How will the snow affect your ecommerce business?
Thank goodness for small mercies. At least the December/November selling peak period remained unhampered by snowy conditions on any major scale. But now, perhaps inevitably, here comes the first nationwide snow event for a while and very possibly just the first of 2013.
Though the cold snap is predicted to continue, the actual snow isn’t likely to last all that long as rain and sleet will follow quite swiftly (or so I have read).
The worst hit area looks like it will be SE Wales where the Met Office has issued a rare Red warning and that’s as high as their warnings go. A 20cm snowfall (and the rest) is forecast there over the next day or so. To all our Tamebay friends in that part of the world we say: stay safe and warm.
Naturally, snow causes headaches for ecommerce businesses everywhere. Your ability to despatch may well be impaired and your carriers’ delivery networks will likely suffer problems too. Perhaps that is one benefit of snow on a Friday: just this once you might consider downing tools, take the day off, grab the sledge and leave the hard work until Monday with a plausible excuse. It’s just an idea.
Are you all set for a flurry of snow? What plans do you have in place? Are there any specific problems in your area that other sellers should know about? Let us know how the freezing conditions are affecting your business. But above all: stay warm.






puddleglums rest says
6:21 am on 18/01/2013
sovvern softies
puddle glums rest says
6:27 am on 18/01/2013
here we go some poor sod from the tv will be stuck on a bridge over a road in a blizzard telling us its snowing ,or sent up a mountain to make certain they find the thickest snow to tell us its so many inches deep
Noel says
8:18 am on 18/01/2013
Wonder what the ratio of people arriving at work is when you compare self employed to employees ?
I was out at 6:45 this morning, drove my Golf (without snow tyres, snow chains etc) the 11 miles to my warehouse and got there fine.
My packing guy has a land rover, so I’m expecting him soon but the courier driver from DPD said yesterday that although he lives a 400 meter walk from the depot that he’d not be going into work ‘at the first sniff of snow’……
board_surfer says
9:24 am on 18/01/2013
Always amazes me that this country grinds to a halt at the first sign of a snowflake.
Clarky says
10:08 am on 18/01/2013
We have about half an inch in Manchester at the moment, the sheer volume of “I am not driving in snow so I am not going to work today” type statuses on ye olde book of face – its half an inch, if you sneeze it goes away!
*waits for 4 o’clock to open the unit door to find a mountain of snow outside…*
whirly says
11:27 am on 18/01/2013
Suns out in Falmouth.
Gutted.
Got a new sledge and just itching to jump on it.
elvis says
10:46 pm on January 20th, 2013
you live in Falmouth whirly? I’m in Penzance. Sun out here today as well.
Chris says
11:23 pm on January 20th, 2013
Elvis. I went to School(many years ago in Penzance). Today I had to light the fire for only about the 5th time this winter and then only because I wanted the water heated. Really not that cold. No sign of Snow or indeed rain today.
elvis says
3:37 pm on January 21st, 2013
Is this Chris from tamebay or another Chris?
Which school did you go?
Chris says
8:45 pm on January 21st, 2013
Between 1964 and 1968 I went to Humphry Davy Grammar School in the days when Craske-Rising was the Headmaster. As a matter of interest the Spell Checker is unhappy about Humphry being spelt like above. The thing was if I or indeed any other pupil had put an “e” in it when Craske-Rising was Headmaster that was almost grounds for Capital Punishment.
I enjoyed my time at HDGS. At the time I lived in St Ives and we either traveled to School on the Train or by Bus depending on the policy of the Council at the time. When the Bus route was under threat or if the St Ives Branchline was under threat.
My ex-wife was also a Penzance girl but thinking about it I don’t think that she enjoyed School. She certainly did not learn anything there.
whirly says
7:58 am on January 21st, 2013
Sure am Elvis.
Pleased to see snow today though.
elvis says
3:39 pm on January 21st, 2013
Yeah, a little snow here now but not much. I was woken up at 4am by a noise at the rear of our property. I looked out the window and was surprised to see heavy snowfall during the night.
Chris says
8:47 pm on January 21st, 2013
Here in Mid-Cornwall so far have not seen any snow at all. Today was just a little light drizzle and that only lasted for a few minutes.
mw says
11:46 am on 18/01/2013
The problem we seem to encounter is that people stop shopping on ebay whenever it snows to this extent. It may be that buyers don’t think business’ are working and/or they have little faith in the delivery network to deliver their purchase. It seems to be a case of I’ll order it “tomorrow” and then simply not remembering to do so. Ebay should have a message facility that we can put on the shop for this, that simply says “We Are Business As Usual – Your Items Will Still Be Dispatched On Time”.
Gary says
12:02 pm on 18/01/2013
The only issues (for me) are the additional “where is my package” type of messages. And it gives buyers an excuse to bang in INR claims. May be worth while using signed for services for the next few days for all packages and absorbing the extra cost.
puddleglums rest says
12:41 pm on 21/01/2013
there is more snow on christmas cards than you soft lot ever see down sowff