I would like to ship a small portion of my alcohol vial collection to Arizona (from California), about 150 2 dram (approx 7.5ml) glass vials with polyseal screw caps (the ones from BioQuip) - and I've been reading with great interest the various regulations regarding shipping that I did not realize existed!
For my purposes the 49 CFR reads that I can ship using the 173.4b de minimis exception using some specific packaging requirements (e.g., heat sealed plastic bags). It would be helpful to me if someone on the list could indicate whether or not my shipping technique is a good one, and is likely to survive the rigors of UPS ground: top up the vials (no air bubbles) screw on the caps, put a bit of duct tape around each cap so it won't unscrew during transport wrap the vials individually with a thin foam tape a group of vials together (perhaps 25) put the group of vials into a plastic bag, filled with shredded paper from the office shredder, and heat-seal the bag shut (I have a seal-a-meal food storage unti that can nicely seal the heavy bags) put the bag into a second bag (as per 173.4b) with more shredded paper and heat seal it put several bags into a larger cardboard box surroundded with bubble wrap and packing peanuts Is the above likely to get through UPS ground in one piece? Any suggestions on how best to ship the vials would be greatly appreciated. thanks much. - rob macfarlane
