I've been on the frontlines of crafting and shipping candles, battling the sweltering heat of Houston and the scorching summers back home in North Carolina. The struggle? Keeping these wax wonders from turning into goo during transit. Here's a no-nonsense guide on how to outsmart the summer sun and ensure your candles arrive intact.
1) Strategic Shipping: Ship your candle cargo on a Monday afternoon, folks. Don't let your precious parcels roast in a logistics facility over the weekend. Better yet, dodge the package car marathon and drop them off at a UPS hub or a UPS Store close to their close time if possible. A UPS delivery truck picks up from each UP Store at their close time. Your candles will thank you for avoiding the sauna-on-wheels situation.
2) Heat-Proof Notifications: Delivery trucks and final delivery points are the heat zones for our Summerfield wax creations. Combat the threat of a meltdown by sending those delivery notifications to customers so they can get the candles inside ASAP. Also, be proactive and warn your customers through email when an order is placed to avoid letting the package sit outside their home after delivery.
3) Temperature Testing: Test your processes with temperature recording labels. Stick one inside your shipment and see if your packaging can protect your candles from the heat. Soy wax's melting point ranges from 49 to 82 degrees Celsius, depending on its blend and the manufacturer. So we know to keep the inside of the package from reaching those temperatures. Find your candle wax's melting point and run a test to see if you are doing enough to protect your candle.
Tools of the Trade:
- Temperature Sensitive Product Labels: Slap a temperature-sensitive label on your package – a secret weapon that might change how delivery folks handle your precious cargo. Once they see the label we hope they place the package in the shade of a garage or a shade spot on the front porch.
- Cool Shield Bubble Mailers: Seal your candles in a thermal blanket before boxing them up. Mailers can insulate your candles from the heat.
- Temperature Testing: Here are examples of the labels you place inside the package to track your current processes against the heat.
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Cold Packs: Fill the empty spaces with cold packs. They'll hold the temperature line against the heat and provide shatter protection for your candles.
Costs associated with a 3oz cold pack: $0.27 cents per cold pack plus the added 3 ounces to your package weight which could slightly raise the shipping cost of the candle.
Big Guns for Extreme Heat: For those playing in the big leagues, FedEx and UPS offer an arsenal of cold packs, chilled boxes, and specialty containers. Warning: These fortifications are pricey and more suited for the medical elite.
Crafting candles is an art, and shipping them in the heat is a war. Arm yourself with the right tools to protect what you crafted. Outsmart the logistics battlefield, and your candles will stand tall, unscathed by the fiery trials of summer shipping. Welcome to the frontline, soldiers.
To give you any additional insight here is the shipping information/notice we provide to our customers through order notifications and our product pages:
As a precaution, always be expecting the delivery of the goods you order so you can bring the goods inside quickly after delivery. Make sure your package is not left outside your door in the sun, or in a hot mailbox. We are shipping only Mondays through Wednesdays during the summer season, trying to avoid weekend pauses or delays. Although we take measures to prevent the melting of our candles, it can still happen on those very hot days or when these measures mentioned are not followed.