What's your shipping protocol?

[ClownfishHatchery]

When you ship fish, how do you do it? Fill in your answers to the questions below.

1. What type/brand of box do you use?
2. What tpye/brand of bag?
3. What type/brand of heat or cold packs?
4. Any other packaging material used?
5. What shipping service do you use?

[ClownfishHatchery]

1. We use Uline insulated shipping kits.
Link: http://www.uline.com/BL_2157/Insulated-Shipping-Kits

2. 3 mil bags, double or triple bagged depending on size/type of fish ans we fill the bags with pure oxygen(O2). 1/3rd of the bag with water rest with O2 and then a clamp or most people use a few rubberbands to "tie" the bags.
Link: http://www.uline.com/BL_114/3-Mil-Poly-Bags

3. UniHeat packs, usually the 40 or 72 hour pack depending if shipment is local or overseas.
Link: http://www.pangeareptile.com/store/40-hour-heat-pack.html
Just use ice in ziplock freezer bag

4. Various bubble wrap, packing peanuts, or even old newspaper to fill a void.

5. Fed Ex, UPS, or someitimes depending on weight the US Postal Service. All depends on when it needs to be there and where the package is going. All 3 services have their good and bad points. You just have to really experiment with each and see what you and your customers feel comfortable with.

[JCallahan]

We used to use U-line which is fine for a smaller operation, they are pretty expensive if you buy them there. There are quite a few other wholesalers who can provide you with the same quality box for half the price, Uline is definately good but they are retail prices.

[ClownfishHatchery]

Thanks for the response, but you can't lead us on like that...LOL...Please share with us another wholesale that has better prices for the shipping boxes

[JCallahan]

Depending on how many you are willing to order you can get a 10x10x10 box as low as $2 but for smaller establishments who don't want a connex cotainer in their driveway full of boxes lol, go here http://superiorshippingsupplies.com/the ... opbrowse/1, this would be your step away from Uline. After you grow out of Superior there are a couple other places but with pretty large minimum orders. Superior has a lot of what you will need for shipping fish including the ice and heat packs.

You can also pick up the heat packs at 12 cents each if your willing to buy them buy the pallet. You can always sell them off like other larger stores do for $1 each.

[ClownfishHatchery]

Thanks JC! I appreciate the link and the advice

[ClownfishHatchery]

I checked them out. Only difference besides being A LOT cheaper is that the ULINE styrofoam is 1.5" thick and the Superior boex are only .5" thick. Do you know how much the actual thickness would affect the inside temp of the box? That would be some good data to know.

[JCallahan]

You can order differnent thicknesses. It depends on what time of year and to where you are shipping, I would not use anything less than 1" in areas that are below freezing. Other than that as long as you use a heat or ice pack for the appropriate amount of time and use peanuts it doesnt make a difference. When we switched we were worried about this as well so we tested the boxes with probed thermometers and after 24 hours sitting outside in Montana in winter there was only a 3 degree difference.

[JCallahan]

You can also use Pro Pak for customized boxes, they do have minimums but the more you order the cheaper they get. Unfortuneatly they do not have set prices for you to veiw you have to contact them. What one company may pay for them is not necessarily what you will pay for them, its all a numbers game.

[ClownfishHatchery]

Good info. Thanks for sharing.
How does your company package your fish? O2 or breathable bags?

[JCallahan]

Pure oxygen, we like to test stuff lol. Using a 3mil double bag filled with pure o2 3 cups of water and 2 clownfish and the exact proportion using Kordon bags we found that the regular bags retained higher o2 levels, all other levels such as amonia, co2, etc were pretty much the same. So in our opinion the biggest difference between the 2 was price.

On an added note the Kordon bags failed our drop tests 6 out of 10 times.

[ClownfishHatchery]

More great info! While I have you on the line... What is your procedure for estimatimg how many heat packs to use to maintain a safe in the box temp?

[JCallahan]

It depends on the weather but usually 1 heat pack per 5 lbs shipping weight.