Turnaround and lead times

Nothing on Why Stationery is made before it's ordered, so every order carries a make time. This guide explains the stages, which of them you control, and how to plan an order backwards from a date you actually need to hit.

The two stages before it ships

Your ready-to-ship estimate is shown on the listing and on your order page before you pay, and it has two parts:

1. Proofing — the seller prepares a proof and works out any changes with you.
2. Processing — the seller prints and finishes the run.

Ready-to-ship = proofing + processing. A new shop starts at 2 days proofing and 3 days processing — 5 days in total — but each shop sets its own numbers, so read the ones on the listing rather than assuming these.

Carrier transit is on top of that

Ready-to-ship is when the parcel is handed to the carrier, not when it lands on your counter. Transit time is additional and depends on the shipping speed you choose at checkout. The default speeds are: Standard (included), Priority (+$8), Express (+$18).

This is the single most common planning mistake. A "5-day" shop is not a 5-day delivery — it's 5 days plus however long the carrier takes.

The clock you control: proof approval

Here's the part worth internalising. For a personalized order, the processing clock starts when you approve your proof — not when you place the order.

If a seller sends your proof the next morning and you take four days to look at it, you have added four days to your own delivery date. Nothing on the seller's side moves until you approve. If you're ordering against a deadline, watch for the proof and turn it around the same day.

Rush, and what it does not do

Where a seller offers it, a rush option shortens processing for an extra fee, shown on the listing. Not every shop offers one.

Rush does not speed up carrier transit, and it does not shorten proofing or the time you spend approving. If the deadline problem is shipping distance, rush production won't fix it — a faster shipping tier will.

Planning backwards from a date

Work in this order, and add slack at the end rather than assuming best case at each step:

1. Your date — when it must be in hand.
2. Minus carrier transit for the shipping speed you'll pick.
3. Minus processing — the listing's number, or the rush number if you're buying rush.
4. Minus proofing — the listing's number.
5. Minus your own approval time. Be honest here. One business day is realistic; same-day is a plan, not a fact.
6. Minus a few days of slack. Estimates are good faith, not guarantees, and busy seasons run long.

For a shop at the default 2 + 3 with a few days' transit, ordering two to three weeks ahead of a firm date is comfortable. A week is tight. Two days is not a plan.

Seasonal runs deserve more room than that. Everyone orders holiday stock in the same six weeks, and a maker printing your run themselves has a finite press.

If a seller can't hit the window they quoted

You are not stuck. If a seller cannot ship within the window it quoted you — or, where no window was quoted, within 30 days of your order — you'll be told, and you may cancel that order for a full refund. That right sits on top of the ordinary wholesale cancellation rules, which already let you cancel for a full refund any time before production starts. See how wholesale ordering works and the shipping policy.

Where to check the actual numbers

• On the listing — that shop's proofing and processing days, and whether rush is offered.
• At checkout — your shipping speed choice.
• On your order page — your ready-to-ship estimate, when production started, and tracking once it ships.

Every one of those is per-shop and per-order. The numbers in this guide are the platform defaults a new shop begins with; the ones on your listing are the ones that count.