Some items need to be kept refrigerated lest they deteriorate.
This makes it difficult to send some items via regular postal services, especially in the Summer.
The item can be placed in a bulky, insulated box, with cold packs to keep it at the correct temperature. It can be shipped by a courier, offering a refrigerated vehicle (expensive). Or it can be sent by regular mail, overnight for next day delivery, and the sender just hopes.
However, BorgCo are preparing to offer a ColdMail service to the general public. Just take your item, in an insulated bag, be it cream cake, cheese, bacon or whatever, to a Post Office displaying the ColdMail logo. Pay the regular postage price for the size and weight of the item, and the ColdMail surcharge. Affix a label indicating the temperature range desired.
The item will be placed in a refrigerator and held at the correct temperature until the refrigerated collection van arrives. It will be transported, sorted and delivered through a verifiable "cold chain".
Customers wishing to have home deliveries may opt to purchase a special refrigerated mailbox; otherwise, they get a card telling them that their item is awaiting collection at their local post office.-- 8th of 7, Nov 06 2009 " It's cool for cats " That_20Place_20That_20Ships_20Cats" he wakes to find the fire's dead, and arrows in his ass - And Davy Crockett rides around and says it's cool for cats, it's cool for cats." [normzone, Nov 06 2009] Useful when you want to send something frozen, so that it'll thaw and leak out and make a sticky mess on the doormat of your victim.-- hippo, Nov 06 2009 What a great idea. Without something like this, shipping pralines in summer is almost impossible - you can't freeze them, because the chocolate texture changes. Similar for lots of other foods.-- jutta, Nov 06 2009 The obvious solution to that would be to eat the pralines yourself, to stop them spoiling, shirley ?-- 8th of 7, Nov 06 2009 If you had the opposite you could post bowls of hot soup to people....hotmail!-- xenzag, Nov 06 2009 [+] for the business opportunity of ordering frozen TV-dinners online.-- FlyingToaster, Nov 06 2009 How about a service dedicated to sending only things that are black?-- UnaBubba, Nov 06 2009 This would make it possible, just maybe, to get unbruised samples of homebrew to a friend in the next state.
You'd need to be able to verify smooth transit, however. Perhaps those shock indicator stickers. Bear in mind that pralines get treated like footballs in a standard commercial load of freight.
Shipping our military computer equipment by UPS does more damage to it than putting it in a helicopter does - at least you know the guy in the helicopter has SOME interest in a smooth landing sometimes.
And one could take the specialized shipping mode too far (link).-- normzone, Nov 06 2009 I believe some computer manufacturers test their laptops' ruggedness by shipping them across the US by overnight courier service.-- UnaBubba, Nov 06 2009 Would this service soon find itself full of compressed spiced ham meat product?-- Ian Tindale, Nov 06 2009 Good idea but, I imagine, pricey. You'd need a lot of infrastructure, including a refrigerated post-van, for a low- volume service.
But as for //ordering frozen TV-dinners online// ... frozen and refrigerated food is already orderable online for delivery.
Golly, that was a very boring annotation, wasn't it?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 06 2009 Yes, but we're used to you by now.
// compressed spiced ham meat product //
No, because it comes in tins, and doesn't need to be refrigerated.-- 8th of 7, Nov 07 2009 During the dot.com boom there was talk of having fridges with locked external doors so people could order refrigerated goods over the internet and have them placed directly into fridges by delivery men.-- Aristotle, Nov 07 2009 If the external doors are locked, how does the delivery man put the stuff in ?-- 8th of 7, Nov 07 2009 They're already in.-- Ian Tindale, Nov 07 2009 I hope they're wearing freezer suits.-- UnaBubba, Nov 07 2009 halfbakery