Shipping food at Christmas: five things producers should sort out now
December is the month when shortcuts in the cold chain get expensive. Parcel networks carry peak volumes, transit times can stretch, and many orders are gifts for someone else. When a parcel like that arrives spoiled, you can lose two customers at once: the person who ordered and the person who opened it.
A setup that works reliably in October can reach its limits in December. That is why these five points are worth sorting out now and not in the second week of December.
1. Plan your packaging stock until January
Most bottlenecks in December affect what is needed around the product. Calculate your packaging quantity based on last year's numbers plus a buffer, and order early enough.
2. Check your setup for longer transit times
The most important question for December is whether your packaging still holds if a parcel spends an extra day on the road. If your setup is designed for 24 hours and calculated tightly, now is the time to test it for a longer transit. A test shows whether a different packaging size or a different arrangement of cooling elements is needed.
3. Fix your shipping days
Many food producers ship chilled goods only on certain weekdays so that no parcel sits in a depot over the weekend. December adds public holidays. Fix your shipping days until the end of the year now, and plan your last safe shipping day before Christmas with some distance to 24 December.
4. Inform your customers clearly
Communicate your last order day clearly in your shop, your newsletter and your order confirmation. A short note asking recipients to unpack the parcel immediately and refrigerate the contents helps, especially for gifts where the recipient does not expect a chilled parcel.
5. Think about what happens after unpacking
After the holidays, recycling points are full and many households face piles of packaging. Our insulated packaging is made from more than 97% recycled paper and is fully recyclable in the standard paper bin without separation. You can pass that on to your customers directly, for example with a line on the insert.
Now is the right time
Almost everything on this list can be done in November with little effort. In December, each of these points becomes an emergency fix.
Want to test your setup before the season or plan your packaging stock? Talk to us: https://www.supaso.eu/kontakt