Shipping basics questions -

Hi All -

Where do you find dry ice? Is there any other way to keep frozen breast milk frozen?

What containers are used to ship?

Do you ship overnight? Or is 2 day ok? I assume winter it lasts longer than summer.

Approximately how much does it cost to ship 300 ounces?

Thank you -
Cheryl
mom to Olivia

You can find dry ice by looking online, and you will find a list of suppliers in your area (Google and certain supplier sites will ask for your zip).
I've had luck shipping without dry ice, second day air, this winter. I used special insulated containers which were packed full with milk, as much as would fit. The freezer was turned to the coldest setting the night before shipping.
For Fed Ex you can call for a pick-up the morning of, and they will come that day and get the box, or you can drop off at a location but be sure to call ahead and ask if they accept perishable items, as many Fed Ex drop locations don't. I've not used UPS, so can't say how they work.
The cost depends on the zips you are shipping to and from. You can go online and enter an approximate weight and box size, and service, and Fed Ex will give you a rate. To ship about 400 ounces, from east coast to west runs in the hundreds of dollars usually, and it's much cheaper if you do 2nd Day Air rather than overnight if you can. Cheaper to pack as much as you can into one box, rather than two, unless the one is very oversized (use the site to enter dimensions and you'll see the jump in price when the box gets too big).
Fed Ex won't accept a styrofoam container on its own; it must be inside a cardboard box. We had trouble finding them like that (though someone posted that you can call your local PetCo and they give them away for free on the day they receive their fish in them. It's a styrofoam box inside a cardboard box. You just have to call ahead.
---Someone on this site also mentioned two places to buy the styrofoam/cardboard combo online: www.cameronpackaging.com or www.mrboxonline.com .
I don't know where you live, but someone else posted some great information about a shipping company that's VERY inexpensive if you are shipping to and from certain states. Do a search for this post "EXCELLENT shipping rates for people shipping to/from OK, TX, west LA, south NM and Mexico"
The containers I used are listed in a post on this site too. You can order them and have them mailed (to donor) and then when the recipient receives the milk she can send it back to the donor to use again or send to another donor. I used the biggest, 15x15x15 and the inside dimensions are 13x13x13. Here is the link to the containers http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1263588612/ref=sr_nr_seeall_2?ie=UTF8&rs=&keywords=Control%20Temp%20Packaging&rh=i:aps,k:Control%20Temp%20Packaging,i:office-products

http://www.dryiceinfo.com/ControlTempPack.htm
Lastly, if you do use dry ice, I found out that Fed Ex requires a special label to be placed outside the box, on the side (not top, they are very specific) that has a dry ice warning symbol and a place for you to write in how many pounds of dry ice are in the box. I guess it's a hazardous chemical in certain scenarios and can cause an explosion or something, so they just need to know it's on board when shipping.

Hope this helps!

I get dry ice at my local supermarket (Kroger). I initially used a regular styrofoam cooler packed with dry ice and my milk sealed and then put into a cardboard box to ship. My next shipment will go out in a styrofoam shipping container that I picked up at work.
UPS will also ship things packed in dry ice. I've used UPS for 2 shipments without any problem. I always ship Next Day Air Saver, which means it gets there by the end of the next business day, and I drop off pretty early so it's about 36hrs before it gets to my recipient and we've not had any problem with it completely defrosting.
I have shipped 150 and 175 oz and that cost the recipient $158 and $164, respectively. I'm getting ready to ship out 200oz this week and anticipate it being just a bit more.

Thank you ladies for your responses; it helps me to get ideas on how to ship my milk, too.

I have shipped one box (325+ oz) from NM to TX (about 575 miles apart) via UPS overnight (by 10:30am next day). I bought a styrofoam box at a store ($3), packed as much milk I can which was about 325 oz, bought dry ice at Walmart (it was at the customer service desk area, $1.15 per pound), taped the styrofoam box, put the styrofoam box inside a cardboard box with newspapers for extra space, and finally taped the cardboard box. It weighed 30 pounds and it cost my recipient mom about $165. I didn't mention about the dry ice at the UPS dropping location, though... At any rate, when she got the milk, I think she said the styrofoam box got open due to dry ice, but the cardboard box was just fine.

If I were to send pretty packed box (and good amount, 300oz or more) on second day shipping option (i.e. by the end of the second day, so milk will be in transit about 48 hours), do you think milk will still be frozen or just partially thawed? There is a huge drop in price for second day shipping option. If it's partially thawed (not completely thawed, but say slushy), would it still be ok to be refrozen? By the way, I have a deep freezer (chest).

Hi... we do 2nd Day Air always, as overnight is just too expensive ($300 vs. $180, for example). I've had milk come within California (so not such cold weather) over 48 hours, and it was packed pretty full, but not totally filled, and it was a little slushy on the corners only, and not all of it was this way. And this was milk frozen in cubes, so not solid bags of milk all smooshed together. The milk was fine. I'm receiving some milk the way you mentioned (2 day shipping, solid flat bags, as many as will fit, no dry ice) next week so can let you know how it goes. The donor mama is going to turn her freezer (deep freeze) to the coldest setting the day before shipping.

Thank you, IzzeFLoch Please let us know how your recent shipment went with 2nd day shipping. Also, I'm curious to know if dry ice is absolutely necessary or not. If the styrofoam box is to crack open due to dry ice, I'd rather not put dry ice and keep the styrofoam box shut all the time in transit, you know. As long as I have good amount to keep the milk insulate by themselves, it may be ok, then. I'm just trying to see what works so that my recipien mom can have a lower cost option if she chooses. Thanks!

ETA: oh, thanks for the tip of lowering the deep freezer temperature the night before.

ETA: BTW, one of my recipient moms said her milk stayed mostly frozen with UPS 2-day-air. She sent me the cooler box that was mentione here (that they sell on Amazon), I packed somewhere around 450 oz in 15x15x15 box (box came with ice jel packs) and it was packed with no extra space for newspaper etc. Milk was out of the freezer for 45-48 hours, I think. HTH