, the shortage is severe and manufacture warehouse inventories are depleted and with the continuing shut downs and short staffing conditions supplies are not expected to be available for more than six months.  We must ensure that our own supply will last through the shortage so that we can continue to offer the high dollar items and short shelf life items so we have discontinued all 4 ounce offerings for commodity and / or inexpensive items and those with a long shelf life.

Aside from raw materials we are also seeing severe shortages in packaging warehouses.  We expected this shortage and tried to anticipate and pre-order however, it wasn't enough as the shortage has turned out to be more severe than anticipated or announced by suppliers. 
As a result of this shortage we have had to make some hard decisions to stay the course until we return to whatever the new normal will turn out to be.  With that goal in mind we have discontinued most 4, 8, and 16 ounce sizes of materials which includes but is not limited to:  carrier oils and oil substitutes or liquid esters, with the exception of the more fragile or costly precious oils;  oil blends;  botanical extracts;  some isolated extracts;  some proteins;  all liquid surfactants;  all liquid humectants; silicones, with the exception of the more costly silicones or blends; and all hydrosols.

Due to a lack of 1 ounce jars all product sizes in 1 ounce will be filled using our 2 ounce jars so they will appear to be only half full.  As always you may rest assured that the jar does contain 1 ounce of product because they are still filled by weight instead of volume.

Due to the lack of staff and need to process orders as quickly as possible while making sure that our customer gets the best deal, all 1 ounce bottles are now filled by volume instead of weight.  This policy was changed to minimize the labor involved to weigh each item.  These will now be filled to the rim and for every product this means it will be a little more than 1 ounce by weight.  We will not update the website with the specific weight of these items since this is a temporary measure. 

Due to a complete lack of availability of 32 ounce HDPE frosted bottles all 32 ounce liquids are now being filled in 32 ounce HDPVC clear bottles.  This may be a temporary measure as our purchasing efforts to acquire the correct packaging will be ongoing.  As we have gone back and forth with limited availability to no availability we will no longer update this change in policy.  If you do not wish to receive the 32oz clear bottle then please do not order until the crisis is resolved.  These are the only bottles still available which meet our requirements and are still recyclable and temperature tolerant to 140F however, our current induction seals are not specific to this type of plastic since that is not our designated plastic.  Because there is also a shortage of the materials to make the seals we are not able to get the specific seal for the new bottle though we will continue in our attempts to procure the specific seal.  As a result we are having trouble with the seal, which is used purely to help us eliminate leakage in transit and is of utmost importance to us and our customers.  You may find that your cap is very tight and even then the seal may not have held securely.  We are applying longer induction times to help ensure a good seal and that means that there may be a, occasional, burning of the seal which may leave a darker appearance on the plastic lip.  This does not effect the quality of the product within the bottle.  If you find this disturbing then please be prepared to transfer the product from the transit bottle to your choice of bottle, using whatever means necessary to avoid contact with the lip during transfer:  eg ... a pump, siphon, or complete removal of the bottle neck.  We will not replace or refund product due to these seal issues.  If you have leakage, and the cap is still intact to avoid a physical contaminant entry, then we are happy to issue credit or send a replacement for any lost product per the guidelines of our damage policy.  We will continue to search for the best solution to this bottle issue so this may change as we go along, and find other alternatives.  Please be prepared for ever changing bottle / cap match up while we look for the best solution. 

In order to minimize labor without huge price increases, and to maintain an efficient flow of business, we have discontinued many of the small sizes of:   fatty alcohols;  esters;  emulsifiers, with the exception of fragile or more costly emulsifiers;  and humectants.


... Product Changes :::

Due to a lack of availability of one of the custom materials in our Monoi product line, which was a tripe maceration with a much higher natural fragrance, we have had to modify the formulation for our entire Monoi Product line.  We have chosen to keep the line available to support those customers who have locked these products into their customer offerings however, in some of the products there will be a difference in the scent level.  Our producer faced such a lengthy shut down and now continues to face severe staff shortages and can not continue to produce our material, for the foreseeable future.  As we have not been able to secure another producer we have run out of that special Monoi maceration and had to remove it from all products.  This has no impact on performance or other aesthetics.  You'll note INCI changes in some, but not all, of these products. 


... Filling Changes :::

Due to the packaging shortage and our need to minimize labor we may combine any multiples of the same item, in any size, into the next larger size bottle / package when necessary (this may be due to reduced staff on that day or availability of packaging).  We are doing this both to reduce labor, because we are now working with less than half our usual staff and our priority is to ship orders as quickly as possible, and to minimize the use of excess of plastics due to the shortage in the market.  If, for some reason, you are not okay with this measure then please do not order the item in that size because we will not be able to make exceptions to this practice and we will not issue credit.


... Processing Time :::

We are not able to process orders with our usual turn around times due to the many changes in operating procedures, staff shortage, and distancing protocols.  We have, temporarily, disabled "Same Day Expedtied Processing" because we are already doing everything we are able to just to get our posted orders out the door every day and do not have any room to make schedule changes to handle a same day expedited order, which is how they were handled during normal operational practices.  We have never pushed off a posted order to process a expedited order because that would be unfair to all other customers.  What we always did was have someone stay beyond their schedule to get the expedited orders out and during this time we don't have the staff to do that as all essential personnel are already working longer shifts and extra days to get regular orders out.  The regular "Expedited Processing" is still available, for those customers with an urgent need, and these orders will post faster but not necessarily the next day as they would have during normal operational practices.  We are severely short staffed and don't have the option of "calling" in additional help.  Our processing estimate given at order completion is not reliable at this time and we do apologize but this is beyond our control.  We want every customer to have some idea of how long it may take before their order ships, at the time of placing their order, so we will continue to post the estimated processing time however, the estimate is a real time estimate and is calculated based on the number of orders in the system at the time of the order coupled with expected staff on hand and is a automated feature.  Because staff on hand has become unpredictable the estimate is somewhat unpredictable.  During these times we never know who will come to work from one day to the next.  Normally reliable staff are struggling with unusual circumstances which prevent them from coming in to work and these circumstances are beyond their control right now and as always our staff is second only to our customer so we will respect their current challenges and continue to protect them from customer abuse and unreasonable management expectations as they, like everyone else, are struggling to juggle a whole new set of rules to maintain their household and take care of their families.  Please be reminded that when your need is urgent you may expedite your transit time to speed the delivery but remember that this has nothing to do with our processing time other than it will force post the order faster, which is a automated feature.  You may add expedtied processing to your order to speed the processing time.  Of course, if your need changes and becomes urgent, then please send us email to express your needs and we will do our best to accommodate.  When you send us an inquiry about processing times please refrain from badgering or otherwise harassing our staff.  We understand your frustration however that does not excuse unprofessional or otherwise abusive communication.  Because we will not be put in a position to make a false promise we will not make any guarantee of when your order will ship.  We offer a estimate only and though we will do our best to accommodate your needs we can not make a guarantee if we don't know with 100% certainty that we can meet that promise as we believe that that would be the worst customer service.  If you disagree, we understand however, that does not give you license to abuse our staff.  Any such communication will result in a cancellation of the order, per our cancellation policy, and is subject to fees.

We provide a shipping estimate at the time of checkout and before any order is finalized and put into our system.  If that estimate is not suitable to your timeline then please do not place the order.  It will be a mistake to expect to place the order and then proceed to harrass us, with false statements of failure, to force us into processing your order immediately and without regard for our other customers whose needs may also be urgent.  Please know that this will not work and will only result in further frustration and cancellation of the order.  We offer a estimate of "After ... "  only.  By definition this means that any day after the date posted in the estimate is still a success even if that time frame is unacceptable to you.  Your choice and control is limited to your placing or not placing an order.  All orders will be shipped within the legal time limit for a online order which is 30 days with the exception of back orders and international orders.  Prior to that time we will not have failed since we didn't promise anything under that time frame.  You may rest assured that we are doing our absolute best to fill, and ship, all orders as quickly as possible but these circumstances are not within our control under the current conditions.  While we would love to just hire more help there is none to be had at this time and we must work within the current availability of staff and all other restrictions and protocols.  Any order cancelled due to timeline of filling and shipping will be subject to the terms as outlined in our Cancellation Policy. 


... Communication :::

As a result of the continuing stay at home practices and increase order activity we continue to be severely short staffed and back logged.  We are operating with extended hours Monday through Saturday however, there is no availability for shipping Saturday.  While we continue to be short staffed and focus on filling and shipping orders during our normal working hours Monday through Friday from 7A to 5P, emails will be responded to as quickly as possible during extended evening hours of 5P to 11P Monday through Saturday.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause however, even during these crises we must stay dedicated to customer privacy and security and to that end we do not allow anyone with access to admin to work remotely so services while we are filling and shipping will be limited.  Generic questions which do not relate to any specific order will be handled throughout the day as usual.  Please be sure to double check your orders prior to finalizing to make sure there are no mistakes or omissions and your orders will continue to be filled without issue and as quickly as possible.  Any order where we discover incorrect or incomplete information, or policy violations, while labeling for shipment during normal working hours will be updated to "pending customer update" and we will trust our customer to respond by email to resolve any issues and those emails will be handled during extended hours only, which may result in additional delays.  Any pending orders with issues not resolved within 30 days will be considered abandoned.   We, sincerely, thank you for your cooperation and appreciate your continued patience and understanding.  We will continue to work hard to take care of our customers to the best of our ability.   

Please send all communication via email and we will do our best to respond as quickly as possible however, please understand that we are severely short staffed.  Right now you should expect at least a day for a response and sometimes longer.  We appreciate your patience and understanding while we all work hard to continue to operate as close to normal as possible however ... IT IS NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL and it's important that everyone understands this and has a reasonable expectation to avoid dissatisfaction with the current circumstances which are beyond anyone's control.  As a 20+ year supplier our main priority is as it has always been ... to build long term, positive, business relationships with our customers and we thank you for your patience and understanding.  In order to get customer orders out as fast as possible we are prioritizing the filling and shipping of orders.  Some days we operate at less than 1/4 staff and on those days we struggle to do anything other than fill and ship orders. 

In dedication to our customer's need to get their orders as soon as possible, for the smooth flow of their own businesses, all administrative support work is now being done only after operating hours so please bear with us while we all struggle to get through these crises as painlessly as possible.   We thank you!

Due to our being severely short staffed we will no longer monitor the techsuport email account.  Please do not send techsupport emails to our other email accounts because customer service does not handle tech support and those emails will not be addressed.  We have expanded the information available through the item page as well as our Formulary to answer any anticipated questions.  For formulation support please review the Specifications and Guidelines, on the item page, or see starter recipes in the Formulary.