June 2020 - Newsletter #2

Do International Shipments Really Take "Forever" Due to the Coronavirus?

"USPS International Shipments Take 'Forever' Due to the Coronavirus" is the title of a recent article published in eSellerCafé.com, an online publication covering e-commerce topics for small and medium-sized businesses. It confirms what NorthWestPharmacy.com has been advising customers about in its newsletters and website disclosures since the coronavirus crisis began affecting air transportation worldwide.

The article states that the "drastic reduction of commercial [airline] flights has reduced available cargo space for mail shipments not just internationally, but also domestically" and that "[u]nfortunately, international postal shipments have been hit the hardest by the coronavirus emergency often resulting in long delays." As most of our customers know, NorthWestPharmacy.com parcels are delivered by international postal mail in the cargo areas of commercial airlines, as are millions of other parcels from companies in different industries worldwide. So, with two-thirds of passenger planes grounded worldwide, as reported in the article, one can better understand why there is a scarcity of cargo capacity to transport airmail worldwide, including your prescription drug orders purchased through NorthWestPharmacy.com.

The topic of delays at transit hubs as airmail is offloaded from an originating flight to be onloaded to a connecting one, has been discussed in our newsletters and on calls with our several of our customers. The eSellerCafé.com article mirrors our experience in stating, "[t]herefore, even if mail moves from one continent to another, it can get stuck again until air cargo space becomes available on a short-haul flight to the next destination."

We've taken a little flack from some customers about the longer delivery times though we've tried to do our best to explain exactly what a representative of the International Air Transport Association and the Universal Postal Union is quoted as saying in the article, "the cancellation of more than 4.5 million passenger flights - the primary means of transporting post - has meant that capacity is scarce, costs more and takes longer." (Emphasis added.)

Why Doesn't NorthWestPharmacy.com Use Private Couriers like Fedex or UPS to Deliver Parcels to the United States Faster?

So why doesn't NorthWestPharmacy.com just express courier parcels from private couriers like Fedex or UPS to expedite delivery, as the article suggests some e-commerce merchants may want to do considering the unavoidable longer delivery times through international postal mail at this time?

The first problem is the cost of doing so is very expensive. For most orders, the courier fee alone would exceed $75. We'd still offer that as an option to those who want expedited delivery if we could but the second, and impossible challenge, is that private courier companies refuse to accept prescription drug parcels being shipped from foreign pharmacies to consumers in the United States. This policy arose out of private couriers being prosecuted in relation to the delivery of addictive controlled substances to consumers who were ordering them without a valid prescriptions some years ago in the United States from illicit websites. It's unfortunate because these prohibitive policies are broadly overreaching and misguided when applied to customers of legitimate online pharmacies, like NorthWestPharmacy.com, which help people acquire more affordable maintenance medications with a valid doctor's prescription and do not even offer any controlled drugs whatsoever.

Doing Everything We Can to Shorten Delivery Times

Our team has been successfully securing every little bit of the available air cargo space and getting orders delivered to customers throughout the coronavirus crisis. We continue to route as many orders as we reasonably can to dispensing pharmacies in locations that provide the least number of flight connections required to get to your destination, despite the often higher product acquisition costs we are absorbing from fulfilling orders from those pharmacies. Doing so significantly minimizes the delays parcels could otherwise face at transit hubs. (Learn about more of our efforts to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus crisis on customers here.)

What is the 'New Normal' When It Comes to Delivery Times?

The latest updates to our online disclosures and customer emails advise customers that current delivery times average between three to six weeks from the date of shipping. Though many orders arrive within two weeks, some may exceed six weeks.

That's better than what the author of the eSellerCafé.com article observes regarding international postal shipments generally and it is likely due to our routing as many orders as possible to be dispensed from pharmacies with access to direct flights to the USA. He says, "[w]ith all the complaints I have seen in public forums and some emails we have received here at eSellerCafé.com, it appears many shipments are taking well over 30 days, even 60 days or longer to be delivered."

Please keep in mind that delays due to the scarcity of air cargo capacity are one key reason for longer delivery times but customs clearance and last mile postal carrier delivery are also taking longer too. The current disruption to the supply of pharmaceuticals worldwide also needs to be factored in.

While this is not ideal, the good news is that NorthWestPharmacy.com has been successfully taking, processing and delivering affordable prescription drugs throughout the entire coronavirus crisis and continues to do so.

Given all this, we encourage customers who may need medications in the coming months to place their orders now and those whose pending orders await shipping to keep their orders active and in the queue, which ensures they are locked in at the original price quoted at the time of placing the order. That's beneficial to you because we've absorbed most of the coronavirus-related increases in product acquisition costs that we've faced to date but may be unable to do so for much longer. Also, the limited pharmaceutical supply, available cargo space for transport and customs clearances will all be allocated to customers on a first-come-first-served basis and it may be quite some time before worldwide drug supply and delivery systems return to normal.

With more than 375,000 customer reviews, NorthWestPharmacy.com is the most reviewed and independently five-star rated online pharmacy in the world providing lower cost medications from abroad to customers worldwide. No competitor offering lower cost pharmaceuticals from abroad can match our supply and delivery capacity during this difficult time so please be assured we are leveraging all our capacity to ensure orders reach customers as fast as possible in the circumstances.

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