Depending on your region and the time of year, there may be concerns with high temperatures or freezing temperatures when shipping. Because MMM cannot cover issues with samples due to weather extremes; what can you do if you want to order during these times?
And if you do receive samples that youI worry may be compromised because of weather, what do you do?
When am I in trouble? What temps are too high/low?
The functional thermal tolerance of spores:
34F (above freezing) through ~110F
The functional thermal tolerance of cultures and blocks (but see below for more information):
34F (above freezing) through ~100F
This guide will give you a few options on what to do if you are having extreme heat or freezing temperatures. MMM will always verify the shipping date with you when your order payment is verified, but be mindful of the shipping days and deadlines when considering shipping during temperature extremes. That means you should be mindful of the time it make take between the order being placed and completing payment for the order (as many payment options require an additional step after checkout).
Shipping Options during Extreme Heat/Freezing
Standard Shipping
Most customers have no issues with standard shipping even during temp extremes. Usually the heat killing spores or freezing occurs after delivery, before bringing it inside. That means if you are able to watch the tracking, watch out for your post person and bring it inside shortly after delivery, you should be ok with standard shipping. If you don’t have someone home during delivery and it will sit out for more than 15 minutes during temperature extremes, consider one of the other options below.
Note: If you have extreme weather (i.g. Alaska in the dead of winter, Texas in the high of summer), or if you live in a very rural location, this option is more risky as the temp extremes can also be experienced during delivery.
Temperature Controlled Shipping
If you are able to bring your mail inside 2-6 hours after it is delivered, the temperature controlled shipping is a good option.
This option upgrades shipping to 1-3 day estimated priority shipping, includes thermal protection packaging, and includes 2, 72H heat packs (for cold temperature protection) or 2 shipping ice packs (for heat temperature protection). You can select the appropriate option at checkout for your climate/time of year.
Note- Gourmet Ready-to-Fruit blocks are not eligible for this shipping option, but depending on your order MMM may be able to accommodate you.
USPS General Delivery
Another option if you are not home to collect your items during temperature extremes is USPS General Delivery. General Delivery allows you to pick up the package at your local USPS, avoiding the package sitting outside and having temperature related issues. This guide from USPS will give you more info and should be browsed before using this option, but see below for highlights.
If you want to use the USPS General Delivery option:
Verify that your local USPS allows for general delivery.
Use your legal name with the shipping address- you will need your ID to pick up the package at your local USPS.
When ordering, enter the address of your local USPS and include “General Delivery” in the shipping address. See the linked guide above from USPS for an example of how it should be entered at checkout.
Wait it Out
If you do not want to risk standard shipping, pay the premium for temperature controlled shipping and cannot or do not want to pick up at your local USPS there is sadly only 1 other option… wait for better weather. This is a hard truth in our hobby and MMM tries to remind customers in the spring and fall to stock up before extreme temps make it harder to ship these living products. Spore should not freeze nor experience 110F+ temps for too long, so waiting for your local temperature to be in this range is the safest.
I think my spores froze/sat out too long in the heat…What now?
Spores are surprisingly resilient. The amount of spores added to syringes means that if the syringe does freeze or is exposed to super high temperatures, there is a chance for there to be intact spores when the temperature returns to room temperature. Freezing may be slightly better odds than a “cooked” syringe, but depending on the heat level and length of exposure, customers have had ‘phoenix’ stories. If your samples do arrive frozen or sat above 110F, depending on the factors for your project like expense, time, availability of downstream materials etc, MMM generally recommends at least putting samples under the scope or to agar to look for viability. But you will need to make that call based on the above factors.
The cultures MMM offers are slightly more sensitive to weather extremes but can also survive 110F+ and freezing in some conditions. LCs fare better than agar wedges.
Gourmet Ready-to-Fruit blocks are also sensitive to these temps and depending on the species, can cause the block to have difficulty fruiting.