Wow, who saw that coming? What looked like a nasty local crisis in Wuhan, China was suddenly taking over Italian hospitals and then spreading to Britain, the States and everywhere else. How would I continue selling pottery / ceramics online during the Corona Virus crisis?
I was definitely shocked like everyone else when CV-19 arrived at our shores. Apart for possible health implications, I was concerned for my graphic design business, and also for my pottery work which I have been slowly building up. It suddenly felt that, out of the blue, everything was being threatened.
The graphic design has been very badly affected, and one can only hope this will prove to be just short term. Our clients have been quite wide ranging, but of late a lot of our business has come from sectors, events, education and religious/charity. All three sectors have been forced to close their doors with the result that we have lost our main sources of work and income.
However, pottery has continued and with the advantage of more time to invest in my ceramic skills. I’ve continued to make and sell pottery online (not in vast numbers – that isn’t my thing), commissions have been popular and I keep developing my knowledge and breadth of styles, all the time trying to fine-tune my work to make it more personal, individual, unique.
The big issue for me has been delivering my work around the world, the lowest point was when I ventured out to take my well-prepared packages to a main Post Office, only to find it closed due to staff shortages caused by Corona Virus. It really hit home at that point that this was a significant problem – if the Post Office couldn’t operate how would businesses that rely on sending goods be able to function?
I wrote twice to our new MP, Laura Trott, who got back to me swiftly on both occasions with replies that she was raising the issue of Post Offices in the House of Commons. It worked as the Post Office re-opened and has been functioning since. I have been using the Post Office (Royal Mail) to send packages around the UK throughout the crisis (remember the Prime Minister told us to work from home if we could).
International deliveries have proven a different matter. On one day I sent two parcels to the States, similar address, but very different results. I have always used Royal Mail’s International Tracked & Signed and until the crisis it has been a great service that has allowed one to send modest-sized parcels (W x H x D 90 cm max, 2kg max) around the world at reasonable cost (typically a little over £20 to the States). Some parcels have taken up to five weeks to arrive, the delays being caused by backlogs and staff shortages at customs. Those two parcels I sent one day, one took a little over a week to arrive, the other five weeks. For someone who has prided themselves on efficiency I found this disturbing an embarrassing, I put so much time and skill into my pottery, I hated the fact that I and my customers were being left in a sort of limbo by the crisis.
I would hasten to add, I in no way blame the hard-working employees of our postal services, either here of abroad. The counter staff at our Post Office are always so helpful and our own Postman is a beacon of reliability. As I say, I continue to use Royal Mail’s tracked service, including Special Delivery (next working day) for my UK deliveries.
I had to find a more reliable service for my international deliveries. Fear not, I found one that I believe to currently be the best available for my pottery, that will be the subject of my next post.
My Etsy shop at olleypottery.com is a showcase for my work available for sale with delivery worldwide.