OCG and the Novel Coronavirus - Your Questions Answered

As we all know by now, the Novel Coronavirus is a virus that is now spreading worldwide. We hope all that are reading this are safe, healthy and dealing with the uncertainty around the world.

Being a global company, and with our own factory in China, we have understandably had questions regarding the effect this virus and the various quarantines, shutdowns, and precautions worldwide might have on OCG.

Firstly, we are pleased to say all OCG staff both locally and in our factory in China are free of the virus and production and dispatch has been underway since early February.

We also arrange our own direct line with shipping, which means our shipping times currently are unaffected up to the point it is in the hands of your local postal service.

We will do our best to answer your questions below, but please contact us at any time with questions you may have.

Will I get the Coronavirus from a package sent from China?

No. As best explained by the World Health Organization, the CDC as well as disease specialists, the Coronavirus cannot be caught via packages and mail:

"Because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely very low risk of spread from products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient temperatures," the CDC concludes.

Infectious disease specialists were even more definitive.

"It's not going to be transported on a box," says Dr. Michael Ison of Northwestern University, who studies viral infections among transplant patients, who have weakened immune systems.

This is explained in more detail in a very informative article on NPR.

Will my packages be delayed?

Our staff is in full production, printing, sewing and dispatching gear 7-days a week with 50-100 orders going out each day.

All order backlogs have been cleared and our shipping times currently are as per normal, in fact, if anything slightly faster than normal with the lower global package volume.

To show what we mean we have exposed our systems live delivery statistics to the public during this uncertain time. This is a live feed from our system showing how long packages are taking to each country.

https://onlinecyclinggear.com/pages/ocg-tracking-statistics

You may see some companies having delivery delays due to importing large quantities into warehouses or using standard free shipping methods.

This is not the case for us, as we use a direct line shipping service we have negotiated with privately, and are sending small quantity orders.

We are pleased to let you know also our free delivery service has been improved, with extra tracking visibility and updates, as well as a reduction in delivery times by as much as 5-7 days.

How do I know your packages are safe?

As mentioned above, the Coronavirus cannot be transferred via packages as confirmed by the CDC and independent virologists.

Also, all factories in China were shut down by the government and are only allowed to re-open after full government inspections.

We are pleased to say our factory is open for full business after those inspections were completed in early February.

I am self-isolating or in quarantine, how can I exchange my purchase?

Being an online-only company does not mean we cannot do something to help contains the spread of the virus.

So as of the 18th of March, we fast-tracked a trial where exchanges do not need to be returned to us to avoid the need to attend crowded spaces such as malls and post offices.

I have more questions, help?

Anything not covered above, check out our FAQs page, contact us via the Contact Page, live chat or leave us a voicemail if we cannot get to the phone and we will do all we can to help.