To ship candles in hot weather, cut the time the box spends in transit and in the sun: ship Monday to Wednesday by a faster service so nothing sits in a warehouse over a weekend, pack the candle inside an insulated liner or a box inside a box, and tell the customer when it's arriving so it isn't left on a hot doorstep. Pack every candle as glass first and wax second: lid on, wrapped, held still with dividers or cushioning, at least 2 inches from every side of the outer box. A candle that softens in a hot truck and sets again can survive if it stayed upright and couldn't move; one that rattled around doesn't. In the example below, a candle maker ships two 9 oz jar candles in July for $13.45 in packing and postage, on top of $12.82 to make them, and prices summer orders from that. Below is how to pack candles, what changes in summer, what to tell customers, the cost, and keeping track of which batch went where.
The short version
- Pack the glass first: lid on, wrapped, upright, unable to move.
- Box inside a box, with at least 2 inches of cushioning on every side.
- Ship Monday to Wednesday, by a two- or three-day service in summer.
- Add an insulated liner in the hottest months, and keep boxes out of the sun before pickup.
- Tell customers when it's coming, and what to do if the wax has shifted.
- Price packing and postage in, including the summer extras.
- TaroStack keeps batches, orders and which lot went in each box together. More below.
How to pack a candle
- Let it cure and set fully before it ships; a fresh candle is softer.
- Lid on, and a sticker or band so it can't loosen.
- Wrap the jar in paper or a sleeve, and fit it into a divider or a snug inner box so it stays upright.
- Box inside a box: the inner box in a sturdier shipping box with at least 2 inches of cushioning on every side.
- Shake test: close the box and shake it. If anything moves, add more cushioning.
- Label the inner box with the candle's lot, so a question about it can be traced.
What changes in summer
| Risk | What to do |
|---|---|
| Hours in a hot truck or depot | Ship Monday to Wednesday, by a faster service |
| A box in the sun on a doorstep | Tell the customer the day it's arriving; offer pickup points where your carrier has them |
| Wax softening and shifting | Pack upright and tight, so a softened candle sets again where it was |
| Top frosting or wet spots after heat and cooling | Mention it on your site; it's cosmetic and burns the same |
| The hottest weeks | An insulated liner, or a short pause on shipping to the hottest places |
Some makers hold orders to the hottest areas for a few days of cooler weather, with the customer's agreement. Whatever you decide, say it on the product page before the order, not in an email after. The same timing works for food; packing for that is in how to ship cookies, and what candle software should track is in candle inventory software.
What to tell customers
- When it ships and when it arrives, so someone's home or it's collected quickly.
- What heat can do: a softened top that resets, or frosting, which doesn't change how it burns.
- What you'll do if a candle arrives broken or badly melted: a photo with the lot code, and a replacement.
What a box costs
Lehua Glow, a made-up candle maker I use in these examples, ships two 9 oz jar candles in July:
| Two candles, shipped in summer | Cost |
|---|---|
| 2 jar candles at $6.41, full cost | $12.82 |
| Inner boxes, wrap and dividers | $1.20 |
| Shipping box and cushioning | $1.25 |
| Insulated liner, summer only | $2.00 |
| Postage, two-day, for a box this size (check your carrier) | $9.00 |
| Total, delivered | $26.27 |
Packing and postage are $13.45 in summer, $11.45 without the liner. At $26 a candle, the two sell for $52, and free shipping would give a quarter of that away; charge shipping, or price it in. How the $6.41 candle was costed, and its $26 price, is in how to price homemade candles, and what a candle business earns is in how much does a candle business make.
Where this stops working
A few boxes a week are easy to keep in your head. Forty in the weeks before the holidays aren't: orders from your online store, candles poured on different days with different fragrance lots, a customer's photo of a melted jar, and no way to say which pour it was or whether others from it went out the same week.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each pour, each order and what went in each box together.
Every pour, a batch with its lots. Each candle is a recipe with versions, and recording a batch takes wax, fragrance, wicks and jars off stock from the lots used, at what you paid, notes which lots went in automatically, and puts the candles into a lot with its code. Lot labels print with it.
Orders in, and shipped by lot. Orders from your Shopify store come in, and we set that up with you. Shipping takes candles from a lot you choose, delivery notes print with each line's lot, and a warning shows when an order you promised hasn't shipped.
And every question, traced. If a customer sends a photo, the lot code leads to the batch, its fragrance and wax lots, and every customer who got candles from it. A replacement goes out from stock, and a return goes back into the lot it left in.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which pour went in this box? | Unknown | The lot, on the order |
| Which fragrance lot was in it? | Maybe on a pour sheet | Noted with the batch |
| Orders waiting to ship | A list | Orders not yet shipped, flagged |
| What a candle costs now | Set once | Every batch, at what you paid |
Recipes, batches, lots, sales orders and shipping are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.