# Too hot to ship?



## QHgal (May 18, 2006)

I need to ship out some fish to NJ area. When is it too hot to ship? Its suppose to be 94 here tomorrow, so I really don't want to send them out then. But what temps are considered too hot?


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## Guest (Aug 4, 2008)

90s are really too hot to ship it longer than overnight in my opinion unless you can find long last cold packs (with insulation like newspapers between the cold pack/icepack and the fish bag so you don't freeze the fish) or use a *small* amount of dry ice to keep cool air in the styrofoam box (you want some ventilation though because dry ice vaporizes into carbon dioxide I believe).

Honestly the only times I think it could be safe to ship longer than overnight is in the winter with the use of good heat packs and insulation and the fall and spring...

If you are shipping next day/overnight I wouldn't worry about it though. It should be perfectly safe for the fish. I would not recommend you shipping it more than a day in hot weather unless after checking weather forecasts it is going to be warm/mild temperatured those days...for example here after a month long drought on the Jersey shore it is in the lower eighties upper 70s most of the time, and according to weather.com http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/07740 it is going to be in the lower-mid 80s for the next ten days here so you could get away with shipping the fish, at least in my area.

Again though I would not ship in 90+ degree weather longer than next day delivery...

~Ed


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## Guest (Aug 4, 2008)

Just to add the main reason besides the heat why it's bad to ship fish for long periods in 90+ weather is because the fish use their oxygen in the bag a lot faster than they normally would and can suffocate in the bags. Also if the outside temperature is extremely hot (upper 90s to over 100F) they could die from heat exhaustion faster than they would from suffocation.


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## QHgal (May 18, 2006)

Looks like I can ship next week and be alright. Its suppose to be in the mid to low 80's here as well as up North, so they should be ok with no cold paks, right?


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

When shipping fish...

Above the destination address you can write "Hold At Post Office" and they will hold the package and call the receiver asking them to come pick up the package.

If you use an air service for the actual traveling, they will travel in a climate controlled environment (the airplane). The fish will suffer most during long truck rides. Avoiding the multiple hours driving around the destination city prior to drop off can be the difference of life and death...

If the travel between cities is done via truck... holding at the post office really wouldn't help anything as if the temp is too hot to travel by truck... it's already too late...


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## dogofwar (Apr 5, 2004)

Good advice about "hold on location".

I received two shipments this week...both arrived in good shape.

Instead of having fish shipped all the way to my house, I have them held at the local UPS distribution center. They open at 9:30 AM which is much earlier than the fish would arrive at my place.


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