Posting Corals in the UK

[Willbiker]

Hi all! I see that the average postage charge of seller in the UK is around £12 to £15, but how can it be done that cheap!

I've been hunting hard for materials and services and here is the cheapest I have found.

Thermal boxes £3
60ml specimen pots 50p each
APC overnight service £13.80
Heatpacks £1.50 to £2 (is this needed this time of year?)

How do you guys and girls post so cheap? Could you link me to the materials you buy?

Thanks in advance!

 

[SPR1968]

They probably partially subsidise the postal costs from the sale proceeds in some cases to reduce the actual cost to a more acceptable level.

Most things I’ve had delivered are either APC at around £17 or free by DHL, but free is never free it’s just paid from the suppliers profit margin when the sale price is over a certain level to cover this.

 

[ShadowMan]

I find that corals are cheaper to ship than fish or invertebrates, I guess this is because corals are maybe a bit more tolerant of the travel conditions. That said, I've had mixed results with various couriers, with APC treating all parcels (fragile non fragile) the same. In my experience, only DX Exactly treat the livestock with the care they deserve, but then that's done to the source and ultimately the cost. DX deliveries are significant more expensive than the rest, but I'd happily pay more for a more peaceful transition from LFS to me.

Also I've found that some of the cheaper delivery costs are offset by more expensive corals... so it's probably swings and roundabouts

 

[Willbiker]

Heres another question! If there is space remaining in a polystyrene box with heat pack, would you say is better, for limiting temperature loss, to fill that space with packing material or a bag of water?

 

[ShadowMan]

Heres another question! If there is space remaining in a polystyrene box with heat pack, would you say is better, for limiting temperature loss, to fill that space with packing material or a bag of water?

In my experience, any space is usually filled up with just a bag of water, helps dampen the turbulence of moving. As you say, having the space filled, seems to retain the heat

 

[Willbiker]

Hmmm I did an experiment overnight last night where I packaged up a typical small shipment (without the livestock of course) but filled the remaining space with bags of water. The water temp after 20 hours had dropped 5 degrees C..which is too much.

I'm thinking the heat pack didn't have enough juice to keep the larger volume of water warm....where as im now thinking that if I pack the box with polystyrene peanuts, there is less water and more air...and surely air is easier to keep warm than water..... also the peanuts won't absorb heat and will allow warm air to circulate around the box easier...

I shall continue my experiments