Shipping & Packing Chocolate Covered Products
Decorating By chocomama Updated 15 Feb 2006 , 1:35am by chocomama
Well most online sites use alot of bubble wrap and outlining the inside of the boxes as well for protection.As for keeping product from melting in warm months...I think they state on their sites they cannot garantee weather conditions etc...so basically you are taking your chances but if it is a very upscale store etc....they probably FedEx it overnight but it will cost yah!!
Most companies won't even ship in warm weather months, me included.
HOWEVER, since you can't guarantee any season is going to live up to it's potential for staying true to the weather we associate them with, (did I just say that?), what I do, is buy the thin sheets of styrofoam from a craft store, and pack them inside. Wrapped of course. Next thing you might try, and I've had success with, for family anyway, is buying the little "ice packs" from the dollar store, usually 2 for $1. I put them in the freezer as soon as I get home, and wait till I need them. Place them in the box somewhere, just to ensure they don't melt as fast.
That's how I do it, hope it helps ya a bit.
I cannot see shipping chocolate covered berries at all. At room temperature or refrigerated they only have a shelf life of up to a day before some of the berry juices starts to leak out and they mold failry quickly too. Not sure how long these would take to reach the destination you have in mind but...
Hugs Squirrelly
Yes, the berries would have to ship ASAP and many companies seem to do it successfully judging from the huge number that are selling them online. As for the pretzels and such, I've seen a lot that say they use a special cold pack of some sort to keep things from melting. I wondered if anyone knew what that was or if it was just a regular cold/ice pack or what. I had thought that a regular one would get warm too fast, you know? I'm in Texas and it's warm/hot here most of the year so I couldn't stop shipping my chocolate-covered items because that's a major part of my business. Maybe I should just place an order from one of these companies and check out their (cold) packing first hand! 
Yes, the berries would have to ship ASAP and many companies seem to do it successfully judging from the huge number that are selling them online. As for the pretzels and such, I've seen a lot that say they use a special cold pack of some sort to keep things from melting. I wondered if anyone knew what that was or if it was just a regular cold/ice pack or what. I had thought that a regular one would get warm too fast, you know? I'm in Texas and it's warm/hot here most of the year so I couldn't stop shipping my chocolate-covered items because that's a major part of my business. Maybe I should just place an order from one of these companies and check out their (cold) packing first hand!
Why don't you contact one of the smaller companies and inquire as to how they are shipping these items? I would assumed if many are using UPS as seems to be the case and having them flown to destinations, that they are sending them to the airport in some form of refrigerated truck or container and that they are kept cool on board.
Yes, I know that many companies advertise these on-line. If I were you I would most definitely order the strawberries to check out the condition they arrive in. I just find it hard to imagine these coming in in good shape knowing how they deteriorate rapidly from experience and would never think to try transporting these. The pretzels wouldn't worry meor any other kind of chocolate item. Have you thought of calling any of the shipping and packaging companies to inquire?
Hugs Squirrelly
Why don't you try calling www.jackiesbaskets.com
Here is the info from the site:
Our berries are packed in a beautiful red foiled box, then packed in a specially made shipping container. The unique box is an integral part of our delivery system with a special foam insert that individually protects each strawberry. A Therma Shield and Cold Gel packs are also included. This overall package design ensures your gift arrives fresh and in perfect condition every time.
If you do a search entitled, shipping refrigerated products or similar wording, there is a lot of information on line.
http://www.shippingstop.com/insulatedshippingcontainers/
is one site with info. Fedex also has a fair amount of information. Also check shipping and packaging perishable items.
Hugs Squirrelly
Since chocolate is my thing, I'll offer you a bit more advice than I did above.
Berries DO start breaking down as soon as the chocolate touches them. Not rapidly at first, but by the time they arrive across country for instance, you will have a mess. The best thing to do is to do like a chocolate covered cherry "fondant" covering. I use the CK version of this product.
As for the other items, as long as you temper the chocolate correctly, you won't have a problem with shipping them and having them melt to an unrecognizable state.
The way I described packing above costs less than $2.50 with the foam and ice packs. The ice paks will not be frozen when they get the package, but since they are INSIDE of the styrofoam, it keeps it cool enough until it arrives.
I guess in my mind, I cannot see bothering to have this particular item available for shipping outside of a person's hometown, specifically the berries. Mainly because they are available locally just about everywhere, you wouldn't as a consumer incur a shipping cost and I find the prices I see listed for these, very high, averaging from around $54.95 to upwards to $80 per dozen. For the hassle and worry about packing and shipping and keeping them cold, as a seller I couldn't see bothering and as a consumer, I wouldn't pay the money. I think mainly because at those prices I wouldn't think the appreciation would be there for something that is so easy to make. I would think selling those in a local market area would give you the market but for shipping out of town and a 24 hour delay, to me it isn't worthwhile. But that is just my opion regarding the berries.
Hugs Squirrelly
I agree, especially if you know how much it costs to make these things. Don't forget, chocolate prices and specifically chocolate covered strawberries, are majorly inflated at holidays and especially Valentines Day time. I don't do them until the day they are picked up or delivered, depending on the location.
Men, and yeah even though I am one, I'll rag on them a bit, are notorious sometimes for overspending, because of short "notice" (forgetting) or whatever reason. When some women get these kinds of things, they sometimes don't worry about how much had been spent. Like roses. That said, I won't turn an order down, if I have enough time to do it. But then, I don't get $55 U.S. OR CAN. for a dozen either.
I believe in making a profit, but not a 500% profit on things that are so readily available as choco covered berries.
I agree, especially if you know how much it costs to make these things. Don't forget, chocolate prices and specifically chocolate covered strawberries, are majorly inflated at holidays and especially Valentines Day time. I don't do them until the day they are picked up or delivered, depending on the location.
Men, and yeah even though I am one, I'll rag on them a bit, are notorious sometimes for overspending, because of short "notice" (forgetting) or whatever reason. When some women get these kinds of things, they sometimes don't worry about how much had been spent. Like roses. That said, I won't turn an order down, if I have enough time to do it. But then, I don't get $55 U.S. OR CAN. for a dozen either.
I believe in making a profit, but not a 500% profit on things that are so readily available as choco covered berries.
Haha, yes, these make great "guilt gifts" for forgetting, haha!
Just did a strawberry filled and glazed, scratch angel food cake covered with whipped cream and three dipped berries, chocolate dipped almond borders and supplied an additional 21 chocolate dipped berries and made a chocolate heart plaque. It was ordered by the hubby of a good customer and the customer is a colleague of my hubby. So since it was for her birthday, I didn't charge at all. I was telling hubby some of the prices online for the chocolate dipped berries. The berries between the frozen ones in the filling and the 2 dozen fresh, cost me $16, the cake cost me about $30 with everything just to make. I can just see him telling the lady that she had between $110 and $160 worth of berries, haha, gosh I hope he doesn't!
Hugs Squirrelly
WOW, I'm so glad I posted this question! What great info from everyone and quite a dialogue! I'm going to check out all the sites that were recommended and do some more research. I haven't shipped berries anywhere but I have shipped pretzels, but that was in the winter so I wasn't really concerned with melting. And if I did ship berries, it would probably only be for VDay so the weather probably wouldn't be a factor, either. But the sites I had looked at when researching pretzels did say that they were specially packed to keep them cool. Right now, they're a major part of my business but everything I'm doing is local so I only have to hope the a/c doesn't go out in the car! I did a bunch of strawberries today and, boy, they were a pain! Making them was easy, but finding good ones was hard! So far, the feedback has been great and I charged way less than a lot of places so I hope my customers felt they got a good deal. Thank you for all of the help!!! 
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