Last week we answered this question from Cassandra:
“How do you ship night crawlers through the mail and what do you pack them in to have a live delivery?”
Cassandra followed up this week with another related question:
“Great info! However, with regard to shipping…does the PO require any special ‘disclosure’, etc. due to the fact that this is a ‘live’ shipment?”
Hi again, Cassandra – that is a really interesting question, and something I’m sure other people thinking about getting into the worm farming biz have wondered about.
As far as I know there is no legal obligation for you to disclose information about the contents of your box if you are shipping within the continental U.S. – it may be a totally different kettle of fish if you are shipping to Hawaii since they have pretty strict rules about non-native organisms.
If you plan to ship to Canada (and elsewhere) you may also be required to provide that information.
Generally, there are two schools of thought on this…
On the one side you have those who feel it is important to let the postal service know that the box contains ‘live worms’ (or some similar description), so that extra care is taken to keep the contents safe – e.g.. not leaving them in a parked vehicle during a heat wave etc.
On the other side you have those who prefer not to alert the postal service about the contents to avoid making anyone uncomfortable (some people are squeamish about these sorts of things) or attract any extra attention in general that may cause the package to mysteriously go missing (who knows – I’m sure there are some really avid fisherman in the postal service – haha).
I actually prefer the latter approach myself when sending worms up here in Canada. I will have a “this side up” label to help ensure that the box isn’t getting tossed around too much, as well as a “Perishable – please keep out of direct sunlight” to let postal workers know that the contents need a little extra attention.
