Shipping meat UPS is terrible

[Short Track]

Dealing with UPS is beyond frustrating. I almost lost all my meat because the package was 151 lbs. UPS let it sit in the depot over night, because they claim it was overweight.

Shipping an Elk is $1500-$2000. Never mind the dry ice, coolers, & other expenses. But just because some UPS employee doesn't want to lift a heavy box, they'll throw a penny on the box to push it over the 150 lb weight limit.

I wish I could drive from East to West to hunt Elk, but I just can't. This shipping nightmare is killing me.

 

[blutooth]

It sounds like it is too late now, but I always keep my boxes of meat to under 70 lbs max with 50 lbs being ideal. Then I make sure everything is frozen solid and send it 2 day via FedEx air. If you have to ship it, I also find its better to use a local processor where you hunt and have everything cut/ground/packaged there (especially if everything is vacuum sealed then you have a little extra safety net if it sits too long).

I hope you don't lose too much and worrying about meat is always better than wondering what you are going to do with the piece of paper with no cut marks on it in your pocket.

Congrats on the elk!

 

[mossyhorn]

I would never consider shipping meat. Put it in coolers and pay the extra backage fees and check them on the flight. Then your meat comes home with you, at a fraction of shipping it.

 

[cnelk]

^^^^ Yep ^^^^

Meat makes great baggage or even carry-on [not carrion]

 

[Short Track]

If you take the meat as checked baggage, then you need to wait for the butcher, and wait a few days till the meat is frozen solid. My work schedule doesn't allow that. My meat is still in Colorado. I'm on the East Coast back at work... to pay for my hunt Yes, I am frustrated with UPS. Yes I am annoyed. Yes, I wasted hours on the phone dealing with UPS... trying to prevent disaster. But I only have so much time to dedicate to hunting.

 

[mossyhorn]

No you don’t. You put the meat in coolers duct tape them shut and check them. If you have a good cooler, they won’t leak. Double bag the meat in heavy garbage bags if you’re worried about leakage. People get their meat home from Alaska every year this way.

 

[beargrasstx]

No you don’t. You put the meat in coolers duct tape them shut and check them. If you have a good cooler, they won’t leak. Double bag the meat in heavy garbage bags if you’re worried about leakage. People get their meat home from Alaska every year this way.

Explain...Like are you putting quarters and backstrap in garbage bags with ice in cooler to prevent leak? Do you use dry ice and that is another issue. Only allowed so much dry ice on a plane and it has to be able to vent, technically according to their policy.

Or do you just throw some bags of ice in the cooler, hope the plug doesn't come out if you have a plug and tape lid down with meat cut in quarters of large chunks?

 

[cnelk]

Meat in coolers w Plastic bags with dry ice. Easy. Peasy.

 

[mossyhorn]

I wouldn’t put any ice in. If your meat is cooled then it should stay cold enough in the cooler if you have a reasonable flight time. If it’s taking you 24 hours to get home and into the fridge then I’d say that’s too long. But you should be able to get home in under 6 hours in most cases I’d hope?

Yes, just put the boned out quarters in garbage bags and tie them off. I suppose if you wanted to add ice, you could but it’s going to add weight and might require you to need another cooler to fit all your meat?

 

[cnelk]

Can’t do ice on airlines

 

[beargrasstx]

When shipping meat and you duct tape lid. I would probably buy the cheap Styrofoam coolers for this job but do they ever look inside your cooler? They have a dry ice policy but what I am getting at is do they enforce it by checking inside?

Mossyhorn, I will try that if I am lucky enough to get an elk in week or two. So get meat cold on ice or in hanging in cold weather. Put in garbage bags or (not) and throw in ice chest just cooled down and duct tape lid. That sounds very simple and way cheaper than alternative methods. Thanks

 

[beargrasstx]

Can’t do ice on airlines

Thanks for posting. Also, I read (a year ago, united airlines) they had a policy on dry ice much like what you posted 5.5lbs but it had to be in a breathable container to vent, yet meat has to be in a leak proof container...no Styrofoam-good catch

 

[Swede]

"Some UPS employee does not want to lift a heavy box, so it sits on the dock." I will bet there are a lot of UPS employees that can't lift a 150 pound cooler of meat. I know if I worked as a driver there, it would have to sit on the dock until they supplied an extra handler to assist with loading and unloading. I could handle three 50 pound coolers and get them delivered real quick. Just a thought.

 

[jjjjeremy]

I'm really really confused about a few things going on here, and maybe that's because most of my future meat is right outside my back door, but...

(and I'm really not trying to start up anything here, just really confused)

Is shipping meat a really common thing? It just doesn't make sense to me. I have so much hunting gear that driving is really the only option anyway, and definitely the least expensive option.

If you're flying, why not just bring the meat back with you on the plane and pay the fees? But you have to wait for it to get back from the butcher? Do people commonly use butchers for wild meat?

and even if you have to wait an extra day or two for the butcher, you're making enough at work to justify a $2000 shipping bill?

and if you're paying $2k to ship it, why not just pay someone to fly it out for you? Just tell your buddy you'll pay for his flights if he deals with bringing the meat back a day later

 

[colonel00]

This year when leaving Alaska, we had fresh fish that we could not get frozen in time. Amazingly, all of Fairbanks was out of dry ice and the one place that makes it was closed for Labor Day. Our last resort was to hit Walmart and load up on frozen peas and other veggies. Airlines won't let you use regular ice because it melts and can leak. The frozen veggies worked quite well to get the fish home still cool.

 

[AK Troutbum]

This year when leaving Alaska, we had fresh fish that we could not get frozen in time. Amazingly, all of Fairbanks was out of dry ice and the one place that makes it was closed for Labor Day. Our last resort was to hit Walmart and load up on frozen peas and other veggies. Airlines won't let you use regular ice because it melts and can leak. The frozen veggies worked quite well to get the fish home still cool.

Ingenuity, I love it! You could have probably also used ice in ziplock freezer bags....what the airlines doesn’t know won’t hurt them.


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[colonel00]

Ingenuity, I love it! You could have probably also used ice in ziplock freezer bags....what the airlines doesn’t know won’t hurt them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Probably. My only concern there is once that ice melts, you have a squishy water balloon that could rupture if the boxes are handled roughly or flipped over. This was actually the first year that Alaska Air actually looked in the coolers though. They also had us fill out forms about the contents and they put stickers on the coolers/boxes.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Yeah, I hear ya, I think my coolers always get checked as well, but occasionally I’ll still slip a baggie of ice or two in between filets.


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[Kotaman]

When shipping meat and you duct tape lid. I would probably buy the cheap Styrofoam coolers for this job but do they ever look inside your cooler? They have a dry ice policy but what I am getting at is do they enforce it by checking inside?

Mossyhorn, I will try that if I am lucky enough to get an elk in week or two. So get meat cold on ice or in hanging in cold weather. Put in garbage bags or (not) and throw in ice chest just cooled down and duct tape lid. That sounds very simple and way cheaper than alternative methods. Thanks

Some airlines won't accept Styrofoam coolers.

 

[LostArra]

Polar Bear 48 size coolers are perfect for airline/meat or fish packing.