To our creative community:
It seems unbelievable that the holiday season is just around the corner, and we’re still dealing with the same virus from March of this year.
This goes without saying, but it’s been a tough year – for all of us. We’re consumed by uncertainty and fear, wondering where the light at the end of the tunnel is. Through it all, our extremely committed team has been an excellent example of how to adapt and work together during such unprecedented times, and it’s thanks to them that we’re able to stay open today.
Even with all of this year’s craziness, we were able to create some good. We retooled our factories and donated more than $100,000 in face shields to health care facilities. Some of us were able to spend more time with family at home. Others were able to tackle forgotten projects – knitting baby blankets, refreshing our walls with decor, organizing our digital photos, et cetera.
Soon, we’ll be overwhelmed by the holiday season and how to adapt our traditions to this new normal. But, before we get there, since I’ve moved into a new role as President of Nations Photo Lab, I wanted to take a moment to check in with our community about what’s happening at the Lab.
First, we want you to know that we keep the safety of our production staff a top priority. We reconfigured our Lab to ensure that staff is able to work from a safe distance, and even altered shifts so there can be less people on the floor at a time. We implemented temperature checks before each shift, provided and required PPE, increased sanitizer hubs, made changes to our break rooms to ensure proper distance, and created detailed plans to have in the event of exposure. Plus, we’re staying on top of our product turnaround times and adjusting them often to reflect any of these accommodations to prioritize safety.
Additionally, our administrative team members are working from home until further notice so we can limit the number of people in and out of the building. But, we know that there are challenges with full-time working parents and child care, so we’re committed to being flexible with our staff. That means recognizing that core hours of 9-5 may not be feasible for everyone, encouraging our team to work when they can, and asking them to schedule any emails outside of core hours using Gmail’s schedule send feature.
Second, although coronavirus certainly tried to stop us, we have some exciting new developments at the Lab – we’re expanding! We’ve outgrown our two printing facilities, and in order to fulfill your orders quickly and more efficiently, we’re currently in the process of expanding to a 75,000 square foot building in York, Pennsylvania. This expansion has us very excited for the future of our Lab!
Lastly, like many other retailers right now, we’re monitoring all the shipping times from our shipping partners. We’ll let you know as soon as we do if we’re experiencing any major delays, but, we highly encourage holiday shoppers to purchase gifts early this year – just to be safe!
Through it all, we’re here for you – to memorialize your favorite moments and to keep them preserved for generations. We believe that personalized photo gifts will take on a special meaning this year, since so many people may be spending the holidays apart, and are grateful for the opportunity to help people send smiles to loved ones. Thank you for letting us play a part in your memories!
Yours in printing,
Harvis Kramer, President, Nations Photo Lab