Shipping in the heat of summer

I was wondering how everyone handles shipping Ukes in the heat

You've got the same problem in the winter. Most shipping environments (trucks, planes, buildings) are climate controlled to some extent. However, I ship my ukes in very large boxes (you'd think there were guitars inside) with plenty of padding to slow down any effects of sudden changes in temperature.

I agree with Chuck, I think winter is harsher on ukes.

String tension is off for sure.

Thanks guys. I worry that they will get left out on someones porch all day in the weather

tattwo said:

I worry that they will get left out on someones porch all day in the weather

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Then ship via a method where you can require a signature, like UPS or FedEx. If no one's home, they're not supposed to just leave it on the porch. Big concern here is that our porch is highly visible from the street, so if a package is just "left" there, anyone could walk up and just take it.

Coordinate with the recipient. Perhaps it might be better to ship to their place of employment than their residence.

Itsme is correct. You are better off shipping to a commercial address than a residential. First off, its simply cheaper. All common carriers charge a premium to go to a residential address. Also, you can guarantee that it will be signed for at a commercial residence. That isn't the case at a residential. I had a mandolin left in the snow on a front porch in Vermont this past winter even though it was signature required. Luckily, no damage. The big issue is to clearly instruct your customer not to open the box until it has acclimated to the inside temperature of the home. Instruments can survive extreme temperature changes but don't respond to quick changes. Lacquer will crack if you expose it to a quick temperature change.

I ship a lot of packages everyday in my day job and one thing that I have learned is that rural hubs don't have enough storage space inside their facilities, so they often put packages in trailers behind the facility. If you ship something ground on a Friday then you risk it sitting there all weekend in a trailer. They don't hold express freight locally but move it to distribution centers that evening, so there is another reason to ship express.