COVID-19 Firework Update
Unfortunately this has been the most difficult year in the firework business. It started on December 4th in Liuyang, China with a major firework accident. This accident shut down all firework manufacturing, putting over 300,000 people in the firework industry out of work up until Chinese New Year. From that point on the COVID-19 virus was already harvesting and infecting many people of Wuhan. It continued to spread throughout China during Chinese New Year while people traveled throughout the country. For that reason the Chinese government completely shut down the entire country for two months. So here we are today with most of the firework industry back in full production with some new regulations that are changing daily due to the accident on December 4th.
In the United States we’ve been battling the COVID-19 virus, dealing with a situation that many of us have never experienced before. We are taking it day by day, trying to deal with the ever changing rules and regulations. Our main concern is for the health and safety of our family, friends and customers.
We want to update you on our current situation. Product is being produced regularly in China and we are expecting a large bulk of product arriving daily from early May thru June. Because we are on the East Coast of Pennsylvania we are required to stay home at this time. Unfortunately fireworks are not considered an essential business (obviously the people that made this ruling don’t know it’s essential to us). Despite the situation, we are still taking orders and have plenty of stock. You can place your order through e-mail, website or you can call using our new phone system (which will be implemented on April 1st.). You can call during our regular business hours, Monday thru Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. As most of you have now have noticed, we have a new website. Regarding the new website, we are still fine tuning it and adding videos, products, and content daily. Please email us if you run into any issues while browsing. You can use your old login and email. Just make sure to click forgot password and create a new one.
We are stocked with plenty of products and have containers on the water at the moment. We speak to China daily and it looks like most of our product will be here on time for this holiday season. To our retail customers, our locations are fully stocked with all of your favorite items and more. Please be on the lookout for our new items arriving in May 2020.
To our wholesale and pre-order customers, this year we expect the same issues as last year with product arriving in May to the end of June. We will ship out your orders, as soon as the product arrives. We are expecting at least 90% of our product to be here in time for shipping to you before the holiday season. We receive product all year long, some product will be arriving after the 4th of July. I know most of you don’t mind, so we suggest you start ordering in stock items now, and as new product arrives we will ship it out ASAP.
With the current situation, China has made it as difficult to bring product in the United States.
▪ Factories now want final payment of product as soon it is loaded on the vessel. They are giving no credit because they are afraid of the United States being shut down for the firework season. They are worried that the U.S. companies won’t be able to pay their balance.
▪ Shipping companies are now asking for a new signed contract before anything is shipped in case U.S. ports shut down because of the COVID-19 virus. We have to pay for all the product, shipping to the U.S. and possible shipment back to China in case of the ports closing.
Because of these reasons we are requiring payment for product before it is shipped to you. We know this is difficult for some of you, but we must enforce this to protect our business and reputation. Please call us with any questions or issues.
We at Intergalactic Fireworks still believe we will all have a prosperous 4th of July season this year, especially because the 4th of July lands on a Saturday and analysts and medical professionals are predicting that the virus will be over by May. It will be a closing to a sad time in our history, but we feel that all of you will want to celebrate our country getting back to normal.
Please stay healthy and safe, God Bless America.
Intergalactic Fireworks