We'll deliver your order on or before the guaranteed delivery date shown. That date sits on every product page on hotline.co.uk, and it's an actual date rather than a number of working days for you to count forward yourself. Dispatch across our range runs from 5 days on a screen printed canvas tote to 22 days on a full colour bamboo fan, so the date you see reflects the product you've chosen.

Pick a canvas tote and the page gives you one date. Pick a hoodie and it gives you another, roughly a week later. Both are there before you've uploaded a logo or spoken to anyone.

Why a date and not a lead time Most of this industry quotes lead times as a range of working days, usually something like seven to ten working days or two to three weeks. Those are honest enough as far as they go, and they leave you doing arithmetic you shouldn't have to do, on a calendar that probably includes a bank holiday you've forgotten about, to work out whether your merchandise beats your event.

We do that calculation and publish the answer. If your exhibition opens on the 26th and the page says Thursday the 20th, you have what you need without opening a calculator.

The difference matters most when the deadline is tight. A range of working days tells you what's probably fine. A date tells you what's booked.

Why two products show different dates Each product carries its own dispatch figure, and the date on the page is worked forward from that. The spread across our catalogue is wider than most people expect.

Product Dispatch Why Deluxe 10oz canvas tote 5 days Screen printed, held in depth, simple branding Branded Love Hearts 7 days Printed label applied to a stocked product Moleskine Classic Notebook 8 days Screen printed onto a finished retail item Urban Women's Hoodie 10 days Garment branding, size-dependent picking Parker IM Core Rollerball Pen 10 days Pad printed onto a precision surface Full Colour Bamboo Fan 22 days Full colour print across a large area Nothing about looking at those six products would tell you which is which, which is exactly why the date goes on the page rather than in a quote you have to ask for.

Ordering to a fixed event date If you're buying for an exhibition, a conference, a launch or a staff event, work backwards from the date you need boxes on site rather than from the date of the event itself.

For an exhibition that means the build day rather than the opening. For a conference with a venue delivery, add a day and check that somebody will be there to sign for it. Venues are not always willing to hold deliveries, and a pallet of tote bags turning up on a Saturday to a locked loading bay helps nobody.

Then check the date on the product page against yours. If it doesn't work, tell us your date and we'll tell you what does. Some products can move faster than their standard date and some can't, and we would much rather say no on the phone in August than miss a date you've built an event around in October.

If you'd rather start from your date than from a product, you can set the date you need and see only the products that can meet it. That's covered in shopping by delivery date. You can also browse express products if your deadline is close.

Where the clock starts Your guaranteed date depends on one thing you control, which is how quickly you approve your proof.

Nothing goes into production until you've signed off your Visual Proof™, and you'll normally have that back within 20 minutes during working hours. If it then sits in an inbox for three days waiting for somebody to look at it, that's three days off your timeline. The single most useful thing you can do on a deadline-driven order is decide in advance who approves the proof and tell them it's coming.

What our delivery promise actually means We deliver 99.9% of orders on time. That number exists because a guaranteed date is a commitment we plan production against rather than a forecast we hope holds.

If something does go wrong, we'd rather you heard it from us first, with a new date and what we're doing about it. We would rather have an awkward phone call on the Tuesday than an unhappy customer on the Friday.

Separately, if what arrives doesn't match the Visual Proof you approved, we'll replace it or refund it.

Frequently asked questions How long does branded merchandise take to produce and deliver in the UK? It depends on the product, and every Hotline product page shows you the actual date rather than a range. Dispatch across our range runs from 5 days on a screen printed canvas tote to 22 days on a full colour bamboo fan, with most everyday products falling between 5 and 10 days.

Is the delivery date shown on the product page a guarantee or an estimate? A guarantee. We'll deliver your order on or before the guaranteed delivery date shown, and you see that date before you place the order rather than afterwards.

How reliable is Hotline for delivery deadlines? We deliver 99.9% of orders on time. The date we're held to is the one printed on the product page before you order, rather than a range quoted after the fact.

Why do two products show different delivery dates? Because each product carries its own dispatch figure, based on the branding method and how it's held. A screen printed canvas tote runs 5 days and a full colour bamboo fan runs 22, so they show dates more than two weeks apart on the same afternoon.

Can I get branded merchandise delivered faster than the date shown? Sometimes. Tell us the date you need and the quantity, and we'll tell you straight away whether it's possible. Some products can move faster than their standard date and some can't.

What should I do if my event date is tighter than the date shown? Call us before you order. We'll tell you which products can still make your date for the quantity you want, rather than letting you place an order that was never going to arrive in time.

Does the guaranteed date depend on how quickly I approve my proof? Yes. Nothing goes into production until you've approved your Visual Proof, so if approval sits in an inbox for three days the date moves by three days. You'll always see the current date before you confirm.

I need something branded for an event next week and haven't ordered anything. What can I do? Ring us with your date, your quantity and your budget. Some products dispatch in 5 days and our express range is built for exactly this, so tell us the real deadline and we'll tell you honestly what's achievable.