Case packing and shipping liquid

Heavy, breakable, temperature-sensitive and sometimes pressurized. Every shipping problem in the estate at once.

The worst shipping proposition here

A liter of drink weighs a kilogram, and a glass bottle adds as much again.

A case of twelve is twenty kilos and worth perhaps fifty, which is a poor value-to-weight ratio by any measure.

Which is why concentrates, cans and local distribution all look attractive the moment freight is costed properly.

Packing a case

Dividers, always, for glass. Bottle against bottle does not survive a courier.

Upright, with no movement, because movement rather than impact is what breaks things and loosens closures.

A case weight a person can lift, which matters to a warehouse and to your own back.

Batch code on the case, so a problem is traceable without opening it.

Cold and mail order

A refrigerated product in an ordinary parcel is a refrigerated product for about two hours.

The workable answers are insulated packaging with coolant and next-day service, dispatching early in the week so nothing sits over a weekend, and being honest on the product page about what you can and cannot guarantee.

Or the structural answer: stabilize the product so it does not need the chain, which is a product decision rather than a logistics one.

Pressure in transit

The one specific to this category.

A carbonated or live bottle warms in transit and the pressure rises. A consignment that spends a day in a hot vehicle is the exact scenario in which bottles fail.

So the pressure rating and the fill level have to be chosen against transit conditions rather than warehouse ones.

And air freight raises another: lower cabin pressure increases the differential across the closure, and some carriers restrict pressurized goods for that reason. Check before promising delivery.

References