For most holidays, the leading gifts to be shipped are chocolates by mail. Whether your family enjoys Russell Stover’s famous chocolates, or Paper Moon’s limited supplies from Portland, Oregon, UPS is the choice shipment company for you to mail by. UPS has the shipment guarantee that enables its customers to know they will get their product from where it is, to where it is going, in perfect condition. But what happens if something in the UPS system malfunctions? What if a truck breaks down or a flight is delayed? What happens when the chocolates melt?

UPS does have the shipping guarantee that promises parcels will arrive on time. They also have insurance to cover expensive parcels, but oftentimes, for inexpensive packages like a box of chocolates, UPS has no perfect guarantee to protect against meltage. The best defense against a melting chocolate is in the hands of the shipping customer. Several tactics can prevent shippers from suffering the sad loss of a valuable gift of chocolates by mail to the hot sun beating down on a broken down truck.

When packaging any food item, the shipper should always prefer overnight options. Though shipping costs are more expensive for expedited shipments, the chances of damage in the decreased travel time are reduced. When preparing the box for shipment, the shipper can also add bubble wrap and a third layer of packaging. Added insulation helps to maintain internal temperatures that do not vary as much as the external temperatures, meaning even in a hot truck, chocolates might stay cool enough not to melt. Certainly, not every mistake and error can be accounted for, and not every delivery error will be preventable, but taking extra precautions is the best defense.

Both UPS and FedEx boast of less than ten percent shipping mishaps. Neither company would be able to post a money-back guarantee for late delivery if such a guarantee would defeat their profitability. Customers who read the guarantee will also be aware of what UPS and FedEx know to be their limitations, and while they do ship food items, it is easy to see that the companies do have some weak spots when it comes to keeping chocolates at their best. A vigilant customer can bridge the gap and assure safe delivery most often with overnight shipping and attentive packaging.