Shipping in Plastic

[Justin Turco]

I have not had good luck at shipping with plastic. Can someone please just run through briefly. Any secrets you have found that work for you in packaging and shipping in plastic. (Previously I had come to the conclusion that metal was the only container I would use for "mailorder".)


Here are a couple of my theories for shipping success.

Don't fill container all the way to the top,...BUT don't leave any air in it (which will expand at altitude during shipping) Squeeze the jug so as to bring the syrup right to the top. Then twist the cap on. I put them on pretty tight. Maybe too tight. Don't pack the box tight. Leave room for the jug to shuck around in there.... in case the box gets crushed.

Anything else that I can do?

[hard maple]

Yeah,
don't use a sugarhill jug cause the caps and threads are sub par!
I know most of the associations use them, why .......................
Obviously cost?!
How you fill them probably has nothing to do with it.
Are you using sugarhill??????

[Justin Turco]

I sure am. Who do you like?

[hard maple]

Justin
I had the same problems with sugarhill.
I switched to the brand that is sold in the CDL catalog.
Cruchon.
A local dealer down here has them made up with the mass logo on them.
Also the Bacon jug has a better cap design as well.
Several folks I know are also switching brands

[Jim Brown]

We use SugarHill and have shipped overseas and to any number of states and have had no problems. We ship in a flat rate box and we can get 4 quarts in a flat rate along with some styro peanuts and have shipped as far as the state of Washington.
We must be one of the lucky ones!

Our two cents

Jim

[tuckermtn]

I also use the cruchon...never had a problem with the caps...

[hard maple]

Jim
You must be lucky
compare the caps and threads.
I'll never use sugarhill again.

expensive lesson learned the hard way.....

[brookledge]

I use sugarhill and go through about 1,000 per year of various sizes and have never had a problem with the caps or shipping them. With any type of container if the package is tossed through the air and then lands hard any thing can happen. I have mostly used the shipping cartons sized for sugarhill jugs and have never had one complaint from a customer. I have also used the flat rate boxes like J Brown said.
I would think that if there was a problem with sugarhill caps it would get back to them and they would redesign them. But to see the size of the plant and the number of containers they make a year is mind boggling.
Hard maple, what exactly happen to the caps for you?
Keith

[gmcooper]

We use Sugarhill jugs and have for nearly 20 years and have shipped all over the country with UPS USPS and FedEx. Never had a complaint yet. We have used a number of different boxes and many of our customers also ship after they pick up here. We do use plenty of foam peanuts in the box but that is all we do. We pack fairly snug around the jugs to prevent them from having room to move much in the box. If the container moves inside the shipping box you get a lot more impact on the container when it is dropped or thrown. If the jug is moving around it can make direct contact with the box leaving no padding from impact.

[maplecrest]

when putting tops on sugar hill or any jug they just have to be hand tight. do not over force them. like you would with the older cans. that weakens the seal. do you place them on there side when canning to make sure you have a good seal? that makes a difference. i ship all over the world and only had one bad jug that split on the side.

[hard maple]

Keith
I've had problems with the safety ring not releasing from the cap, and the occasional leaker when I lay them on their sides after filling. I always recheck the tigthness after filling too.

I thought I heard someone mention that sugarhill does not manufacture their caps. does anyone know more about that?

[WMF]

We have filled thousands of containers over the last twenty years ( Kress, LesCruchons,Bacon) but most of them were Sugarhill.
Never have had a problem with Sugarhill caps sealing or staying tight and they have always had two forms of tamper resistant indicators, the plastic break-off band and the inner seal which stays glued to the bottle after opening.
The LesCruchons plastic bottles didn't have the inner seal at first and could cause problems but I see they have recently started to use one.

Plastic gallons of any make can be a problem because they have a lot of mass when filled hot and can deform and very small sizes can be a problem because they don't have enough mass to sterilize if the bottle is very cold.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have shipped quite a few sugarhills without any problem. I always bubble wrap the outside of the jug(s) good.

[MaplePancakeMan]

i've shipped a bunch of Sugarhills to the south and not had a problem. When i ship them in flat rate boxes i wrap them tightly in plastic cling wrap, then i put air pillows in the box and fill the gaps with peanuts. I'm a little retentive about how i pack things but better safe than sorry. I have opened a few of the sugar hills that the ring didn't come off the cap but the secondary tamper always stayed on and thats what i see most people care about. Soda bottles sometimes have the same problem with the rings.

i think the plastic wrap gives the security of helping the cap stay tight even with a jostle you could also use a piece of ductape over the cap.

[Justin Turco]

I've been out of town. Great Responses. You guys never let me down. Justin