Some members’ orders have encountered shipping delays due to the adverse winter weather experienced in parts of the country. All shipping carriers have been impacted by this weather event and are working diligently to deliver all delayed shipments as soon as possible.
If you don’t live in an area experiencing adverse weather conditions, you may wonder why your order was affected. Republic Wireless’ orders are shipped from a distribution center located in Chicago, IL. This distribution center has remained operational throughout the adverse weather conditions, fulfilling our orders on schedule, however, the shipments from this facility were heavily impacted.
Most of our orders are shipped using the FedEx Express network, where the main hub is located in Memphis, TN. This location was heavily impacted by the weather, and closures and delays impacted all shipments going in and out of this hub. While the map might show that the shortest distance between Chicago and your front door does not include a route through Memphis, sending each package individually from point to point is not how a world-wide leader in the shipping industry operates. FedEx Express routes packages through a hub-and-spoke system to move packages with a high degree of efficiency all over the country. Packages sent from our Chicago location pass through the Aurora, IL hub, then continue to the main hub in Memphis, TN before they are routed to their delivery destination. The adverse weather conditions affecting these hubs, along with the extent of the winter storm’s impact
in many regions of the country, created a backlog which is impacting shipments across the country. Other shipping carriers (USPS and UPS) are experiencing similar situations in their networks due to these events as well.
We have partnered with FedEx for several years now and we have been extremely pleased with the service they provide. The National Service Disruption they announced due to the severe winter weather has been a single difficult incident in an overall stellar partnership. FedEx is doing everything they can to process and deliver every package in a safe and effective manner, with a high priority on the safety of their employees. The adverse conditions, the Memphis closure, capacity limits with transport, and processing at other hubs is going to take time to resolve, even well after the storm is over.
If you’ve recently returned an item, you may grow concerned as you await your refund and see that your return shipment has been delayed. Our return processing center in Dallas, TX is also in an area impacted by adverse winter weather. This center has remained open and continues to process returns, and we have taken precautions to extend our return timeline so that your refund is not denied if the shipment fails to reach us by the original deadline due to a shipping delay.
The Republic Wireless team and our partners are working around the clock to track and make sure each order is fulfilled and delivered, and that each return is accounted for. We strive to ensure that every order and refund is delivered in a timely manner, but we are not immune to these unprecedented conditions. We are seeing improvements and most orders are delivered, or nearing delivery, but we are also contacting individual members whose orders appear to be impacted further, to make sure these members are aware of the situation at hand.
