How To Ship Meat
“How do I ship my meat out of state?” Ah, the big question! And an important one to ask when you’re looking to grow your farm-to-table business. As someone who has learned the hard way with my own farm-to-table business and from people smarter than me, let me share some tips.
To Begin
Before you can ship meat across state lines, make sure you have processed your animal at a USDA Inspected meat processing plant like Western Heritage Meat Company. Processing at a federally inspected plant will give you so much flexibility on who and where you can ship meat! For example, when you process at a USDA plant, you can sell to restaurants, grocery stores, and customers nationwide.
Pick A Shipping Company
Do NOT use USPS - Open an account with UPS, FedEx, or even better, PeriShip
USPS: Learned this one myself. While the Postal Service might be the cheapest option, it is not reliable enough to send perishable products. Nine out of ten boxes will arrive on time. However, at some point, you will rue the day you depended on the Government to get something done for you efficiently.
UPS: We opened a corporate account with UPS and worked with our local UPS Store for years. They have excellent service - never once had an issue! You can negotiate terms and prices with your account representative, ultimately saving you and your customers on shipping costs. They will want to know how much product and how often you are shipping. I recommend approaching negotiations with the mindset of “Look at the level of business we could do together if we had reasonable shipping prices for our customers”. Think of where you want to grow, not where you are starting. I also cannot say enough great things about Sheridan’s local UPS store. When I was pregnant with our firstborn and lugging in loads of packages, the Sheridan UPS Store staff went above and beyond to help me in every way and have forever won my loyalty. Cheers to small-town care!
PeriShip & FedEx: PeriShip is a company that works with FedEx and specializes in shipping perishable foods. They go above and beyond with weather reports, package tracking, packaging advice, excellent customer service, and more to help ensure that your product is well-cared for while in transit and arrives to your customers in perfect condition. PeriShip is a tremendous resource for any shipping questions you may have! This is who we are currently using for our own farm-to-table business and so far I am very pleased.
All four of these companies have user-friendly, online platforms that you can use to create shipping labels.
Box sizes
We use 12x12x12, 14x14x14, and 16x16x16 boxes for shipping meat orders of all sizes (not including freight).
A 12-cubed box will fit 1.5-inch insulation and approximately 10 lbs of meat, plus10 lbs of dry ice.
A 14-cubed box will fit 1.5-inch insulation and approximately 20 lbs of meat, plus 10 lbs of dry ice.
A 16-cubed box will fit 1.5-inch insulation and approximately 40 lbs of meat, plus 10 lbs of dry ice.
An 18-cubed box will fit 1.5-inch insulation and approximately 50 lbs of meat, plus 10 lbs of dry ice, but keep in mind that shipping companies will charge you a hefty fee for “heavy boxes” that are generally 50-60 lbs or more in weight.
Shop Supplies
Option 1- Working Harder & Cheaper: If you’re starting on a shoestring budget or not shipping enough yet to buy in bulk, head down to your local Home Depot store and pick up these supplies. But note: as your business grows, you will loathe yourself because while this is a great way to start, it is very labor intensive. If you go this route, you’ll have to buy panels of excellent insulation board (the best R-Value of all insulation I’ve worked with actually) and hand-cut each piece to fit your box. Bleh, it’s my least favorite chore and for me, it ranks right up there with fixing fence and cleaning toilets, but dang it keeps meat frozen for a long time!
Pro tip: Get unbranded Home Depot boxes shipped to your local Home Depot store for free and stamp them with your logo! This will save you money on freight and logo printing fees.
Below are the supplies that I used:
Tape, boxes, insulation, blowtorch, permanent marker, and box cutter
Option 2 - Working Smarter: Uline.com is a great resource for almost all shipping/business needs! Just know that when you order from them, you will get their hefty product catalog every quarter until the day you die. But hey, you might find some good deals! Buying in bulk will cost you more upfront but will save you money and time in the long run, compared to option 1. You will need ample space to store bulk products. Somewhere clean and dry.
Pro tip: A game changer for your efficiency will be ordering insulation panels. Pre-cut, they are two pieces of insulation made for each box size that you just lay in and go.
Below are some products we recommend.
Another great insulation option
To Dry Ice or Not To Dry Ice?
We shipped without dry ice with “Option 1- Working Harder” supplies successfully for years. I chalk it up to the higher quality insulation. However, you will NEVER regret shipping with dry ice. Why? Because stuff happens and dry ice is an extra layer of security for you, your customer, and your stress level. Do it for your blood pressure. But if you are shipping with “Option 2 - Working Smarter” supplies, you will definitely want and need dry ice.
Some miscellaneous dry ice tips:
Always start with frozen meat!
10 lbs of dry ice will last 24 hours
You will need Dry Ice hazard labels (You can get these for free at UPS or FedEx)
Shipping companies will need to know exactly how many kilos of dry ice are in each box for the safety of their drivers and pilots.
Sheridan, Wyoming locals can purchase dry ice at Albertson’s. You will need your ID with you and must be over the age of 18. If you’re not in Sheridan, find dry ice near you here.
Keep the dry ice from direct contact with your meat as it can cause freezer burn.
Shipping Duration
You’ve spent two years raising phenomenal beeves and have put long hours and tender love and care into making the best farm-to-table beef experience for your customers. Do not go cheap on the shipping. As tempting as that 3-day or ground service price looks… Resist. Resist. Resist.
We only recommend 2-day and Overnight shipping services. Your product will be guaranteed to arrive within that time frame. And if it doesn’t? Get a refund on your cost for shipping. Unfortunately, they can’t refund the loss of a perishable product, but at least you can get that.
Pro tip: There is an exception to this rule though. Some providers guarantee your product to arrive within 1-2 days if it’s within a certain mileage from where you ship it. Ask your provider where you can learn more about this. It’s a little risky because it’s not guaranteed, but it could save you some money.
Miscellaneous Pro Tips
Kill the dead space. You can pack your meat strategically or use newspapers to limit the amount of dead space you have in each box!
Avoid shipping near holidays. Ship before or ship after. For example, I stop shipping Christmas gifts by the 15th of December and resume after the New Year. Create a policy and make sure your customers are aware.
Ship on Tuesdays. Mondays are full of shipments that waited over the weekend. Ship on Tuesdays to give your packages the rest of the week, in case there is a delay, to arrive to your customer.
An Example
Let’s what through an example to sum this all up! I get an order for a 1/2 beef to be shipped to California. So I grab three 16x16x16 boxes, tape the bottoms with heavy-duty tape and line them with their matching insulation pieces from “Option 2 - Working Smarter” supplies. I fill each box with about approximately 40 pounds of frozen meat. There is no dead space in the box. Then I add 10 lbs of Albertson’s dry ice (wrapped in a paper bag) to each box. I mark the weight of the dry ice in each box in kilos on a dry ice hazard labels and stick it them to the correct box and use heavy-duty tape to seal up the box. Next, I make my shipping labels online, selecting the 2-day shipping service, print them and stick them to the boxes. Finally, I drop them off at the shipping company store and send my tracking number to my client. Et voila! Fin.
IT’S HERE! The DIY Shipping Center!
When the expansion of our facility is complete, we will have a room dedicated to our farm-to-table producers to lay out and put together orders. There will also be the option to use our shipping supplies, and get ultra-discounted shipping rates through our account. This is all so our customers can have a clean, cold space to fulfill their orders and fewer headaches with supply storage and high shipping fees! Reach out to our office if this is a service you would like to use!
UPDATE: The DIY Shipping Station is up and ready to serve you! It’s a FREE service to all our customers giving all customers access to the space, 75% off shipping prices, and supplies like dry ice, boxes, and insulation are available for purchase if needed.
Ps. Please reach out if you have any other questions, or if there was something that I missed!