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FAQs for Accounts for HBG’s Business Continuity Plan (BCP)??To our valued customers, we wanted to update you on how HBG is fulfilling orders as we work to get books to you while also keeping our warehouse staff safe. ?These FAQs will address the changes in our Indiana warehouse operation and explain our Business Continuity Plan (BCP). Our plan may evolve over time and these FAQs explain our current plans. ?To the best of our abilities, we are making every effort to fulfill our mission: ?to publish great books well. ?How are HBG’s operations changing with Social Distancing Operations?????First, to be very clear, none of the changes we are making (outlined below) impacts how accounts should interact with HBG for HBG or client titles.? Accounts should still:?Place orders with HBG for HBG’s and HBG Client titles?Accounts will be invoiced by HBG, at our normal terms ?Accounts can still call HBG Customer Service for any issues?Our newly configured operating model in the warehouse which incorporates social distancing for our fulfillment team means that we will be changing how we handle orders that are for less than a carton quantity. ?The change we are making is to how HBG picks, packs and ships selected “loose” orders for less than carton quantities:?Carton Rounding and Loose Pick Orders:?Orders received in carton quantities will ship as ordered?For all titles ordered in quantities greater than or equal to one carton, HBG will round down to the nearest carton quantity, pick the cartons, and cancel the partial carton quantity that is left (we are working on a solution to backorder this partial carton quantity but until implemented any unfilled balance will cancel)?For all order lines less than one carton that are designated “Indy Loose Pick titles” (defined directly below) HBG will pick those units that fall into the following categories:?All loose (less than carton quantity) units for the not-yet-published (NYP) titles?All loose units if a title is one of a publishing division’s 50 top-selling titles?For orders that are not carton quantity and do not fall into one of the two categories above they will be processed as part of our Business Continuity Plan:?Business Continuity Plan (BCP)?HBG is implementing a Business Continuity Plan in collaboration with Ingram Book Group.? Ingram’s warehouse network will ship select orders on behalf of HBG, but accounts do not need to change their ordering behavior.? HBG will be transmitting eligible orders to Ingram and the packages will be billed by HBG at a customer’s HBG terms.? Here is more detail:?All orders for a title in quantities that are less than one carton and that are not NYP’s or one of the top 50 titles for our publishers and clients will be fulfilled out of an Ingram warehouse providing the following: ?If Ingram has inventory, the title will be picked and shipped by Ingram.? Ingram has inventory on a very large percentage of HBG titles.? All Ingram inventory can be used to fulfill orders transmitted by HBG to Ingram.?These order lines will still be invoiced by HBG at an account’s regular HBG terms, and HBG Customer Service will still provide tracking information where necessary?If Ingram doesn’t have inventory, the units will be backordered or cancelled based on the account’s rules with HBG.??Ingram will ship only to accounts in the continental U.S. including to U.S. based freight forwarders for International customers. (Unfortunately, our BCP Plan with Ingram cannot ship orders for Canada or overseas addresses).To reiterate, regardless of whether the order is shipped by HBG or by Ingram under the BCP program:?All account interaction will be with HBG.? Accounts should:???Still place orders with HBG?Still be invoiced by HBG, at our terms?Still call HBG for Customer Service or any other issues? For orders shipping from Ingram:Our titles (HBG publishers + clients) will not be comingled with any other Ingram shipments.?Ingram will ship UPS Ground in plain, unmarked boxes.?The return address and packing slip will be from HBG’s Lebanon, Indiana facility.????Ingram will continue to operate its traditional wholesale business and ship any orders for HBG and client titles that they carry to any accounts who order directly from them.? HBG’s BCP is for orders that are placed directly with HBG, not orders that accounts place with Ingram’s wholesale operations.???When will BCP be operational????We are planning to be operational no later than Monday, April 6.? We’ll start earlier if we’re able.? In the meantime, orders received by HBG that cannot be fulfilled will be backordered if an account allows for backorders and will be transmitted to Ingram when the programming is available.? Note, Ingram may not have every title that would be available going directly to HBG.? If a title is not available from HBG due to carton rounding limitations or from Ingram due to availability limitations it will be backordered or cancelled depending on an account’s instructions. We will be working with Ingram to maintain appropriate stock levels for our titles.?Should accounts still order from HBG or changeover to ordering from Ingram??Accounts who choose to order from HBG will get their usual HBG terms.? If they order from Ingram as their wholesaler, they will be buying from Ingram at Ingram’s usual terms.? The choice, as always, is up to the account.???What about author event orders??Author event orders will be subject to the fulfillment rules outlined above.??Can I check my order status??The best way to check on your order status is to log in to our retailer portal (U.S. and Canadian accounts only):??rpa ??A Note About Account Closures?We are trying to keep up with all the state and local announcements about “stay at home” orders and know that some accounts in these areas remain open to receive orders. Accounts can confirm whether they have been put on an operational hold due to COVID-19 by checking our website at: you need to change the shipping status of your account, please contact us at: AccountsManagement@????We ask for your patience as we work to maintain shipments to you while adapting to state guidelines and making adjustments to our workflow to keep our staff safe. ?Our Customer Service team continues to be available and working remotely. ?We are making all of these changes in a timeframe that is highly compressed from what would be the norm, so please understand there will be challenges and we will do our best to work through them as they arise.??We remain committed to working with you during this unprecedented time and appreciate your patience as we reengineer our business to continue to ship books to you.??Sincerely,??The HBG Fulfillment Team, The HBG Sales Team, The HBG Operations Team? ................
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