Each year we receive a surge of orders for holiday gift shipments of KauaŹ»i Sugarloaf Pineapple and the good news is that fruit is usually plentiful, but we can only ship so much each week and of course harvest depends ultimately on Mother Nature. This means that the best way for you to get your ordered delivered by that special day is to order early and note the holiday in the “ORDER NOTES” area of the shopping cart page.
2023 Kauai Sugarloaf Pineapple Holiday Order Cut-Off Dates
Christmas
order by December 6th for delivery before Christmas (This is not guaranteed, but an estimate.)
Dates depend on having enough pineapple to harvest and ship, which we cannot guarantee.
SPECIFY IN THE ORDER NOTES BOX, which is on the cart page of the website, if you need shipment for Christmas.
Detailed Explanation (for the curious)
We are a small company driven to success by striving for 100% customer satisfaction. We request that you order early and allow us to ship starting in early December for holiday orders. We are unable to ship every day of the week due to the very labor-intensive process needed to ensure our pineapple passed the required Department of Agriculture inspection and the fact that we have to harvest and maintain the farm in addition to shipping orders. You can of course request a shipment date closer to Christmas but shipping hundreds of orders on Christmas week just isn’t possible, even if all the elves help. Here are the holiday ordering deadline and estimated arrival dates we are offering with FedEx 2nd Day (2 business days) delivery. If we receive orders which exceed our harvest, we will ship as soon as is possible. We will keep you informed via email if we think we might not be able to fulfill all orders.
The earlier you place your holiday order, and the more leeway you give us with dates, the more likely it is we can deliver as you wish.
It is logical to assume most customers would prefer their Christmas gift delivered as close as possible to Christmas and you can request this in the additional instructions box, but we ask that you give us a range of weeks, as there are only so many pineapples that ripen each week and there are only so many boxes, I can ship the week of Christmas. You can request Christmas week delivery, but it is risky, as mentioned. We planted 1000’s of pineapple 18-24 months ago in preparation for Christmas harvest but sometimes Mother Nature has other ideas about ripening. We have 250,000 Kauai Sugarloaf Pineapple plants growing but since pineapple takes 18-24 months to produce one (1) fruit it is tricky trying to predict harvest schedules and amounts. I have been growing pineapple for over 25 years and I have seen fields ripen a month early as well as a month late although most ripen right on time, as predicted. This is a variable I cannot control. We usually ship only on Tuesdays, but for all holidays we adjust accordingly and add additional days to accommodate the higher than usual volume of orders. Therefore, we will be shipping on multiple days for Christmas delivery, but as mentioned, we have only two workers and myself, so we are limited as to how much we can harvest and pack. Over the many years I have worked with FedEx they have been spectacular with on time deliveries, but during peak demand such as ahead of holidays they anticipate delays, so we want to avoid shooting exactly for the day before a holiday to play it safe. The labor shortage since the pandemic is also impacting FedEx and there have been more delays then prior to the pandemic. Please trust us to adjust dates slightly as required and understand in the event of a rare excessive shipping delay.
We will always do the best we can as disappointing my customers causes me great angst. Although I am an optimist, I also like to enjoy the holidays and keep stress down to a minimum. Please keep in mind that Kauai Sugarloaf Pineapple is field ripened and is perishable. It should be unpacked and refrigerated upon delivery. You should enjoy within 3-6 days of arrival. I know people have saved them longer, but it is not what I recommend. Just as the taste and quality of this white flesh pineapple is dramatically different than the commonly available yellow flesh pineapple, so is the shelf life. Our pineapple is field ripened, hand selected and is ready to eat when it arrives. Please do not store on the counter, store refrigerated.
If you didn’t place the order until just before Christmas of course we will do everything we can do to fulfill all of our holiday orders and you can check for updates on the banner on the website homepage.
If the field does not produce enough pineapple in December for us to fulfill all orders in time you will have two options: we can send an e-card to you to send to the recipient of the order indicating that due to circumstances beyond our control we were unable to harvest and ship their gift in time for Christmas and we will ship it as soon as it is ripe; or we can offer you a full refund.
Pineapple takes 18-24 months from planting to harvest which makes planning for holiday harvests difficult. This rather lengthy time frame makes it difficult when estimating when a field will ripen. We will be evaluating our fields every few days and as we get closer to Christmas we will have a better estimate of how many pineapple will be available in time for delivery before Christmas. Keep in mind that due to the unpredictability of Mother Nature it is sometimes very difficult to get an exact estimate. Please know we will do everything humanly possible to fulfill your order(s). We will keep you abreast of the field ripening progress so you will know before Christmas if your order will be delivered before Christmas.
P.S. If you forget to add your delivery date instructions or a recipient’s email address in the “ORDER NOTES” area of the shopping cart page just email me at sales@kauaisugarloaf.com and I will add the information on my administrator order page. Please provide a range of acceptable dates in your delivery date requests.