During this time of social distancing and great change, we’d like to let our customers know that we are still open for business and will continue shipping kratom and other items to you throughout this pandemic.
Though things are far from normal right now, we are doing our best to ensure that we can safely and efficiently continue to supply our customers while also protecting our employees.
Today, we’d like to share more about how we specifically have been responding to the COVID-19 risks as well as how we will continue to do so for as long as possible as we move back to a new normal.
How We Continue Online Shipping
Though you may not be able to visit your local store to buy kratom if you like to shop in person, you can continue to order from our website at this time. As an e-commerce company, we are able to continue business as long as we are taking the necessary precautions to protect our customers and employees.
Product Handling & Disinfecting Procedures
Here at Left Coast Kratom, we already follow a strict set of safety guidelines through the Good Manufacturing Practices program. These safety guidelines include protective gear, regular product testing, and deep cleaning as much as possible. We have expanded these guidelines to include the guidance promoted by the FDA and CDC for food safety at this time.
More specifically, we have done the following:
- • Scheduled sanitation and deep cleaning more frequently
- • Improved cleaning measures with the COVID-specific guidance from the FDA
- • Amped up how frequently high-touch areas are sanitized
- • Ensured packing is done with sanitized protective gear on
By doing these four things, we can make sure that our food-safe facility remains safe during this trying time. These actions help to protect our employees, and they also help to ensure that the packages we send out are safe, too.
Employee Safety & Social Distancing
We care deeply about the safety of our team here at Left Coast Kratom, so we have also taken steps to ensure that they are kept as safe as possible. At the same time, we continue to serve customers like you during this time.
There are a few specific things that we are doing to ensure this:
- • Setting up social distancing policies within the facility
- • Keeping delivery folks and non-essential visitors out of the facility
- • Providing free transportation to those that use public transportation
- • Providing extra PTO to our employees as needed
- • Sharing guidance we receive from CDC, FDA, etc. with our employees
This situation is always evolving, and we will continue to change our policies as needed to ensure that our employees are kept as safe as possible.
We are also paying close attention to CDC guidance about how to handle any cases should they arise and will use their interim guidance to handle that situation if needed. The health of our team is very important to us, so we are doing our best to keep that in mind as we continue business during this period.
Is Receiving Mail Safe?
Some concerned customers have read about the virus living on surfaces for hours or even days, and this concerns them when they think about receiving packages. Even if we do our part to keep everything disinfected, it can be scary to not know if your packages are safe.
At this time, the CDC and FDA have not made any recommendations to stop receiving packages, and they are encouraging delivery and at-home shopping in order to avoid human-to-human contact.
Though there is some degree of risk of the virus living on a surface, the risk is significantly lower than it is through human-to-human contact, so delivery is going to be a better option.
There are a few things that can be done to give your packages an extra round of disinfection to ease any anxiety that you may have about the virus:
- • Wash your hands thoroughly before and after touching all packages.
- • Use a Lysol wipe or another high-alcohol content wipe to wipe down the outside of all packages when you receive them. Alcohol break down the fat layer of the virus and causes it to fall apart.
- • If you do not have any wipes available, you can leave your packages to sit a designated area for 1-2 days before opening it.
- • Order less frequently so that you have fewer packages to disinfect.
- • Keep packages in one area rather than carrying them through your home before you disinfect them. If possible, disinfect them outside and then come inside to wash your hands.
The virus has been shown to be able to live on cardboard for up to 24 hours in ideal conditions; real-world conditions are unlikely to allow it to live that long. Still, you can provide yourself additional peace-of-mind by taking the time to disinfect your packages.
COVID Support
Beyond updating our internal policies to ensure that we are handling, packing, and shipping your orders as safely as possible, we are also proud to share that we are doing our best to support the community as well.
In response to the pandemic, we have increased our regular donations to these organizations:
- • Outside In
- • The Pixie Project
- • KIVA
- • Dads4Life
Additionally, we are continuing our regular support of AKA and AHPA for the work that they do to ensure the safety of kratom lovers around the world, all year long.
Our COVID Policies
If you would like to see our latest response to the COVID-19 situation, please check out this dedicated landing page. Here, we will continue to update any changes in our business that are caused by the ongoing pandemic should they arise.
If you have any specific questions or want to get into contact with questions about our COVID-19 response or anything else, you can contact us through our website here. We have limited our phone operations due to COVID-19, but you can still use our live chat and web contact features!
