How to Ship Milk and Juice Cartons
Dairy seems to be all the rage these days. Sure, there’s regular milk, but now there’s a plethora of dairy-free options for people of all tastes to enjoy. Given this situation, retailers are seizing the opportunity to sell milk products online and ship them to customers across the country. If you’re on this ship, you’re in the right place. This guide is about which carrier to use for shipping milk and juice products, the best services to choose from, and how to save the most money.
Table of contents
Which carrier is the cheapest to ship milk cartons?
Of the three major U.S. carriers, UPS will offer the cheapest price and fastest combination of milk shipping services. Whether you’re shipping a few boxes or a few cartons, packages that contain milk tend to be heavier. UPS is focusing on heavier boxes and is focused on capturing that corner of the small package delivery market. Therefore, they offer the most affordable shipping solutions for heavier and larger packages.
UPS Ground is one of the best services for shipping milk
Among the many UPS services available, UPS Ground is the obvious choice for milk shipping.While other aerial UPS services may be faster, UPS Ground is not slow That a lot of. UPS advertises Ground Shipping within 2-5 business days. However, in our experience, these packages are often delivered much faster than this. In some cases, UPS will even deliver ground packages as early as the next day (depending on how close your destination is to the origin)! Not only that, but UPS Ground is the most affordable service they offer. Between affordable prices and fast delivery, it’s a win-win!
For packages to/from distant destinations, use USPS
One of the few situations where you would consider a service other than UPS Ground is if you are shipping milk or juice to (or from) a location outside the continental United States. For example, UPS treats Hawaii and Alaska as foreign in terms of pricing because the states are so far apart. For shipments to or from Hawaii, Alaska, or any US territory, your best bet is to use the US Postal Service…and you’ll get the best rates through USPS Parcel Select Ground.
Does your milk or juice need to be refrigerated?
Another thing to consider when shipping milk or juice is whether or not the product needs to be refrigerated. Most dairy-based milks require refrigeration, while some plant-based milks do not need to be kept cool until the carton is opened. Anyway, if you need to keep the carton cool during shipping, you can include frozen gel packs or dry ice in the package. We recommend adding frozen gel packs as they are easier to handle and don’t add much weight.
If you decide to add dry ice, keep in mind that this is a hazardous material that requires specific marking on the outside of the package. For more information, check out our guide: How to Ship Dry Ice with UPS.
Shipping insurance does not cover perishable packages
One thing to keep in mind about perishable cargo is that shipping insurance companies usually don’t insure them. Therefore, purchasing additional shipping insurance will not provide you with any value. Of course, you can apply for insurance if your package is lost in transit, but insurers usually won’t cover anything if your milk products go bad on arrival.
That said, all UPS shipments come with a $100 built-in carrier liability. In our experience, $100 is more than enough to cover the replacement cost of any milk you send (unless you ship crazy artisan products with gold flakes or something). In most cases, as long as you ship with UPS Ground, you’re covered!
Pro tip: While all UPS labels offer $100 protection, not all USPS labels do. For example, USPS Parcel Select Ground does not provide any coverage. This is another tradeoff of using Parcel Select Ground on top of slower service (Parcel Select Ground is much slower than UPS Ground in most cases).
Save the most money on milk shipping with online shipping software
As with sending anything, you should no way Go to your local UPS store or post office to have your milk package delivered. Instead, buy discounted shipping labels with online shipping software that sells UPS and USPS postage.
When you use online shipping software, you can get special discounts that major carriers like UPS and USPS usually only offer to large shippers who send more than 50,000 packages per year.For UPS Ground shipments, these discounts can Save you up to 78% off How much would you pay to ship the exact same package at the UPS store!
In addition to letting you purchase labels from your own home or office, most shipping software companies will automatically choose the cheapest available service for you when you enter your package details. Sometimes Parcel Select Ground is the cheapest service; sometimes, it’s Priority Mail. If for whatever reason, UPS Ground isn’t the most affordable package service, you can rest easy knowing you’ll still be shipping at the best price when you use your shipping software to purchase discounted labels!
