Cold Weather Shipping - when don't do it isn't as option.

You should knit cute tiny sweaters for them.

Seriously, if what you plan on doing isn't enough, the beers deserves the fate

 

all of that is great and all, but likely wouldnt help. The most important thing would be check temps, ship first thing monday, and ship it as fast as you can.

If it has to sit in an unheated truck/warehouse in low temps over night it is going to get very cold.

 

Reading this makes me think back on the 5 years I was stationed at Drum... terrible, awful, miserable cold! Watertown winters are 9+ months of that shit so you aren't likely to find a good gap in there. The double wall/box will definitely help, but you still want to avoid letting that box sit over a weekend so like suggested, ship on a Monday and send it as fast as you can. Also, make sure your son has the tracking info so he can be there to sign for it/bring it inside so it doesn't sit on the stoop.

 

I was wondering the same thing. Only im doing MA-->WA. Blizzard hitting Monday night-Wednesday morning. Shalt I just wait for next week?

 

Yes. This week is insane.

So, while I'm generally not a fan of shipping USPS... I'm curious if you can fit 20 cans into a large Priority Flat Rate box. Just going for speed might be your best strategy in this case.

 

16 oz cans no way. 12 can is the most I've been able to fit into the large box.

For some reason though I remember being able to.fit 16 cans into the medium rectangular box, which seems weird but that's the way I remember it.

Although shipping two usps boxes flat rate probably isn't much more expensive than shipping 20 cans through fed ex given the weight

 

Another idea is to put near boiling water (test it out a couple times to be sure you won't have an explosion) into a water bottle (dasani or something with a "full size" cap) might also be an idea. Like the hand warmers, you're really just looking for anything you can do to keep heat energy in the box.

full disclosure: I've never tried this, I'm just thinking outside the box for a way to incorporate more heat energy into the interior of the box.

 

I think going from a warmer area-->colder area or warmer-->cold-->warmer, the handwarmer or water idea would be a waste. They would only last a few hrs. But, going colder-->warmer would work.

Secondly the hotnwater may be a bit expensive weight wise.

 

Less expensive than faster shipping speed, though that is a good point.

As to it being a waste, you're right that after a few hours the water will be cold, but it's more about the total amount of heat energy inside the box compared to the total amount that will be lost in the journey; the more you start with the more you have to lose before freezing occurs.