
Soy wax is one of the most popular waxes for candle making and it has a relatively low melting point. This creates the potential for a problem when shipping candles during the summer months, especially if you live in the south or southwest United States. However, you still have some options. How to keep soy candles from melting during shipping?
Prevent soy candles from melting by using cold gel packs in the package, shipping early in the week, double-boxing your candles, wax blends, and limiting customers to priority mail during summer months. In addition, make sure customers have tracking information.
You might be wondering if all of that is really necessary?
Well, if you live somewhere temperatures can exceed 90°F it is. If you ship your candles on a Friday then your candles might be stuck in the back of a truck for the weekend. In the sun truck trailer can get up to 30°F warmer than the outside temperatures.
If it is 90°F + 30°F then you have just achieved the melting point of your soy wax candles. For that reason, it is not a bad idea to take some precautions when shipping soy wax candles in the summer.
Can you ship candles without them melting? You can ship candles without them melting. Ship candles in the summer without them melting by only shipping Monday through Wednesday so they do not get stuck in a truck during the weekend. You can also package them well and include gel packs.
Let’s take a look at what you can do.
How To Prevent Melting During Shipping
How To Ship Candles In The Summer.
Double Box
When you double box your candles it creates an air gap plus whatever packing material you use. This space becomes an insulator which will keep the inside of the box with your candle colder longer. This can buy you precious time in how quickly your candles warm up.
You can get boxes from Uline for as little as 30 cents each so this should not hurt your bottom line much. It is better than reshipping a candle or losing a customer.
Cold Gel Packs
Cold refrigerant gel packs from Uline cost less than 25 cents each. You can get ice packs just as cheap from Ice Pack Store. If these packs are in bubble wrap between the inner and outer boxes they will protect your candles from the heat.
Ship Early In The Week
Ship your packages first thing Monday morning. If you ship your packages first thing on Monday morning then you do not have to worry about them getting stuck in a truck trailer or a mail processing center over the weekend.
This is the real threat to your soy candles. That they might sit in the back of a truck at a mail sorting center through the weekend in 90°F+ temperatures on a sunny day.
Priority Mail
Priority mail will generally get your package to its destination a day or two earlier than first class mail. That is time that could make the difference in sweaty runny candle arriving and a candle that still looks freshly poured and cured.
If you are selling premium hand poured candles I am sure that your customers might not mind paying the additional shipping cost.
Package Tracking and Delivery Notification
No matter what precautions you take, if your customer lets the box lay outside in the sun all day after it has been delivered they might still end up with a melted candle.
To avoid this they need to be aware of tracking and delivery notifications through the USPS website.
If they bring in the package as soon as it is delivered it will save everyone involved a headache.
Wax Blend
Another option is to blend your soy wax with something else such as paraffin wax, palm wax or beeswax. All of which will raise the melting point of pure soy wax.
However, paraffin wax can not be marketed as all-natural, renewable or non-toxic. So paraffin wax would be the last type of wax on my list of waxes to make a summer blend.
Palm wax checks the all-natural, renewable and non-toxic boxes so it is a potential candidate. Although, It does have some of its own negatives due to harvesting practices and environmental management.
Coconut wax will actually lower the melt point of your candles so it is not an option.
Beeswax is all-natural, renewable and non-toxic but it is not vegan.
I suppose the choice comes down to who your customers are and what they believe in.
If you can make sure that your palm wax is sourced from a country that has decent labor practices and environmental laws then it would probably be my first choice. Beeswax would be my second choice and I do not make any candles with paraffin wax.

Frequently Asked Questions
Do not freeze your candles before shipping them. Freezing candles can damage the wax and damage the container the candle is in. You may consider refrigerating your packaging material in addition to using cold gel packs. This will help keep the candles cool longer during shipping.
If a candle melts during shipping you will be expected to replace that candle at least once by most online e-commerce platforms. Reduce the chances of this happening by following our summer shipping tips and making sure the customer has the tracking information for immediate pickup.
Candles can melt when shipped in the summer if they are left sitting in the back of a hot truck or laying in the sun on a customer’s front steps. Take the necessary steps to make sure that your candles do not end up melting while in transit.
Store candles close to the floor fully packaged and sitting in a level position. The floor is generally the coolest place in a room making them less likely to melt. In addition, keeping the candles level will minimize any wax movement should the candles get warm enough to begin melting.
Do not store candles upside down. If the candle gets hot enough to melt while it is upside down it will sink into the lid and create a mess. It will become very hard to salvage a candle that has begun to melt while sitting upside down and even more difficult after it hardens.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you have several options to help keep your candles from melting during shipping in the summer. Some of these options may seem extreme, but I have seen candle makers on craft forums that simply stop selling candles for a few months during the summer.
While everyone else is still shipping in the summer they are getting a head start on making candles for the fall and the holidays so they do not have to deal with melting candles and reshipping orders.
You can always put a heater in a small room at your house along with one of your boxes and crank up the temperature to see if your candle survive. Perhaps as an alternative you can ship to a friend down south and see how it goes for a test run.
Whatever you chose, you have several options to choose from but personally I think using a bit of palm or beeswax blend in combination with shipping on a Monday morning should be sufficient to avoid most problems.
