Maintaining Business Continuity Over the Holidays

November 2019

It’s that time of year, when leftover Halloween candy on store shelves is quickly brushed aside in favor of holiday-themed decorations, candies and supplies. As the holidays approach and we look forward to time with family and loved ones, rest assured Cardinal Health 3PL Services has plans in place to help ensure business continuity during the holidays.

Prior to any holiday, you can expect a communication from your Customer Service Representative to confirm how orders should be handled. When holidays occur towards the end or beginning of a month, we’ll take the opportunity to secure your direction for both how to handle the holiday and the month-end orders.

Orders received on a holiday will be held until the next business day, or until a preferred shipping day based on your instructions.

During the week of a holiday, some lanes of our Exclusive Pharmaceutical Transportation Network (EPTN) may be adjusted. We’ll let you know in advance which lanes may be impacted and can discuss how to plan for business continuity.

Check out these FAQs for details on how we help ensure business continuity.

Cardinal Health will be closed on the following holidays:

• Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 28, 2019
• Day after Thanksgiving, Friday, November 29, 2019
• Christmas Day, Tuesday, December 25, 2019
• New Year’s Day, Tuesday, January 1, 2020

Proactive planning makes emergencies extremely rare. However, as with any special request, reach out to us in advance to talk through feasible options.  Our Customer Service team will provide guidance on holiday shipping and emergency orders in advance to help address any concerns you have and make arrangements accordingly.

Cardinal Health 3PL Services works closely with FedEx to ensure efficient delivery of products on a day-to-day basis. We coordinate every order in accordance with FedEx’s policies—recognizing that delivery is only guaranteed for overnight and 2^nd-day shipments. Our standard business practices, such as the Certified Cargo Screening Program for packages going on commercial aircraft, expedite the delivery of necessary products or drugs to distributors and provider offices. These practices remain unchanged during the holidays.

FedEx ramps up their own operations to account for the anticipated 1 billion packages that Americans are expected to ship between Thanksgiving and Christmas. With Thanksgiving on November 28 this year, peak shopping and shipping season is a week shorter than usual. In addition to adding tens of thousands of seasonal employees, FedEx tracks patterns in shipping, recognizing that the growth of e-commerce (weekend online shopping) drives the highest surges in demand on Mondays.

If you’re thinking of shipping timelines for personal gift giving, check out this holiday shipping deadline guide for UPS, Fedex and the U.S. Post Office. Speaking of which, there are less than 50 shopping days until Christmas!