2022 Spring Collection FAQ

Shipping and timeline

When are you expecting to ship my order?

We expect to begin shipping at the end of March, and for your orders to start arriving in April. After pre-orders are caught up, new orders will usually ship within 2-4 business days of receiving your order.

How long will it take for my order to arrive?

From the time your order is shipped, it will usually arrive within 1-2 weeks. We ship all orders as soon as possible, but there are sometimes delays as a function of lingering COVID-19 effects.
Please ensure you follow up with Canada Post or other courier for any direct updates, as we do not have control over delivery once parcels ship. We are not usually privy to more information that is available to you. If your shipment experiences an unusual delay, we can do our best to assist – please just pop us an email 😊

What do I do if my parcel hasn't shown up??

Please ensure you follow up with Canada Post or other courier for any direct updates, as we do not have control over delivery once parcels ship. We cannot access more information than is available to you. If your shipment experiences an unusual delay, we can do our best to assist – please just pop us an email.

Is there any way to receive faster delivery?

Canadian customers – please select Xpresspost and we will ship your pre-order out ASAP.
US customers – please select ‘Expedited shipping’ at check out and we will also prioritize your order.
Worldwide – please contact us at hello@hemlockandoak.com to enquire about expedited international shipping rates.

Can I pick up my H&O planner from a local store?

We are not currently stocked in any retail locations, sorry. We are in our second year and we are mostly run by two individuals.

Do you offer local pick-up?

We did offer local pick-up for a while, but it became unsustainable for our small team. As it’s usually just us two running everything, coordinating hundreds of pick-ups at various times affects our ability to focus on improving H&O and take time off for ourselves. Please note that we do subsidize the shipping cost (8 CAD within Canada), and we have not raised this price since we launched, despite increasing postage costs.    

How is my order packaged?

Check out our Packaging page for more information! Our shipping boxes are made in Canada. 

Pre-order specifics + exchanges

How long are pre-orders open for?

We launch pre-orders for each collection to help us fund manufacturing. As H&O planners are produced in small hand-crafted batches, pre-orders provide our community first access to popular colours, which sell out quickly.
As we catch up on shipping pre-orders, we transition to regular shipping within 2-4 days of order receipt. We try to ship in large batches, and usually ship these twice a week so there isn’t a long wait before your order gets on its way. We make exceptions for upgraded shipping and try to take those to the post office as soon as possible.


Can I change my pre-order?

Please email us at hello@hemlockandoak.com and we’ll do our best to accommodate (but we cannot guarantee changes). Please include your order number, address, and details. Please note that if your order has already shipped, we have no way of having it returned to us.

What if I pre-order and order something that's currently in stock?

Please note that if you order, for example, a pre-order planner and in-stock pen – these will ship together when the planners arrive. Please order separately if you would like in-stock items to arrive sooner.

What do I do if I'm moving or changing addresses during the pre-order period?

If you are moving during the expected delivery timeframe (March-April), please get in touch with us ASAP about an address change. We’ll do our best to get this information updated before your order is sent out. Just email hello@hemlockandoak.com and indicate ‘URGENT’ in the subject line, and please include: your order number, new address and any other details.

Will these colours be restocked? 

As with most of our collections, we are not able to re-stock colours once they are sold out. We take a lot of time and care in creating our collections, sourcing materials, and looking for ways to make improvements. We are very intentional about each release and try to make enough inventory available to accommodate as much interest as possible! As we grow, we will strive to make these available to as many of you who want to support Canadian-made stationery with a focus on sustainability.

Planner features

Why has the planner price increased by 3 CAD? 

As you may know, manufacturing in Canada is super costly (and is the reason why there are so few companies making stationery locally). Over the last year, material costs have increased in pretty much every segment, from paper to cover stocks. We strive to price our products competitively with other brands producing overseas, with a goal of pushing the boundaries of sustainable stationery while making high quality, locally-made products available at reasonable prices. 

For 2022, we are making new improvements (in addition to the size and page count increases we made in 2021) that we believe will improve your planning experience.

We will also continue to subsidize shipping costs within Canada and to the US, as well as offering our PDFs for free. 

What's new with the ribbons? 

The Undated Signature Planner, the Undated 6-Month Daily, and both the graph and bullet journals all now use ribbons made from recycled plastic bottles. This is our biggest release yet, and cumulatively it’s a lot of ribbon. Over 5.5 kilometers! This took some time to figure out, but we’re proud not to be introducing so much new plastic waste into the world, and hope you’ll be excited about this change as well.

Will you include pockets and elastics?

As you know, we are very intentional about our products. We want to iterate mindfully as we make sustainable improvements. We don’t just want to use nylon/polyester elastics when we’ve just worked so hard to move away from non-recycled plastics for our ribbons. It will take us some time to explore options that are sustainable and work with our products, test them out, and figure out ways of implementing them in a way that is affordable for the community.

Cost is another big factor, as pockets and elastics are all placed by hand. As we’ve made a conscious decision to make our products in Canada, this is a very expensive process and not something that is feasible at this time even with larger orders. As an example, we were recently quoted 20 CAD/each for pockets (excluding the cost to place them in each book).
We are focused on making improvements in mindful and intentional ways, and both of these options are on our radar. Those of you who have followed us have seen how passionate we are about our stationery, and we're only in our second year. We'll figure these things out as we grow :)

Do the planners open flat?

Yes! Our planners lay very flat and you don’t need to prop them open. It’s important for us to make our products enjoyable to use and lay-flatness is a key part of this.

Can you tell me more about the paper?

We use papers made in North America (most often sourced directly from Canadian mills). Our planners use an 80lb/120 GSM paper, whereas our journals use a 100lb/150 GSM paper which is even thicker and more resistant to bleed-through and feathering.
Those who use fountain pens in their H&O planners have expressed that the paper work extremely well for them!
While we cannot guarantee that our paper will stop 100% of bleed-through or feathering for all writing materials, we can confidently say that it is of a superb quality and will work extremely well for most pens and markers. We have no plans to incorporate coatings/plastics in our paper, such as those used in “stone paper” or many overseas products.

How wide are the columns in the Undated/Dated Signature Planner?

They are just about 1.5” and fit many standard sticker kits 😊


Other

Do you offer bulk or wholesale discounts?

While we don't accept most wholesale or bulk discount orders, you can still reach out to us at hello@hemlockandoak.com. Our ability to offer discounts is limited, as we prioritize high-quality Canadian manufacturing and handcrafting. 

You're probably aware that many planners, pens, and stickers are often wrapped in plastics and materials that don't do our planet any favors. These items not only clutter our homes but also contribute to larger environmental issues. It's a cycle we're determined to break.

Our aim is to craft products that align with your values and ours. We're talking recyclable, plastic-free, and sourced from renewable materials. We've got a five-year plan to become an entirely zero-waste operation, focusing on post-consumer materials that are as kind to the Earth as they are to you.

In today's fast-paced world, businesses often prioritize speed and cost over ethics, especially when sourcing products. The convenience of online suppliers can unfortunately lead to overlooking the ethics behind manufacturing. We believe there's a better way to do business.

That's why we've chosen to partner with family-owned manufacturers here in Canada. These are collaborations that allow us to have a transparent, ethical, and sustainable production line. It's the sort of mindfulness that you would expect from a friend, because respect for both people and the planet is what we're all about.

So, if your style leans toward conscientious living without sacrificing elegance, welcome. We're thrilled to have you join us on this journey toward ethical and sustainable sophistication.

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