Throughout the summer, pantry shelves’ worth of home-grown produce travel through Omniva parcel lockers. How can you make sure food arrives safely?
Throughout the summer, pantry shelves’ worth of home-grown produce travel through Omniva parcel lockers. But how can you make sure food arrives safely and intact?
During the summer months, surprisingly large quantities of home-grown produce are sent through the parcel lockers of international technology and logistics company Omniva. Many of these items should not be shipped at all, spoil easily, require temperature-controlled transport, or are not packaged correctly. Omniva reminds customers how to package parcels properly and which items should never be sent via parcel lockers.
Recently, Omniva employees noticed a leaking parcel containing eggs. Several eggs had broken during transport, but the intact eggs were repacked with additional cushioning material and the shipment was forwarded to the recipient. The incident clearly demonstrated how important it is to package parcels correctly before sending them.
“During the summer, we see more shipments coming directly from gardens, forests and home pantries. While some items, such as eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes or cakes, should not be shipped at all, others can be sent safely if they are packaged properly. Poor packaging means fresh produce can become crushed, while bottles of juice or jars of jam may break. It only takes one broken bottle of juice to damage many other parcels travelling on the sorting line at the same time,” said Eduard Rešetov, Head of Sorting at Omniva.
According to Rešetov, many people mistakenly believe that a courier takes a parcel directly from one parcel locker to another. In reality, every shipment passes through a sorting centre, where it travels alongside thousands of other parcels. This means the packaging must withstand both automated sorting and transportation.
Improperly packaged food shipments quickly become noticeable. Omniva employees are no strangers to the smell of spoiled mushrooms or fruit flies gathering around leaking or spoiled parcels. The most common issues involve shipments containing liquids, such as juice, jam, honey, oil or sauces. Seasonally, beekeepers also send live bees, anglers send fishing bait, and hunters ship game meat. These items can only be shipped if they comply with the applicable packaging requirements. Parcels must be properly sealed and sufficiently cushioned with protective filling material.
“Grandmothers can certainly send homemade jam to their grandchildren, but it all starts with proper packaging. If a parcel contains something fragile or breakable, we recommend choosing the Handle with Care service, which ensures the parcel is sorted manually. We encourage people to keep sending parcels, but to take extra care when packing them so recipients can enjoy what arrives,” added Rešetov.
Which products must not be sent by parcel?
Omniva’s website lists goods that are prohibited from being sent through its parcel services. These include:
- Explosive and flammable substances
- Compressed gases
- Oxidising substances
- Toxic, corrosive or infectious substances
- Radioactive materials
- Magnetised goods
- Lithium batteries
- Weapons and weapon parts
- Live or dead animals
- Narcotic and psychotropic substances
- Tobacco products
- Cash and securities
- Perishable food or food requiring refrigeration
- Counterfeit and pirated goods
Omniva’s list of prohibited items.
How should parcels be packaged?
Packaging must be durable and suitable for the method and duration of transport. Packaging that is too small may not withstand pressure and can break. Packaging that is too large allows items to move inside, increasing the risk of damage. Packages should not have protruding parts such as loose flaps, strings or straps, and square or rectangular boxes are recommended over round packaging.
If the contents are fragile or may break under pressure or if dropped, they must be packaged so they do not touch the inside walls of the outer packaging. The space between the inner and outer packaging should be filled with sufficient cushioning material.
For particularly fragile shipments, customers should use the Handle with Care service, which ensures manual sorting instead of automated processing on the sorting line. Omniva also recommends attaching a Handle with Care label or pictogram, both of which are available on the Omniva website.