How to Send Chocolate in the Mail: The Best Ways to Ship Chocolate
I have a dear friend Nancy who lights up when the subject of “shipping” comes up. It’s how I react when someone says “Champagne.” You might think it odd that the subject of how to send chocolate in the mail would even arise between friends, but because she and I discuss all aspects of life, and shipping is a big part of Dean’s Sweets business life, we talk about shipping every once in a while. (Champagne too).
I’m fascinated with Nancy’s shipping fascination. Nancy enjoys comparing prices among the carriers – USPS, FedEx, and UPS – and which carrier will get a package to its destination fastest for the least amount of money. She is practically giddy when considering the multiple variables, such as the weight and size of the package and how far it’s going. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle to her. Though generally not super nerdy, Nancy would even be inclined to make a spreadsheet to compare and contrast all these values.
I hate to take away Nancy’s fun, but we’ve already crunched those numbers and found that USPS (U.S. Postal System) does the best job for the price overall. When we analyze shipping options, we prioritize cost and reliability. We want to know that your chocolate will show up in good condition within a reasonable timeframe and at the lowest possible price for the service.
Safest Ways to Send Chocolate
Shipping chocolate so it arrives intact takes some care. First, the chocolate needs to be wrapped in something cushy, like bubble wrap (which we hope always gets reused and recycled), to give it protection for the inevitable bumps and bruises the package will endure in transit. Second, the bubble-wrapped chocolate must go in a stiff cardboard box. No soft padded envelopes will do or what arrives on your doorstep would be chocolate pancakes (edible, but not pretty).
Shipping Chocolates in Hot Weather and to Hot-Weather Climates
Then we consider the destination, specifically the climate and temperatures. For most of the year, shipping chocolate from Maine to Michigan, for example, is easy. Except in peak summer months, the temperatures in the northern half of the U.S. stay quite moderate and wouldn’t warrant special packaging to keep the chocolate from melting.
Mailing chocolate to Florida and southern California is another story, however. Shipping chocolates to warm-weather climates means stowing the chocolate safely in an insulated box with a frozen cool pack. It also means assuring two- or three-days delivery time at most. After that, the cool pack has thawed, and the Arizona/New Mexico desert heat will affect even the most carefully wrapped chocolates.
Buying Chocolate Online – Keeping Shipping Costs Down
The extra care shipping chocolates requires in warm weather does, unfortunately, affect the price. We do everything possible to keep those costs to a bare minimum while still getting the job done. Most of our customers agree, being able to ship and receive chocolate in the summer months and to all destination, regardless of temperatures, is worthwhile. Chocolate, many would say, is essential. We do what it takes to keep prices down and get the chocolate where it needs to go.
We’ve wrestled with offering overnight shipping too, and though it’s possible with any of the carriers, it’s expensive, as in crazy expensive. We have always figured that no one wants to spend more on shipping than they do on the chocolate itself. Still, it’s an option. We encourage customers to call us (207 899-3664) if they feel overnight shipping is best because, we get it, sometimes it just has to get there.
Shipping Chocolate During the Holidays
We’ve all heard and read about delays in shipping during the holiday season. We know those delays are real, so we encourage customers to buy and send gifts earlier than ever. During peak times, it could take several days longer than expected to ship a package. We do our best to mail chocolate orders out as soon as they come in, but sometimes high demand can delay a delivery for a day or two. During the holiday season in December – and then again at Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Mother’s Day – we mail out packages every day. In the quieter times of year and especially in the warmer months, we tend to ship on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, in order to avoid having packages sit in the post office over the weekend where temperatures are unknown.
You may not *light up* when contemplating shipping in the way my shipping-maven friend Nancy does. For most of us, shipping costs are necessary annoyances when we want to get something from here to there. Especially in this past year, when so much of our shopping has gone online, we’re all more and more aware of the added costs associated with mailing.
At Dean’s Sweets, our job is to make sure the chocolate arrives on time, in superior condition, and at the lowest shipping costs possible. If the chocolate is good and the friend is dear, it’s all worth it, isn’t it?
