Packaging Tips for Perishables

If you are having difficulty with your shipments arriving still frozen, there are three common things you can adjust to improve your results.

1 - The length of time you ship. If you are using "Second Day" service and your product is slightly thawed upon arrival you can go to the cheapest "Next Day" service and pack your shipment the same way. Conversely, if you ship "Next Day" and the shipments are arriving with very little change in temperature, try "Second Day" service and see what happens. Assuming your customer agrees, many customers want the perishable to get to them quickly. It is exactly like taking an ice chest full of iced down drinks to the beach on a sunny day. The longer your ice chest sits on the beach the warmer it gets inside until finally all of your ice has melted.!

2 - The foam insulation thickness. If you want to add time to your shipping or decrease the amount of thaw you are experiencing, but you don't want to increase the amount of ice packs you use or ship it faster, use thicker insulation. The foam insulation thickness is what controls how fast the heat around your box is allowed to come into the box and melt your ice packs and your product. Again, it is exactly like taking an ice chest full of iced down drinks to the beach on a sunny day. An ice chest with thin walls will let your ice melt faster than a better ice chest with thicker walls. 

The one-inch of insulation you used in the boxes you shipped with in April will hardly be adequate to use in August. The 70 degree Fahrenheit weather you shipped in during April is 38 degrees Fahrenheit above freezing. The 100 degrees Fahrenheit you must endure in August is 62 degrees Fahrenheit above freezing, that’s 24 degrees Fahrenheit MORE above freezing!  That translates into 63% degrees MORE HEAT above freezing. As a rule of thumb you can estimate that you will need at lease 63% THICKER INSULATION in August to get approximately the same performance as the one-inch gave you in April! This means you would have to use between 1.5 inches and 1.75 inches of insulation in August for you to use the same amount (same weight) of gel packs (or ice packs) as you did in April, for the exact same shipment.

3 - Add more ice packs. If you want to add time to your shipping or decrease the amount of thaw you are experiencing, but you don't want to increase the insulation thickness you are using, add more ice packs. Again, it is exactly like taking an ice chest full of iced down drinks to the beach on a sunny day. The more ice you put in the ice chest the longer your drinks will stay cold!

Artic Pack will begin online operations on August 15th, 2008