Tet supplier checklist: confirm each handover before the break

Confirm materials, inspections, collection and reopening with a practical supplier checklist and message template.

Updated September 19, 2026 · HolidayDates.net

Start with the order, not a universal shutdown estimate

A Tet planning checklist should describe your actual purchase order and the businesses handling it. Vietnam’s public holiday information is a useful reference, but it does not establish a particular supplier’s last production day, dispatch date or return to full service. Begin by recording the order reference, product, quantity, required arrival and current stage. Ask the supplier to distinguish confirmed arrangements from provisional ones. That makes the next conversation about the work remaining rather than a general prediction about the holiday season.

The examples in this guide are hypothetical operating choices, not delivery guarantees. Use the linked Vietnam calendar to check the selected year’s public dates, then obtain the supplier’s own closure notice. If a full future-year arrangement has not been verified, preserve that uncertainty. Do not reuse an earlier year’s shutdown interval or tell a customer that every factory will reopen on the same day.

Check order approval and the material position

Ask whether the order specification is final, which materials are already available and which components are still expected. If artwork, packaging or a sample requires your approval, identify the person authorized to provide it and the supplier’s last acceptable response date. A general request to “finish before Tet” is less useful than a clear list of decisions that must be made. Keep the latest approved specification in the order record so an absent colleague does not cause an older version to be used.

If a material remains uncertain, ask how that affects the specific order. The supplier may offer a substitution, split quantity or later completion, but none should be assumed acceptable. Check the effect on quality, customer commitments and cost before agreeing. Label an unresolved substitution as pending. A neat completion date in a spreadsheet should not conceal the fact that the material or specification behind it is still undecided.

Confirm inspection and packing as separate milestones

Production completion is not necessarily release for dispatch. Ask who will inspect the goods, what evidence you need to review and when that review must be finished. If an independent inspector is involved, confirm its booking separately. Record how a failed inspection or requested correction would affect the collection plan. A supplier saying that goods are ready can mean different things unless both parties agree which checks have been completed.

For a hypothetical packaging order, the final print may be correct while the carton labels still need approval. Identify who supplies those labels and who checks the finished packing list. Before the responsible people leave, agree how a small discrepancy will be handled and what requires a new approval. This prevents a box waiting in a warehouse because nobody knows whether the person covering the holiday can authorize the correction.

Verify collection, documents and receipt

Ask the logistics provider about the actual service booked for your shipment. Record the collection address, appointment reference, document deadline and responsible contact. A carrier’s general holiday announcement is useful background, but your booking is the operational commitment. Do not equate a shipping label with physical collection or a collected parcel with completed clearance. Each status should reflect what has happened, not what the team hopes will happen next.

Confirm the receiving side too. Ask whether the destination can accept the goods on the expected date and what happens if it cannot. Storage, redelivery or a changed appointment may have conditions or costs that need agreement. If the receiving contact is away, name a deputy who has the required access and authority. Keep that arrangement with the shipment instructions rather than relying on a last-minute message after the carrier arrives.

Send a concise confirmation request

Use the following message as a template for your own supplier. Replace the bracketed details before sending and add only the questions relevant to the order. This is a draft for you to use; the website does not send it or collect the answers.

“Please confirm the holiday plan for order [reference]. Which specification, material or payment approvals remain outstanding, and when do you need our response? Please provide the planned production completion, inspection, packing and collection dates, identifying anything still provisional. Who will handle urgent questions during your closure? On reopening, which team returns first and when can the next action on this order take place? If any milestone cannot be met, please explain the available alternatives and any cost or quantity changes before proceeding.”

Agree the fallback before a deadline is missed

For each unresolved milestone, write down its owner, the next confirmation date and the decision required if it slips. A fallback might be a different delivery promise, an agreed split shipment or a postponed launch. It should not merely say “allow extra time.” Confirm the alternative with the parties who must carry it out and identify whether further customer approval is required. Availability of a different service or production slot cannot be guaranteed by a checklist.

Communicate uncertainty in plain language. “Inspection booked; collection awaiting confirmation” gives a customer or colleague more useful information than a single date presented as certain. Set a date for the next update and keep the evidence behind the current status. When a milestone changes, inspect the dependent tasks together so the receiving team and customer do not continue acting on an outdated arrival estimate.

Confirm reopening against the work still required

After the break, ask what action is now possible on your order. Office reopening, production restarting and dispatch resuming may be separate events. Request an updated plan for the remaining work rather than assuming the pre-holiday estimate is still achievable. If your contact cannot yet confirm a slot, ask when the position will be known and who will provide the update. Avoid assigning a standard recovery period to every supplier regardless of circumstances.

Close the checklist only when the last relevant handover is confirmed. Keep the public calendar, company notice and order-specific commitments as separate records. That separation explains why your business timetable differs from the public dates and makes future planning easier to review. For the broader workflow, use the business planning guide; for the dates themselves, use the Vietnam calendar and follow its official source links for the selected year.

Fill in your own supplier checklist

Download the supplier planning sheet (CSV). Add owners, confirmed deadlines, evidence and fallback decisions in your own spreadsheet. This website does not collect your completed sheet.