Shipping Fragrance Oils

[moonshine]

I was not sure where to put this-  but I am extremely confused on shipping of fragrance oils

 

I have always mailed out oils thru my post office, even priority and when asked all the questions of flammable, perishable blah blah blah- I have always responded they are fragrance oils- they take them and off they go no questions asked

 

A couple months ago our new postmaster stated shipping oils is no longer allowed priority- it has to go ground because of flash points and same for perfumes, fine then we ship them ground- still off they go

 

I took 4- 1 ounce bottles to the UPS store to have shipped off to fragrance buddy and they wouldn't take them- items with flash points cannot be shipped thru them….I have to go to a main UPS hub to get "special" shipping - apparently you have to be licensed to ship fragrance oils or perfumes???

 

If anyone can explain all this in english I would appreciate it- I was in a very not nice disagreement with the UPS people today and don't even know what I was arguing! lol

 

I mean suppliers are shipping them all day long and I do receive oils in priority boxes from companies- and from what I understand priority is air so I am just trying to figure this out-  I do not ship oils very much but if I have to drive to a main hub every time to do so- I won't be doing it anymore- and I have a ton here I would like to sell!!

 

Thanks for any info on this  
"" 

[ChrisR]

I always ship all FO's parcel post through the Post Office and have never had a problem.  I label my boxes "candle oils" so they know what's in the box.  If I have even one FO with a low flash point, my suppliers ship it UPS ground, but the majority of suppliers don't even offer USPS anymore.

[moonshine]

Thanks Chris

The closest UPS hub to me is a half hour away...I took them to another post office - told them what they are (bottled in glass and taped and wrapped in bubble wrap) and I was there for an hour with a dispute within the post office that they wouldn't ship them parcel because they fall into the lighter fluid- perfume- spray paint categories!

Finally a lady there said it does not specifically say candle fragrance oil and she did it- amazing

How hard this is getting- we must of had a plane or truck blow up around here because that's the second post office I was at and ups turned me away

I mean how the heck are we supposed to ship anything anymore - frustrating

[doglvr]

I order from perfume.net and fragrance.net all of the time and they always come priority mail!

[moonshine]

A lot of my oils from suppliers come come priority also- I don't get it

I would never be able to become a supplier around here! Couldn't get them shipped out to anyone

[TallTayl]

Follow the US DOT requirements as posted in secrions 3A and 3B on the USPS web site.

http://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52apxc_011.htm

http://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52apxc_012.htm

Know your terms when you go in. Combustable and flammable are different. Print out the pages in the above links too.

Combustible has a flash point over 141, but below 200*F. Those must go ground ORM-D. Some flammable liquids (FP under 100), not all, can also go ORM-D.

Items with flash points OVER 200*F can go priority.

In all cases, Tape caps extremely well, wrap in cushion and enclose all liquids in a waterproof bag. Follow the bottle size limits in the links above. Use as much dunnage as possible to absorb and contain potential leaks.

[moonshine]

Thanks Talltayl - very much appreciated and I forgot the waterproof bag...whoops

But the lady that went ahead and shipped it packaged it up with fillers and marked it fragile and liquid

Hopefully nothing goes wrong it's the MW for fragrance buddy to dupe and it was about the last of what I had

[TallTayl]

Thanks Talltayl - very much appreciated and I forgot the waterproof bag...whoops

But the lady that went ahead and shipped it packaged it up with fillers and marked it fragile and liquid

Hopefully nothing goes wrong it's the MW for fragrance buddy to dupe and it was about the last of what I had

I'm sure it will be fine, esp if the PO lady helped out. So long as the cap stays put, and nothing oozes out the cap gaps it should arrive in fine shape. Good luck with the dupe!

[ChrisR]

I was all ready with paperwork for my post office the first time I shipped FO's, but they were super about knowing the rules themselves, and working with me.  However, I know a lot of people have problems with their own post office and I think those workers are just lazy and don't care to seek exactly what is correct or not.  I just lucked out with mine!! 

[JABE]

I know that some fragrance oils from CS state that they have to ship them ground due to low flash points. If you want an example, I think Banana Nut Bread is one of them. Go to their site and put it in your cart, pretend you're going to check out and then you'll get the message about the shipping issue with them. Not sure if this will mean anything to you or not. I just always wondered why it was such a problem. I think Sex on the Beach is another oil that states the same. I know for sure Banana Nut Bread is though.