When Meg retired, she didn’t want to stop working. So she started an online store, Meg’s Gifts. Her gift store was filled with all of those perfect, thoughtful gift items ideal for holidays or birthdays. Meg’s family and friends had always complimented her on her gift giving ability and she thought a gift store would be a great idea for a retirement business. But her son encouraged her to think about every aspect of the business – especially to think about the shipping. “With an online business, shipping is so important,” Hank said.

Meg agreed but she didn’t quite know what to do. She didn’t really have a lot of experience with shipping. While she had a lot of experience with gift giving and shopping, shipping was an entirely new experience for her. But Hank suggested she look at tracking labels. “They’ll tell you exactly where packages are at all times,” Hank said.

Meg realized this was so important for Meg’s Gifts and also for her peace of mind. That this would be very helpful for her business’ bottom line. Not only that, it was a critical factor for customer service. If a package happened to be late for someone’s birthday or a holiday or any occasion, this way Meg could easily know exactly where that package was. That would give not only Meg peace of mind but also her customer – a great sense of peace of mind. There was nothing better than that. Meg ordered her tracking labels right away.

It was so easy to order the tracking labels. She ordered her tracking labels with her business name, address, telephone number and website on them. Meg realized that every tracking label was like a small advertisement for her business. That every person who saw the tracking label would be reminded of her business so it was important to make a great impression. So as her packages were handled or left on the doorstep, every person that saw her packages had a chance to get to know Meg’s Gifts. It was an opportunity to connect with future customers. This was ideal for Meg as her online business was reaching a worldwide audience.

One day Meg had a customer ordered a package for her sister’s birthday. It was only a few days from that day. The customer ordered one of Meg’s most expensive items. Meg added a tracking label. She felt confident the package would arrive and that she would know exactly where it was each step of the way. Meg was not surprised to have the customer call a few times to ask where the package was, and Meg could tell her where it was in transit. The customer appreciated her attentiveness. The next week, the customer ordered half a dozen gifts, for friends and family. Meg attached tracking labels, pleased she had a system that worked.

Meg’s been in business for more than a year now. One customer has led to another and another. Her success has grown and it is as if she’s never retired, she’s as busy as ever – what she always wanted. She loves running her gift shop. And she thanks her son Hank who reminded her to think about the tracking labels and the shipping for her online business.

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It seems more and more families and loved ones are living farther apart. As you get ready for the holidays, remember that many will need to ship their Christmas or Hanukah packages to the U.S.A. and beyond. It is critical to have the best tracking labels on your packages.

A tracking label is like that present’s own GPS system: keeping it safe as it travels around the globe. From Florida to Texas to Maine to England and beyond! Your package is as connected to you as if it were right in your own back stockroom, ready to hand to a customer if they were in front of you. That tracking information lets both you and the customer know exactly where that special holiday present is at all times. As it travels from your store across the states or even across the ocean – it is safe and secure. Best of all, this tracking label offers your customers great peace of mind, as asset tags tend to do.

Holiday shoppers want to be sure of two things as they shop this season: that they choose the right gift for each recipient and that the gifts reach each person properly. We know we can depend on your sensitivity and skill to assist them in finding the best gifts for their loved ones this holiday season. Let your tracking labels keep their carefully chosen gifts under watchful gaze until delivery.

Adding a tracking label to your packages simply makes good business sense. It shows that you care about your products and their safe and secure arrival. Just by seeing a tracking label on a package can make customers feel more relieved in choosing you. They know that you don’t take chances. You are practical and wise. There is no worry of Christmas or Hanukah gifts being jostled during shipping and precious treasures arriving in pieces. Your store and employees are likely the type who take extra care with packages – if you take the time to add a tracking label – then you are the type of store that takes extra care with other factors that concern shipping.

From the granddaughter shipping a figurine to her grandmother far away to an adult sister sending gourmet treats to the sister and family she won’t see during the holidays, that tracking number offers extra protection. Even the customers who don’t completely understand the value of a tracking number will greatly appreciate its service during the holiday season. As a retail store owner you know that the holiday time is the busiest time for deliveries. The mail and other delivery services will be extended often pushing their limits as far as they can go. That tracking number can keep that carefully picked out figurine for Grandma from being rerouted to the wrong state, wrong city or simply the wrong street. The time you take to add that label can mean the difference between the holiday package making it in time for the holidays…..or not.

Most of us are lucky today, whether we realize it or not. We truly have the majority of the material goods we “need” and many of the ones that we just plain “want.” But during Christmas or Hanukah time, getting and giving gifts goes much deeper than the actual present. It all comes down to love. Love for the recipient and the gift giver and expressing that love during holiday time. Missing that opportunity to celebrate your holiday of faith by expressing love for someone special in your love can be a great disappointment. Just ask anyone who has had a gift they’ve ordered arrive late or go missing. They seem to be more upset about it than the actual gift recipient. It’s the love that is speaking through them. Needless to say, that small tracking label just doesn’t seem so small anymore.

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The US Product Safety Commission is responsible for the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act which was amended in 2008 and came into force in 2009.  A new section, S.103 covers product labeling of consumer products, making it mandatory for products to carry a tracking tag no matter whether they are imported or made in America and no matter who makes them.  Hand-crafted products do not escape the new legislation so, we’ll take a look at the new law and how it affects you.

Overview of s.103

s.103 mandates that all products, irrespective of origination, must carry a tracking tag to sufficiently identify where they were made and carry basic information to include:

• source of the product;
• manufacture date; and
• information on the manufacturing process, such as batch identification or in the case of a hand-crafted business, the worker id.

There is a key phrase which has been appended to all these requirements and serves to ameliorate the impact of the new law – manufacturers are only required to add tracking labels, “…to the extent practicable.”  For instance, if you are making miniature figurines an inch or two high, you may not be able to add a tracking label and all the information required, especially if they are not shipped with individual packaging and are part of a batch of product, for instance candy or home-made chocolate.

Tracking labels cannot refer to safety information or standards, unless your product actually complies with that safety standard.

The new law came into force on August 14, 2009 though the safety standard provisions came into effect from October 13, 2008.

How the Law Impacts Home-based Businesses

Congress received a lot of representations from small and home-based businesses on how the new law would impact them and their businesses.  It is apparent that s.103 brings many small and home-based businesses under the aegis of labeling legislation for the first time, so what do you need to consider to get yourself into line with the new law?

Look at Your Existing Tracking System

Part of the attraction behind buying hand-crafted goods is that they are individual, if not unique.  Adding tracking labels detracts from this (even though they can be removed).  You may already be doing enough to satisfy s103 of the new law, so your first step is review your existing tracking system.

The law requires that your tracking tag should identify you as the manufacturer sufficiently so a consumer is able to find and contact you with any requests for more detailed product information or any information proscribed by the new law.

Product Specific Information

Ask yourself, if a customer came back to you with a piece you sold them a couple of years ago, would you be able to advise that customer on the materials you used to make that piece?  The new law imposes an obligation to be able to advise customers on safety issues and characteristics of the materials used in construction.  An effective way of doing this is to maintain good records and receipts which allows you to be able to identify when you used certain materials in your business.

Marking Your Packaging

If your products are sold through retailers, can someone see from the packaging information which would be sufficient to identify them as products subject to a safety recall notice?  If the packaging does not include this information, does your product carry it where it is visible through the packaging material?

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