Possible to send lobsters and fish overnight via FedEx or UPS?

[fnfalman]

I was wondering if anybody had caught lobsters, crabs, fish and then box'em up and overnight them to friends and family? If yes, then what is the procedure?

I'm not a hunter, but I wouldn't mind catching something and send to my favorite land locked people.

 

[Divebum Don]

Fnfal, indeed you can. The modus is a small styro box with dry ice(available at many Supers today). I had some Med boxs available, but you can find others(search). Slip it into a cardboard box and ship rapidly. Kobe steaks, Chicago pizza, and all things culinary are done this way all the time, can you say "Omaha" steaks...

My land locked loved ones were amazed...

Good Gifting

 

[Ana]

I would suggest against the dry ice... it has a tendency to affect the flavor of the food.

For lobster keep them alive, if you can find kelp or other seaweed that helps a lot to keep them moist and can easily be happy for 24 to 30 hours.

for dead creatures ice packs are the way to go, with bubble wrap being a magnificent insulation inside a styrofoam box, I've shipped and received many different types of creatures. Dead and alive.

you'll be surprise the amount of things people ship... You can buy live ants for your ant farm, or lady bugs for your garden, or fish for your aquarium, or steaks, or seafood.... I'm sure it is easier to number the things you can not ship.

 

[flots am]

I was wondering if anybody had caught lobsters, crabs, fish and then box'em up and overnight them to friends and family? If yes, then what is the procedure?

I'm not a hunter, but I wouldn't mind catching something and send to my favorite land locked people.

You can, but it's phenomenally expensive. By the time you add up the weight of the cooler the ice and the fish, then figure guaranteed overnight, you could be in for a couple of hundred dollars for not-too-much fish (I used to have sushi fish fedexed).

It would be cheaper to mail them a couple of hundred dollars and send them to a nice restaurant.

flots.

 

[fnfalman]

The money isn't a concern for me. And yes, I know that it's more economical for them to go to a Chinese supermarket and get a Maine lobster for $8/lbs, but I think that they'd be more appreciative of getting a couple of lobsters or crabs that I personally harvested.

Thanks for all the shipping tips. I knew that if there's a will, then there's a way!!!

 

[diversteve]

We used to get live lobsters in Boston and have them shipped to friends/relatives. A place near the airport. You picked them out then they put them in a heavy double plastic bag and some sort of green weed - blew a little 02 into it and sealed each bag separately. I don't recall there being any sort of dry ice or other coolant - maybe an icepack. That went into a heavy wall cardboard box and was taken to the airport for the next flight out. My colleagues and I did it regularly and none arrived doa to the best of my knowledge. Most of our shipments went to the west coast.

I'm sure you could substitute FedEx in this process. I wouldn't do the dry ice either though. When I open Omaha Steaks boxes, there's often sort of a musty smell. Also it might freeze the water and kill them during the trip.

I think you'd also want to mark it live lobsters. Might get special handling thru the FedEx hub that way - they do that for certain things, I've watched that operation in person in a prior job.

This seems to be the process: http://www.lobsters.org/ldoc/ldocpage.php?did=420

 

[fdarden]

I have been through this shipping Lionfish around the USA. I know you said you dont care about the money but others might. Shipping in dry ice is considered hazardous materials by most carriers. Some will refuse to transport and others charge a large premium, and require very specific packaging. I found that if money is no object, FEDEX is the easiest. However their rules state it must be in styro, and that styro must then have an outer box. also has to be labeled hazardous dry ice.. I recently shipped about half a dozen lionfish 500 miles or so, overnight in regular ICE and the cost was around 200 dollars. Be well prepared before you ship. Getting the bugs and fish and then figuring out where/how to take them, or assuming things up front will foil your plan. I dont know any grocery stores that sell the proper styro/cardboard shipping containers. In fact I had to make the ones that I have used, which meant getting a styro cooler, a cardboard box that it could fit in, and then packing to go around the cooler in the box. Its all sort of a pain, and unless you do it frequently you may find this task mastering a day of your vacation. Not to discourage you if its what you really want to do, but even knowing exactly how to do it, I loathe getting an email asking me to ship more fish.

 

[vladimir]

I have been through this shipping Lionfish around the USA. I know you said you dont care about the money but others might. Shipping in dry ice is considered hazardous materials by most carriers. Some will refuse to transport and others charge a large premium, and require very specific packaging. I found that if money is no object, FEDEX is the easiest. However their rules state it must be in styro, and that styro must then have an outer box. also has to be labeled hazardous dry ice.. I recently shipped about half a dozen lionfish 500 miles or so, overnight in regular ICE and the cost was around 200 dollars. Be well prepared before you ship. Getting the bugs and fish and then figuring out where/how to take them, or assuming things up front will foil your plan. I dont know any grocery stores that sell the proper styro/cardboard shipping containers. In fact I had to make the ones that I have used, which meant getting a styro cooler, a cardboard box that it could fit in, and then packing to go around the cooler in the box. Its all sort of a pain, and unless you do it frequently you may find this task mastering a day of your vacation. Not to discourage you if its what you really want to do, but even knowing exactly how to do it, I loathe getting an email asking me to ship more fish.

I'm curious—why do you ship lionfish? Aquarists?

 

[bperc]

The money isn't a concern for me. And yes, I know that it's more economical for them to go to a Chinese supermarket and get a Maine lobster for $8/lbs, but I think that they'd be more appreciative of getting a couple of lobsters or crabs that I personally harvested.

I go fishing in Alaska and they ship tons of frozen fish overnight. It is expensive so I don't ship mine. Instead I bring it back on the plane as checked baggage. We vacuum pack and freeze our fish and then pack it in styrofoam lined cardboard boxes. The airlines don't want dry ice onboard so the fish processors sell frozen gell packs. We don't use either in our boxes. Our boxes are full, so that helps to keep everything cold. If you aren't going to fill your box, then you might want to add the frozen gell packs.

 

[DeerCreekers]

Was thinking the exact same thing, why ship lion fish? Just interested.