Covid-19 Client Operations at Alert Level 3 (AKL) and Alert Level 2 (CHC)

August 12th, 2020

Last night the Prime Minister and Director-General of Health advised that there would be a change from the current Alert Level 1 across New Zealand to Alert Level 3 for the greater Auckland area and Alert Level 2 for the rest of the country due to the suspected transmission of Covid-19 in the Auckland community. As a result, we have enacted our Covid-19 Response Plan. At this stage the above restrictions will be in place between noon today and midnight Friday, however this may be the best case scenario.

Fortunately, we along with our freight partners are well prepared to continue providing distribution services in a compliant and safe manner. However, the following restrictions will be in place under the current alert levels:

Alert Level 3 – Auckland warehouses

Social distancing and segregated shifts create the potential for disruption to processing, which we will continue to monitor and communicate accordingly. Currently these restrictions will include:

Allowing additional time for order processing – expect 1-3 days including delivery delays
Implementation of earlier order cut off times (to be communicated case by case)
Warehouse visits by prior arrangement and for essential reasons only (please contact your Site Manager who can often help, avoiding the need to visit)
Deferring non-essential tasks including stocktakes and rework projects
Strictly no Customer Collections until further notice
All deliveries contactless

We would ask that you please assist our Auckland warehouse teams by:

Reaching out to your customers to ensure they can safely receive contact-less deliveries, they are aware that Customer Collections are unavailable, and that there may be delays receiving some orders.
Keeping in contact with your warehouse Site Manager, providing updates of your forecast order volumes, including any pending back orders
Refraining from any Peak Sales campaigns during the Alert Level 3 period

Alert Level 2 – Christchurch warehouses

The lower Alert Level offers fewer restrictions for our Christchurch warehouses, however we also remain very vigilant and will maintain best practice social distancing and shift segregation protocols. Currently these restrictions will include:

Allowing additional time for order processing and additional transit times for all orders, in particular those consigned to the greater Auckland region
Warehouse visits by prior arrangement and for essential reasons only (please contact your Site Manager who can often help, avoiding the need to visit)
Customer Collections strictly by prior arrangement only and will remain contact-less
All deliveries contactless

We would ask that you please assist our Christchurch warehouse teams by:

Reaching out to your customers to ensure they can safely receive contact-less deliveries, they are aware that Customer Collections are unavailable, and that there may be delays receiving some orders.
Keeping in contact with your warehouse Site Manager, providing updates of your forecast order volumes, including any pending back orders

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we all play our part in again stamping out this virus. We are regularly monitoring the guidelines set down by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and encourage you to visit our website for all updates.

For further information on the Government restrictions and current Alert Levels please visit https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19/restrictions/current-alert-level/

We will update this page following any further government announcements from the Prime Minister.