In eCommerce shipping, sellers are responsible for maintaining timelines, ensuring package protection throughout the entire delivery, and fighting to keep shipping costs low. However, those who list frozen food must contend with additional concerns as well, such as how to deliver products at the correct temperature.
Mailing frozen food brings unique considerations like temperature control, packaging, humidity, and compliance with rules for dry ice and food quality. That’s on top of the individual requirements of shipping carriers. To keep food at the desired temperature, you’ll need robust packaging and preparation so your goods arrive frozen.
Mailing frozen food requires thorough planning and preparation to avoid humidity issues, freezer burn, and other problems that threaten the integrity of a shipment’s contents.
Frozen foods need packaging that protects both the consumables inside and the box itself. At a minimum, you’ll need to wrap every item in your freezer in plastic. It’s good practice to incorporate this as a regular part of product prep in your warehouse. For example, MyFBAPrep can shrink-wrap items quickly using our shrink-wrap machines to ensure products spend minimal time outside of the freezer before moving to the next fulfillment stage.
The best packaging for frozen food is a multi-layer solution consisting of:
Packaging liners are important to prevent boxes from getting wet. However, you can’t seal packaging liners because dry ice releases carbon dioxide, which may build up pressure and burst if it’s unable to escape the package.
Depending on your budget, you might want to use cold packs or insulated foam planks instead of polystyrene. Your packaging has to protect the food, insulate the coolant, and support the box so your package reaches the customer in peak condition. Some products also require special treatment; for example, it’s best to double-bag seafood.
Sellers have a few options to maintain adequate temperature when mailing frozen food:
If you ship with a carrier that doesn’t have a dry ice weight restriction, 8–10 pounds of dry ice can keep your food frozen for up to 48 hours.
If you need to keep food frozen for more than 48 hours, it’s best to mix dry ice with gel packs.
Frozen food requires strict and transparent labeling to stay compliant with shipping carriers. That entails:
Your shipping carrier plays a big role in the success of mailing frozen food, and different services have different recommendations, requirements, and costs. The carrier you choose must guarantee your frozen foods arrive at their destination within 48 hours of shipment. Popular options include:
You’ll also want to consider distribution, time of shipping, and expected delays. Normally, that means distributing your frozen foods so they can arrive anywhere in your service area within a maximum of 48 hours but preferably sooner.
Implement real-time tracking where possible so you can immediately see when delays happen and move replacement and refund processes forward.
Mailing frozen food requires purchasing an appropriate coolant, investing in robust packaging and labeling, and meeting individual carrier requirements. For most eCommerce sellers, that necessitates working with a 3PL. Experienced providers can move items quickly from cold storage and provide insulted packaging and shipping to minimize costs while ensuring products arrive safely and still frozen.
MyFBAPrep can help with the specific product prep, cold storage, and even shipping products at the right time to arrive ready to eat, depending on your business model. If you’d like to learn more about how we can guide you through every stage of cold chain shipping, don’t hesitate to contact us.