Shipping Candles: Melt Risk, Packaging, and Summer Tips

Every candle maker remembers their first melt disaster. Mine was a batch of 24 soy candles shipped to a wholesale customer in Texas in August. Ground shipping. Five-day transit. The box arrived and when the customer opened it, 18 of the 24 candles had softened, warped, and separated from their jars. The wax had pulled away from the glass, creating an ugly gap called "wet spots" (which happen naturally sometimes, but heat makes them catastrophic). The fragrance oil had pooled on top. The wicks had shifted sideways. The customer refused all 24 and I ate $480 in product cost plus $45 in shipping.

That was the week I learned that candle shipping has rules, and summer candle shipping has entirely different rules.

Why Candles Are Tricky to Ship

Candles present three simultaneous challenges:

They melt. Wax is designed to melt. That's literally its job. The temperature inside a delivery truck in summer can exceed 150°F. Many waxes start softening at 100-120°F.

They break. Most candles are in glass jars. Glass is heavy and fragile. A candle jar weighs 8-16 oz before you even add wax.

They're heavy for their size. A standard 8 oz candle in a glass jar weighs about 1 pound. A box of 12 candles weighs 12-15 lbs in a relatively small box. That's dense.

Wax Melting Points

The inside of a UPS truck in direct sun in Phoenix, Miami, or Houston easily reaches 140-160°F during summer. That means soy candles WILL soften, coconut candles WILL liquify, and even paraffin candles are at risk on the hottest days.

The Three Damage Types

1. Melting and Deformation

When wax softens, several things happen:

• The surface becomes uneven and rough (goodbye, smooth pour)
• Fragrance oil separates and pools on top ("sweating")
• The wick shifts position, making the candle burn unevenly
• Wax pulls away from the jar ("wet spots"), creating visible gaps
• If fully liquid, the candle may resolidify with an uneven, cratered surface

A melted and resolidified candle is usually still safe to burn, but it looks terrible. No customer is going to light a candle that looks like it went through a war zone, and they're definitely not going to gift it.

2. Glass Breakage

Candle jars break for the same reasons any glass breaks in shipping: drops, compression, and impact. But candle jars have an extra vulnerability — the weight of the wax inside them. A full 16 oz candle in a heavy jar can weigh 2 lbs. When that drops 4 feet off a conveyor belt, the impact force is significant.

Broken candle jars also create a secondary mess — loose wax fragments everywhere, wax stuck to packing materials, fragrance oil soaking into cardboard. It's a total loss of the product AND it can damage neighboring packages in the carrier's system.

3. Frosting and Cosmetic Damage

Temperature cycling (hot during the day, cool at night) causes "frosting" on soy candles — a white crystalline layer on the surface and sides. It doesn't affect burn quality, but it affects appearance. Customers who bought a smooth, colored candle and received one that looks dusty and faded will contact you.

Packaging That Works

Single Candle Shipping

For a standard 8 oz jar candle:

Ensure the lid is secure. If using a metal tin lid, apply a small piece of tape across the lid-to-jar junction. If the jar has no lid, cover the opening with cling wrap and secure with a rubber band.

Wrap the jar in bubble wrap. Two full rotations minimum, with extra padding on the bottom (the weakest point of most glass jars).

Place in a box with 2" of void fill on all sides. The jar should not touch any wall of the box.

Shake test. Pick up the box and shake it. If the candle moves, add more material.

Multiple Candle Shipping

This is where most breakage happens — candles knocking against each other.

Cell boxes (the corrugated dividers used for shipping wine bottles) are the best cost-to-protection ratio for candle shipping. A 6-cell or 12-cell divider keeps each candle isolated in its own compartment. You can buy them from packaging suppliers sized to fit common candle jar diameters.

Box Selection

Do not use poly mailers for candles. Not for tin candles, not for small candles, not for "just one." Poly mailers offer zero impact protection, and a candle's weight means it will punch through a poly mailer if dropped.

Summer Shipping Strategy

This is where candle businesses either thrive or bleed money from May through September.

Option 1: Upgrade to Expedited Shipping

Shorter transit = less time in hot trucks = less melting. Many candle brands automatically upgrade to 2-day or 3-day shipping during summer.

The cost increase per order is real. A candle that costs $5 to ship Ground might cost $13 via 2-day. For a $28 candle, that shipping cost eats into margin hard. Some brands pass this cost to the customer ("Summer shipping surcharge: $5"). Some absorb it. Some split the difference by offering free ground (with a melt risk disclaimer) and paid expedited.

Option 2: Insulated Packaging

Insulated shipping containers add a thermal barrier that buys you time.

A cold gel pack inside an insulated liner can keep the interior of a package below 85°F for 48 hours even when the external temperature is 110°F. That's usually enough to survive Ground shipping to most domestic destinations during a typical summer week.

Option 3: Ship Early in the Week

This is free and surprisingly effective. A package shipped Monday arrives by Thursday or Friday. A package shipped Thursday might sit in a warehouse over the weekend and arrive Monday — that's an extra 2-3 days of heat exposure.

Best practice: Ship candle orders Monday through Wednesday only during summer. Hold Thursday and Friday orders for Monday shipping. Communicate this to customers.

Option 4: Seasonal Product Adjustments

Some candle makers reformulate for summer:

• Switch to harder wax blends: Adding paraffin to a soy blend raises the melting point by 10-15°F. Purists might object, but pragmatists keep their candles intact.
• Use tin containers instead of jars: Tin candles are lighter and don't break. The wax can still melt, but the container survives.
• Sell wax melts instead of candles during summer: Wax melts don't have wicks that can shift, don't have glass that can break, and customers expect them to look a bit rustic. This is actually a growing trend — some brands see higher wax melt sales in summer than candle sales.

Option 5: The Melt Guarantee

Some brands just own the risk: "If your candle arrives melted, send us a photo and we'll reship it free." This sounds expensive, but if your melt rate is under 5% (achievable with insulated packaging and expedited shipping), the reshipping cost is lower than the cost of upgrading every single order to overnight.

The key is making the guarantee hassle-free. Photo of melted candle → new candle shipped same day. No arguments, no claims process.

Carrier Selection for Candles

For most candle businesses, USPS Priority Mail is the sweet spot for single candle orders — it's affordable and delivers in 2-3 days (effectively an expedited service at ground prices). For multi-candle orders that get heavy, UPS or FedEx Ground makes more financial sense.

Hazmat Considerations

Standard finished candles are NOT classified as hazardous materials. You can ship them via all carriers, including air.

However, raw candle-making supplies often ARE hazmat:

If you sell candle-making supplies alongside finished candles, be aware that some fragrance oils are flammable liquids. Check the SDS for each fragrance oil you sell. If the flash point is below 200°F (93°C), it's a Class 3 flammable liquid and needs Ground-only shipping with appropriate marking.

Cost Analysis: Is Summer Candle Shipping Worth It?

Let's run the numbers for a typical indie candle business:

The Ground + insulated + cold pack option often hits the best balance between cost and melt rate. You're spending $6 on packaging instead of $8 extra on expedited shipping, and your melt rate stays manageable.

Real Talk About Candle Shipping

Every candle business goes through phases with this:

Phase 1: "I'll just ship ground, it'll be fine." Then summer comes and the damage reports start rolling in.

Phase 2: "I'll ship everything overnight in the summer." Then you see the shipping bill and realize you're losing money on every order.

Phase 3: "Let me figure out the right combination of insulation, timing, and speed." This is where profitable candle businesses land.

The sellers who survive long-term in the candle business are the ones who treat summer shipping as a solved problem with a known cost, not as a surprise every June. Budget for it. Plan for it. Price your candles to absorb it. And be honest with your customers when a heat wave hits — they'd rather wait an extra day for Monday shipping than receive a candle-shaped puddle on Saturday.