Can you send soda cans in the mail?

July 15, 2004 9:47 AM

ShippingFilter: Can you send soda cans via snail mail without them exploding en route? Any special packaging required? Please help me liberate some captive Dr Pepper from Milan...
posted by romakimmy to grab bag (7 answers total)

i successfully shipped dr. pepper from WashDC to germany in the summer a few years ago. i just put them in a regular cardboard box with crumpled newspaper. it was shockingly expensive and took nearly a month, but they arrived just fine and were well appreciated.
posted by crush-onastick at 10:15 AM on July 15, 2004

Another shipping carbonated things thread.
posted by milovoo at 10:54 AM on July 15, 2004

You might wanna ask the folks at Pop the Soda Shop, a quirkly little soda place here in phx which ships soda all over the world.
posted by ph00dz at 11:25 AM on July 15, 2004

IANAPostman but...I would think that temperature would be the big problem, as opposed to shaking. I wouldn't send soda during winter. If you pack it welll, I wouldn't expect the cans to get ruptured. It would take an awful lot of shaking to make them burst on their own. I also would be sure to send them alone, or at least not packed with important papers or something that could be damaged if they do explode.
posted by jpoulos at 11:55 AM on July 15, 2004

Why not in winter? I'd think that heat would be the explosion danger. But then, if they freeze I guess they'll expand and rupture too. And cargo in a plane gets awfully cold. A passenger jet at 30K feet has a heck of a lot of climate control keeping everyone warm. In fact, once I bought a laptop online and when it arrived, it was so cold that it was actually covered in dewdrops. I had to dry it out before turning it on. A little nerve-wracking! But it was all right in the end.
posted by scarabic at 2:25 PM on July 15, 2004

Yup, it's not a problem at all. I ship soda transatlantic on a regular basis (usually 36 cans per box) and have never had a problem. Crush-onastick got it right--just make sure you put in some crumpled up newspaper or something similar to pad it a bit.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 1:50 AM on July 16, 2004

Much thanks ya'll. And phoodz, your link has been dully bookmarked for future Dr Pepper cravings.
posted by romakimmy at 5:01 AM on July 16, 2004