Shipping Advice/Help, Salmon to Florida

[cavemann]

Anyone ship fish through USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc..??  It will be way too expensive but the brother in law caught them and wants "his" fish..  Anyone know of a place that will pack and ship??  Or ideas for foam ship kits for dry ice?  less then 5 lbs is legal as far as I read.

[7mmfan]

How much fish are you talking about?

[Dhoey07]

How many layovers does he have on his commercial flight back home?

[steeleywhopper]

My cousins live in Florida and have brought salmon home successfully many times. Freeze it then right before they leave for the flight they wrap it tightly with news paper or brown bags and then put it in a small cooler or Styrofoam container checked as baggage or sometimes just as carry on. They usually have a straight through flight so it's only 5 hours or so.
If your crew is already home and they are relying on you shipping it to them  it will be expensive. I have overnighted salmon and venison back to South Carolina to my daughter and it was not cheap and it took 2 days to get there. We found it was cheaper for her to check it as baggage and take a bunch back when she flew here to visit.

[cavemann]

It's 8 silver fillets cut in halves and about 4 more pounds of misc freezer wrapped fish..  Unfortunately they left early next morning and I could not get it frozen and packed before their flight so I have to ship it.

He knows it will be expensive and yes probably a 2 day transit.  I found place in Lacey that will have the boxes I just need to figure out dry ice/vs gel ice and how to pack.

Steelywhopper, how did you ship yours?

[h20hunter]

Depending on your location i have boxes that are made for this....have gone bsck and forth to AK. Yours free if needed.

[cavemann]

I think you are up north??  Man I appreciate the offer, I'm in Lacey so don't know if that will work.

Did you pack with dry ice?  Gel packs?

He is paying the cost so I am not too worried about it..  Its more about the experience and bringing it home for them.  they had never been west of Louisiana.  He wants HIS fish, not some salmon he can probably order cheaper.  LOL.. 

[steeleywhopper]

It's 8 silver fillets cut in halves and about 4 more pounds of misc freezer wrapped fish..  Unfortunately they left early next morning and I could not get it frozen and packed before their flight so I have to ship it.

He knows it will be expensive and yes probably a 2 day transit.  I found place in Lacey that will have the boxes I just need to figure out dry ice/vs gel ice and how to pack.

Steelywhopper, how did you ship yours?

I shipped it to her in a waxed box that had a styrofoam box inside it, they are made for shipping fish or transporting it home on a plane. I had a couple left over from an Alaskan fishing trip. I packed it with gel ice packs and newspaper and shipped it Fedex or UPS can't remember.

[cavemann]

right on, thanks guys..  I think I am going to freeze some gel packs good and send it via shipping store in Lacey.  They have the 1" foam and boxes and will pack it.  I just bring the fish and gel packs..

thanks again!! 

[7mmfan]

right on, thanks guys..  I think I am going to freeze some gel packs good and send it via shipping store in Lacey.  They have the 1" foam and boxes and will pack it.  I just bring the fish and gel packs..

thanks again!!

I have some experience with this. I can tell you that the 1" foam boxes with gel packs, even if frozen to -10, have about a 24 hour window before fish will begin to thaw. At 36 hours they are thawed. You are best off packing it with a mixture of dry ice and gel packs to ensure a 48 hour lifespan. I have packed as such:

- 3-4 1# gel packs across bottom of styro box.
- Half of your product and then 3-4# of dry ice pellets
- the other half of your product and then another 3-4 pounds of dry ice pellets.

Ideally all of this goes inside a poly liner inside your styro box. You want to fill the box as completely full as you can. The denser your load, the less likely it is to thaw. I also have some good styro shipping boxes, but I'm just up the road from H2O in Marysville.

[hiway_99]

I ship stuff air cargo.  A lot of airports have freezers they will store your frozen goods in.  Alaska air cargo in Orlando has a cooler no freezer.  Seattle has a freezer to store it in until it flies out.

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[7mmfan]

I ship stuff air cargo.  A lot of airports have freezers they will store your frozen goods in.  Alaska air cargo in Orlando has a cooler no freezer.  Seattle has a freezer to store it in until it flies out.

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This can work very well and is probably cheaper than FedEx. You do need check flights and air cargo station hours/ freezer or cooler availability like hiway said. Note that on full passenger flights cargo can be bumped, so see if you can find an air cargo freighter. I’d still package it as if I was shipping it fedex with the gel packs. If it’s on a passenger flight, no dry ice allowed.

[cavemann]

Thanks guys, that is great info!!! 

7mm..  Where do you get dry ice pellets?  I can find the blocks but not pellets.  Did you use USPS, FedEx, ??

[7mmfan]

Thanks guys, that is great info!!! 

7mm..  Where do you get dry ice pellets?  I can find the blocks but not pellets.  Did you use USPS, FedEx, ??

Not sure on public availability of pellets. We got it commercially. Blocks work fine too the pellets just pack better. Block arguably has better lifespan.  We ship FedEx 2 day, priority if necessary but its usually not.