Pack for crumbs and crush
Airtight bags or tins first, because cardboard trades aroma with everything around it. Then treat the tin like a fragile: padding on all sides, no rattle, and crackers or brittle items stacked flat rather than on edge.
Edible cargo
Can you ship food?
Yes, as long as it survives room temperature for a week. Sealed snacks, coffee, candy, spices, jarred goods and baked treats are all normal parcels. The line falls at refrigeration: parcel trucks are not cooled, so fresh, frozen and dry-ice shipments belong to cold-chain operations rather than a self-service label. Our checkout draws that same line.
Shelf-stable welcomedPerishables namedCookie rates below
The week-long pantry test
Food that would sit happily on your counter until next weekend ships fine. Food you would put in the fridge does not.
Cookie box rates, quoted 2026-07-27
A box of homemade chocolate chip cookies went through the calculator on the Newark, NJ 07102 to Atlanta, GA 30303 lane. Being unrestricted cargo, it drew the full service menu, expedited row included.
| Carrier | Service | Price | Quoted transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| USPS | Ground Advantage | $8.48 | 6-7 business days |
| UPS | Ground Saver | $12.85 | 4 business days |
| FedEx | Ground Economy | $13.18 | 4-5 business days |
| UPS | Ground | $13.38 | 3-4 business days |
| UPS | 2nd Day Air | $21.05 | 2-3 business days |
Each figure is the entire checkout amount for that service on quote day. For baked goods the slowest row is a freshness gamble; the mid-table ground services usually hit the taste-versus-price sweet spot.
The perishable honesty clause
USPS classifies perishables as items that can deteriorate in the mail and accepts them only with special packaging (per usps.com, read 2026-07-27). We go a step plainer: our checkout does not sell labels for them. A steak in a foam cooler is a logistics project, not a parcel.
Gift boxes with mixed contents
Declare the box by what is actually inside it. A snack assortment is fine; slipping in a bottle of wine or a frozen gel-packed cheese turns a legal parcel into a blocked one. The alcohol and cold food guides cover both edges of that trap.
Food shipping questions
Can I mail homemade cookies?
Yes. Baked goods that keep at room temperature are ordinary parcels. Seal them airtight, cushion the box, and pick one of the faster ground rows so they land while still worth eating.
Can I ship frozen or refrigerated food?
Not through our checkout. Frozen goods, fresh meat and seafood, produce and dry ice sit on the prohibited side of our policy because a standard parcel spends days at ambient temperature. Cold-chain shipping is its own discipline; our cold food guide explains what it takes.
Is chocolate safe to send in summer?
Legal, yes; wise, sometimes. It melts at body heat, and trailers run far past that in July. Winter and shoulder seasons treat chocolate kindly, and short transit windows limit the damage the rest of the year.
What food will the checkout refuse?
Anything perishable: frozen items, fresh meat, seafood, produce, and any shipment built around dry ice or refrigerants. Sealed shelf-stable products pass once described honestly.