When shipping bulk worms select a container appropriate to the length of journey and means of transport. Your packing has to be sufficiently robust to withstand the rigours of the journey and such that the worms are not able to escape. Remember you are shipping live. animals which require a continuous supply of oxygen and no extremes of temperature.
Calico Money Bags
The best container for the shipment of worms is the kind of calico money bag which you can get from your bank for about 35 cents (sometimes for free) Half fill the bag with your Packing Mix and add no more than 4000 (or one kilo) of worms on top. Twist the top of the bag and secure the neck tightly with a heavy rubber band or nylon tie, taking care not to squeeze the bag onto the worms, You must leave air space at the top. The close weave of the bag will prevent all but the smallest worms from escaping and still allow sufficient fresh air to penetrate. The moisture evaporating through the weave will help to keep the worms cool.
Packed like this, 1 kilo of worms is safe for as long as three weeks. The constant friction caused by the movement of the worms against each other will generate warmth, even in winter. After only a week, you can notice the difference with your hand. This constitutes a warning If you were to try to save a few cents by packing two kilos of worms in a bag, the rate of heat generation would become much greater and, if the worms were left for over a week in the bags, they might well die through overheating. A temperature of 30 degrees Celsius will kill Reds and Tigers. Blues can tolerate slightly more heat. The putrefying of the dead worms would soon create an environment which would kill your survivors.
So, remember, to be safe, only one kilo per bag
The Outer Container
The bags should then be packed in insulating polystyrene or strong cardboard boxes for road shipment or post. Polystyrene insulates well and you can often get boxes at no cost from your local supermarket. If not, there are plenty of manufacturers listed in the Yellow Pages.
In the warmer weather, some growers put a lemonade bottle of ice from the deep freeze in the box, However, it must be wrapped in newspaper or the bags leaning against it will be denied air at the contact point and the worms in that area will suffocate.
Never forget to put air holes in the bottom of the box and in the lid. Tape the lid down, but never seal round it with packing tape. The worms must have air circulation.
Always mark your boxes in bold with a red marking pen: LIVE WORMS. STORE COOL. AWAY FROM HEAT. You can also add TOP LOAD ONLY to reduce the chances of other (maybe stifling) goods being loaded on top of your polystyrene box and crushing it.
The Carrier
For the bigger shipments you will probably want to use road or rail transport, but smaller deliveries of perhaps 1 kilo can be sent safely by mail. I have to comment here that from my experience the mail service is not as reliable or as swift as that offered by commercial road carriers.
As long as you are aware of the packing and transporting problems and take care to avoid them, you will have no trouble. Ignore them and it will cost you money and the good business name you will be striving to establish There is nothing worse than customers ringing up from the other side of Australia, saying the worms were dead on arrival. If you are a careless packer, it’s probably an honest claim and you’ll have to replace the worms at no cost as well as pay the freight again. You’re not there to check up on them and simply have to take their word for it.
However, if you do your job well, you may never have a claim and, if you do, you’ll know for sure it’s not your fault. If it happens twice, change your carrier. A fundamental requirement for any business is to have a reliable and competent carrier. The success of your business depends on it.
Australia Post have recently introduced a scale of charges with next-day delivery within the same state guaranteed. It is called Point to Point and is expensive but good for small orders. With bigger shipments, you can always negotiate a good price with any of the express. freight companies Just remember their opening price is never the price they are actually prepared to do business at, and you can expect to settle at a figure sometimes only 25 per cent of the opener. Some may include an Account Service Fee (ASF) for which they charge from $2 to $3. They have no right to charge this and, when you do not pay it, they will never attempt to enforce it. So, don’t pay. Your state railway will usually offer a reasonable service at negotiable rates, particularly for account customers.
