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Chocolate Gift

Best way to ship Chocolate as Holiday gift?

Hi there,

I sell chocolate on-line and over the past couple of weeks I have shipped about 100 orders to all parts of the US except for Alaska and Hawaii. Nonetheless, I have had to deal with temperatures ranging from the low-20s to the mid-90s.

As long as you are shipping in the US and the chocolate you are shipping does not contain large amounts of alcohol (which does not appear to be the case), then there are no requlations you need to worry about. The main thing you’ll have to contend with is the temperature at the point of delivery on the day of the delivery.

I use the US Postal Service for shipping for a couple of reasons. The first is that I can get most of the boxes I need for free. When you ship as much as I do, the cost for boxes can add up quickly. I have found Priority Mail to be extremely reliable (no lost boxes or damaged shipments in the three years I’ve been using them) and they are far less costly than either UPS or FedEx.

When you are boxing up the chocolate, remember a couple of things:

- Use a box with at least several inches of room around the chocolate and pack this space with packing peanuts (or similar material). This dead space insulation works really well. You can buy packing peanuts made from cornstarch which will also absorb moisture in the box.

- Tape over ALL the open edges of the box to make sure that warm air has no easy entry into the box and cool air has no easy exit.

- Line the inside of the box with absorbent paper. I use paper “wadding” made especially for this purpose. A local shipping store might have some. This adds some additional insulation, reduces air flow in and out of the box, and absorbs moisture in the box (if you’re not using cornstarch peanuts).

- If the temperature is going to be over 80 degrees where you are shipping, use a cold pack. To avoid damaging the chocolate, do not put the cold pack directly on the chocolate. A layer of packing peanuts works well. Also, wrap the chocolate in plastic (or cover it with a sheet of bubble wrap to keep moisture that will condense on the gel pack from getting the chocolate wrapper wet.

- When I ship to places where the temperature is above 85, I also use insulated bubble wrap. This has mylar film on both sides that reflects heat out and keeps cold in. I’ve been known to use two layers of this insulated bubble wrap combined with all of the tricks above when it’s really hot. I also use Perishable stickers.

It is possible to buy insulated shippers but they are very expensive and take up a lot of room because they are shipped fully assembled. I reuse as much of the shipping materials that arrives with other stuff delivered to the office as possible and recycle all the rest.

Most post offices are kept cool (enough) over weekends. The real challenge is the vehicle used to deliver the chocolate. Those can easily get hot enough to melt chocolate. If it’s an issue, send things Express Mail or UPS 2nd day morning delivery.

If it’s really cold, then ask the recipients to let the box warm up, unopened, over night before opening so no moisture condenses on the chocolate.

HTH,
:: Clay

Modeling Chocolate Wrapped Cakes – Gift Wrapped Presents