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Shipping Baked Goods


alexistristin

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What are you doing to keep the cost of shipping your product in line with the cost of the product that you're shipping?

Uh, make your cookies more expensive? :raz::laugh:

Seriously though. Thanks to the price of oil, shipping is going to be high.

Are your cookies that perishable that they need to be shipped that quickly?

I think the only way to save on shipping costs will be to use the slower method (ground) for

FedEx, or if you use USPS Priority, package your cookies in such a way that they will remain

as fresh as possible for that supposed extra day they are in transit.

I have found that with Priority, they SAY 2-3 days but the packages usually get to their destination within 1-2 days.

Have you considered baking the cookies, freezing them right away, then vacuum sealing them?

Maybe you could ship the cookies in styrofoam container boxes with cold gel paks to protect from heat? That way you can go with the slower shipping methods. Actually, styrofoam is such good insulation that you may not even need the cold gel paks.

Also be upfront with your clients and tell them shipping has spiked considerably. Give them the shipping options......if they want to pay for overnight, that's their choice. :smile:

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USPS Express Mail is overnight to most locations and much cheaper than FedEx.

Be sure to check your addresses against FedEx ground - depending where you are in the country, there may be a lot of addresses that are within 2-day shipping via Ground.

Tammy's Tastings

Creating unique food and drink experiences

eGullet Foodblogs #1 and #2
Dinner for 40

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We ship our products via USPS priority mail, and find that shipping on Saturday has invariably resulted in customers receiving packages on Monday. Granted, most of our shipping is local (Buffalo area), but we did ship a package to California, and it was delivered on the Monday.

If you use the USPS online shipping option, you'll definitely save on priority mail costs. Even though they've raised the postal rates, they're definitely discounting online postage. I believe express rates are discounted, too.

Patty

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If you sign up for Click 'n Ship at the US Post Office site, and use it to print mailing labels you will get a small discount.

You can also arrange for carrier pick-up though I'm found that only about 75% reliable. Also you can not schedule same day pick up. Has to be next day.

UPS and FDX are getting more and more expensive. The post office has always been cheaper and now Click 'n Ship, though not as good as FedX or UPS software, at least eliminates having to stand in line at the post office.

Someone should consider setting up and FTD approach to cookies. Standardize recipes, customers order from a central point. Local bakers bake them off and deliver or ship them locally. (If anyone picks up on this idea and makes it work, you owe me a pound of peanut butter cookies licensing fee, payable weekly.)

Holly Moore

"I eat, therefore I am."

HollyEats.Com

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I've never experienced a discount from buying USPS postage online. Can you tell me more?

When I ship ebay packages thru paypal delivery confirmation is included in the cost of priority shipping. For all other packages, it was 18 cents. Not sure what it is now, since I havent shipped anything since the price increase.

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I've never experienced a discount from buying USPS postage online. Can you tell me more?

When I ship ebay packages thru paypal delivery confirmation is included in the cost of priority shipping. For all other packages, it was 18 cents. Not sure what it is now, since I havent shipped anything since the price increase.

Holly is exactly right - sign up with Click N Ship. I've always found the carrier pickup to be reliable - perhaps I haven't used it enough!

Delivery confirmation is included in the priority mail cost, at least insofar as you get a tracking number and can use that to check the status. You can even have an e-mail sent to the addressee once the package "enters the mail stream" (their term, not mine). I think the extra costs come in if you want tracking or confirmation info e-mailed to you.

Patty

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Someone should consider setting up and FTD approach to cookies. Standardize recipes, customers order from a central point. Local bakers bake them off and deliver or ship them locally. (If anyone picks up on this idea and makes it work, you owe me a pound of peanut butter cookies licensing fee, payable weekly.)

There are already a couple of companies that sort of do this:

Cookies by Design

and

Cookies in Bloom

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I am signed up with Click-n-Ship, so I guess I've been getting a discount and just not realizing it...

I'm fairly certain the discount has only just taken effect since the postal rates went up last week. I was looking up rates in the days before the change, and they made quite a big deal of the lower click n ship rates. I must say, it was a pleasant surprise!

Patty

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Thanks for the feedback - I'll be price comparing and taking advantage of the USPS click and ship discount.

Mary

Mary, great thread! I'm going to check out USPS, too!

The last order I shipped was to California, overnite Fedex, priority dellivery. And,

it was a 15 pound shipping box with excelsior and newspaper protecting 3 tuck top white boxes filled with 75 cookies nestled in bubble bags. Sort of like "a riddle wrapped in a mystery

inside an enigma". And, I never saw the bill, as it was charged to the client's Fedex.

I don't even want to guess what that cost!

www.onetoughcookienyc.com

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  • 6 months later...

This year, we decided to give tins of homemade cookies as holiday gifts to my husband's direct reports. Most of them live in the immediate area (southeastern Pennsylvania), but three live in China and one in England. He wants to have a colleague who regularly travels to the China office bring these tins of cookies along with him on his next flight. This man claims it will be a lot easier to get cookies past customs this way. I am concerned because I don't know this man to trust that he will be successful. I imagine the cookies either being forgotten in the back of a taxi or confiscated by American or Chinese customs agents, never to arrive at their destination. I'd either like to take my chances with the mail or send them something easy and via the Internet.

Does anyone know whether it's possible to mail homemade food to China -- or England, for that matter? If so, what is the best method and approximately how long will it take? If it's something like three weeks, I won't bother because I won't give someone three-week old cookies. Is my husband's colleague right about sending them along with him on his next flight? I can't imagine this is the safest method of transport, but I will be happy to be corrected.

Thanks for your input.

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