If you could choose any of your favorite, homemade desserts to ship to your customers or friends/family, what would it be? A pie? Cookies? Brownies? Whether you’ve been wanting to add a bakery component to your business or just send some baked goods to your loved ones for the holiday season, you’ve come to the right blog. We’ve sliced up a piece of tips and tricks for shipping your baked goods, so grab your fork and get ready to learn all about how to ship pastries.
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Table of Contents:
- What baked goods are we talking about?
- Shipping baked goods with USPS
- Can I ship baked goods internationally?
- The best services to ship baked goods
- How does ShippingEasy help with shipping baked goods?
- What are holiday shipping deadlines?
- Conclusion
What baked goods are we talking about?
For the sake of this blog, we’re going to cover baked goods like pies, cookies, brownies, and other non-refrigerated baked goods. Sweets like ice cream and perishable goodies need additional specialty packaging and have additional carrier guidelines. For more information on shipping food like meat and eggs, you can check out our How to Ship Food with USPS blog!
Shipping baked goods with USPS
USPS provides some really good guidance in keeping your baked goods fresh including:
- Placing a piece of white bread into your storage container with your cookie and cookie-like baked goods.
- Wrapping your bread twice in Saran wrap and then sealing it with either a large plastic baggie or aluminum foil.
- Adding parchment or wax paper in-between each layer of your baked goods to prevent them from sticking together.
- Checking the temperature of your baked goods so that they’re fully cooled down when you start shipping them.
- Labeling your packages on the inside and outside in case anything happens to the outer label in transit.
You can find more tips and tricks about shipping fragile items over in our blog!
Can I ship baked goods internationally?
Yes! You can ship these baked goods internationally, as long as you understand these items are shipped at your own risk and the country you’re shipping to doesn’t have any carrier and/or governmental restrictions in place. You can also ship baked goods to your loved ones in the military, as these also technically count as international mail. USPS has several international shipping options available for you, but three of the most used are Priority Mail Express InternationalⓇ, Priority Mail InternationalⓇ, and the First-Class Package International ServiceⓇ.
Priority Mail Express InternationalⓇ and Priority Mail InternationalⓇ each include up to $200 in insurance to cover any items in your order that are damaged, lost, or missing as well as $100 in insurance to replicate nonnegotiable documents ⸺ the example they use is “a personal correspondence with no cash value.” The First-Class Package International ServiceⓇ can be used for packages up to four pounds, and you can get delivery confirmation to some countries. We’ve included a whole table from USPS below on their recommendations for using each of their international services to check out!
The best services to ship baked goods
When you’re shipping your baked goods, one of the biggest considerations is choosing a USPS service with a quick estimated delivery window. This way, your baked goods will be in transit for a smaller amount of time to keep their freshness. If you need your baked goods to get to their destination ASAP, overnight shipping might be the way to go! However, do keep in mind that these shipping options will be more expensive than those non-expedited shipping services.
If you have more wiggle room with the delivery time of your baked goods, Priority MailⓇ can be the way to go! Priority MailⓇ has an estimated delivery window of 1-3 business days, includes tracking and up to $100 of insurance, and your shipments can weigh up to 70 pounds with a combined length and girth of 108.” The only big thing to note is you might be charged a weight based on the dimensions of your package called DIM weight instead of the weight you see when you place your package on a scale.
Learn how to calculate the DIM weight of your package in Shipping Unboxed: FAQs about Shipment Dimensions.
How does ShippingEasy help with shipping baked goods?
You’ve come to the right place! All ShippingEasy users, regardless of plan level, have access to USPS Commercial rates. These rates are discounted USPS rates you don’t have to negotiate yourself! You can save up to 89% over USPS Retail Rates, so you can save money on shipping all of your delicious baked goods to customers.
What are holiday shipping deadlines?
Holiday shipping deadlines are the latest possible dates for you to ship your baked goods to arrive by the holidays. These dates range from carrier to carrier and can even vary depending on the service. Don’t know where to find them? We’ve got you! You can find the domestic shipping deadlines for USPS, UPS, and FedEx in our 2023 Holiday Shipping Deadlines for the US blog.
For an easy bookmark, here’s our 2022 Holiday Shipping Deadlines for the US blog.
Conclusion
We’ve cooked up some of the best advice we could find from USPS to guide you in shipping your baked goods. Keeping supplies like foil, plastic wrap, wax paper, and/or parchment paper will help prevent your baked goods from spoiling or sticking together. Choosing carrier services like USPS Priority MailⓇ will get your baked goods to your chosen destination quickly and with tracking information. Pay special attention to those USPS holiday shipping deadlines as well so that your treats will make it for the holidays!
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Baillee Perkins
