A Guide to Ship Perishable Items with WooCommerce FedEx
This guide will take you through the steps required to ship perishable items via FedEx. The WooCommerce FedEx Shipping Plugin is built with some amazing features that’ll prove to be useful for you to do. So read along and find out more.
WooCommerce is one of the best eCommerce platforms that allow business owners to sell items. You might already know that shipping products like a t-shirt and electronic items are quite an easy job. However, the story changes when the store owner has to ship perishable items to their customers. These types of items are very delicate and need special attention. Store owners have to take into account all the possible things that can go wrong with mailing these items. To ship perishable items, you need to follow proper rules and guidelines prescribed by the shipping carriers and the local laws. You should also follow the suggested packing methods that will ensure the safe arrival of these items.
As you might be thinking, the process of delivering the perishable items would be quite long and risky, then that is not the case. If you are shipping your items using the FedEx services then this article will help you a lot.
Following are the most important steps that you would need to follow.
1. Check the Shipping rules and regulations of the destination state or country
There are many country-based shipping laws that may interfere with your shipment. And with the increase in the number of cross-border orders, store owners should be more aware of the shipping regulations. To find out whether you are allowed to ship certain perishable items to a specific country, you should quickly search for them on the internet. Some of the questions may be like are you allowed to send gourmet ice cream to Iceland? Or are you allowed to mail artisanal sausage to Thailand?
You should not make any assumptions in these cases as they might lead you to a bigger problem. For example, Australia does not allow any import of specific meat and non-meat products like seeds, fruits, vegetables, nuts, dairy, and some other products as well. You are also not allowed to ship these products mixed with other items. Like bakery items that may contain a certain amount of milk and egg products. However, if you can obtain special permission from the officials then you are eligible to ship these items.
2. Choose the right packaging for perishable items
If you deliver melted butter, then there is a high chance that your receiver might not come back for another order. This is one of the reasons why your package should be properly insulated from extreme cold or heat. For instance, the United States Department of Agriculture suggests that all perishable items that arrive in the package should be at or below 4.5 degrees Celcius. In order to ship temperature-sensitive items, you need to make sure that the package has a coolant.
One of the most common types of refrigerant used is dry ice. But, they are considered hazardous for air travel. Thus, the shipments containing dry ice must be properly labeled. The shipment should also comply with the shipping carrier’s rules and regulations. To provide proper insulation, you should choose the right insulators for your packages. Some of the most common insulations used are usually made from,
- Styrofoam Boxes
- Styrofoam Cut Sheets
- Insulated Liners
- Air filled Insulation Liners
- Insulated Pads
The FedEx Shipping plugin offers a great feature that allows store owners to ship perishable items with dry ice. You can select the products that you would want to ship along with dry ice and the products that do not require dry ice. In the video shown below, we have defined a product and requested the dry ice service for that particular product.
As you can see in the video, the debug request of the order says that the product is requesting to be shipped with dry ice. Moreover, the weight of the product is shown in kgs which proves the point mentioned above. This clearly states that the shipment is compliant with the IATA rules and regulations. You just need to print the shipping labels and then further attach the UN 1845 declaration to the package.
3. Add the appropriate shipping label on the package
Both your customers and the shipping partner should be aware of the fact that you are shipping food items with dry ice. This way they will not deliver the package without any precautions like keeping the package out of the refrigerated room for long hours. Moreover, you should clearly mention that the package contains dry ice. This is because dry ice is considered as dangerous and hazardous by almost all shipping carriers. The following image shows the sample label that clearly says that the parcel contains dry ice.
Another important thing to note is that the label should contain the ASR(Adult Signature Required) term. This signifies that the package requires an adult signature. You can refer the following video to see how it is done.
4. Select the optimum shipping service
You may think that you should choose the service that is the fastest among the others. However, you should also know that these services are usually the most expensive ones. For example, the FedEx 2 Day will cost less than that the FedEx Standard Overnight. So, if you are selling food items that can easily survive the 2-day trip then you should go for the more economical ones. The FedEx Shipping Plugin allows you to show certain shipping services on the Cart/Checkout page. This way you can allow customers to choose the selected services that you would want your parcel to ship with.
Final thoughts…
Since there are a lot of restrictions surrounding the shipment of perishable items using dry ice, you can still manage to send them via FedEx. You just need to follow all guidelines and make sure that the package is secured. And when it comes to printing the shipping labels, the WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin seems to simplify the process. Meanwhile, store owners can also make use of other features such as showing estimated delivery dates to the customers, shipment tracking, and much more.
If you have any queries regarding this article or the integration of the WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin with your WooCommerce then feel free to share your views in the comment section below. We will be more than happy to help you understand how this plugin can work together in fulfilling your shipping requirements.
Or in case you are wondering what the WooCommerce Shipping Plugin for FedEx with Print Label serves, I would request you to kindly visit the official product page here. If you need assistance regarding our plugins, you can also contact our support team. We are always happy to help.
About the plugin…
WooCommerce FedEx Shipping Plugin with Print Label
Cost: $99.00
- WooCommerce requires at least 2.6 up to 3.2.
- The license entitles 1 year of support & updates.
- No monthly fees or yearly subscriptions.
- Extend support & updates after 1 year at a 50% discount.
- Protected by 30-Day Money Back Guarantee.