Shipping Paint?

[Ironhide]

Exactly my thinking. How else would Liquitex and Windsor&Newton stay in business if they couldn't ship product?

[kturock]

The baby chicks thig was showing alot of vendors, for different products, ship all the time, and not only don't know, tey can't mail it, they don't know what they're mailing is illegal.

The way they ship is ground.

The OP said, he was having a problem with ground service, because the paint was freezing in the trailer of the truck.

There isn't a special license to ship aerosol, it's a classification called ORM-D. It basiclly tells/warns the people handling the box, it has to go ground and is either an explosive, combustive or flammable. Lighters go the same way.

Bluegreenhello, what happened to your paint was it was marked, ground only. You probably sent it Parcel Post. Some times it's less than priority mail. Sometimes it's only pennies less. It depends on the weight and distance.

SO back to original question posed by the OP.
How to get paint to Colorado in the winter.
Ground and hope it doesn't freeze, or road trip to the store and keep it in the car with you.

[s_o_r_r_o_w]

Though paint is generally understood to be restricted, there is a specific exemption for latex paint:

343.24 Mailable Flammable and Combustible Liquids

The following are mailable:

1. Paint or a related item (UN1263) classified as a flammable or combustible liquid is generally acceptable for mailing provided the material can qualify as an ORM–D material and is sent within the quantity limitations and packaging requirements stated in 343.21 or 343.22, as applicable. Also see 343.26. Mailpieces must be prepared following Packaging Instruction 3A or 3B in Appendix C, as applicable.
2. Latex Paint or a similar water–based paint product that is not flammable or combustible is not regulated as a hazardous material, and therefore is not restricted. Also see 343.26. Mailpieces must be properly packaged under DMM 601.1–8.

From http://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52c3_018.htm.

So latex paint certainly can be airmailed. However, as kturock has pointed out, it does get cold in those compartments, and your paint will still be traveling ground for at least part of the trip.

It's looking like a road trip.

[kturock]

As usual 1 part of the DMM contradicts another. Go figure.

I used 601.

[mrsuitcasegames]

Fair enough. I'm still confused as to how aforementioned paint companies stay in business, but that's an answer to MY question.

Thanks.

[kturock]

Fair enough. I'm still confused as to how aforementioned paint companies stay in business, but that's an answer to MY question.

Thanks.

Ground. UPS Ground uses trucks. Most paint, other than hobby paint, which is in small bottles, is shipped by the pallet, with usualy a dozen or more cases of paint on each pallet. Look at the home improvement stores. Look at the marts. All have their own trucks for delivery from their warehouse to the stores.

I've seen UPS delivering to the craft stores, like Michaels. Everything the FLGS gets is via UPS. Trucks again.

[s_o_r_r_o_w]

I'm still confused as to how aforementioned paint companies stay in business, but that's an answer to MY question.

They ship by air--but in the winter, they ship frozen paint.

To be honest with you, I'm surprised you're having this much trouble with frozen acrylics. I used to keep my gear in an unheated gaming space in the winter, and aside from the occasional superglue contraction/expansion fracture, never had any problems with non-aerosol stuff.

I hate to ask the obvious, but have you given the paints some serious agitation?

[kturock]

Yes, that's something that I've been meaning to ask. How do you people in the very cold, like upper US or almost anywhere in Canada, handle stuff like frozen paint.

Is there anything you can't get, or don't get, during the cold or freezing conditions?

[MagickalMemories]

kturock:

2. Latex Paint or a similar water–based paint product that is not flammable or combustible is not regulated as a hazardous material, and therefore is not restricted. Also see 343.26. Mailpieces must be properly packaged under DMM 601.1–8.

Wouldn't this cover acrylic paints?
If not, why not?
Thanks.

E

[s_o_r_r_o_w]

Aside from the occasional can of primer, which can go bad from looking at them sideways anyway, I've never had an issue with "cold" supplies. And I'm careful to always, every time, test my primer.

I can't think of a time that I've received something through the mail that had any issues because of the cold. And it does get cold here....

OT- I confess to having enjoyed Jon Stewart's spot last night on icy roads and car crashes in the south. We call that normal up here...minus the car crashes, of course.

[Ironhide]

If memory serves, if Vallejo paints sit too long the pigment separates from the liquid. So you usually have to agitate the bottles before use. Could this have happened, and the liquid part froze?

[kturock]

kturock:

2. Latex Paint or a similar water–based paint product that is not flammable or combustible is not regulated as a hazardous material, and therefore is not restricted. Also see 343.26. Mailpieces must be properly packaged under DMM 601.1–8.

Wouldn't this cover acrylic paints?
If not, why not?
Thanks.

E

You got me on that one. I thought acrylics were available as both water based and oil/petroleum based.

[mrsuitcasegames]

Yes, that's something that I've been meaning to ask. How do you people in the very cold, like upper US or almost anywhere in Canada, handle stuff like frozen paint.

Is there anything you can't get, or don't get, during the cold or freezing conditions?

Well, I'll be honest. I've been 'told' that valejo paint is unusable if it freezes. My local art shop guy told me this, as did my local craft store. They CAN'T order paint in the winter. The companies won't ship it for that very reason. But I don't know if it really does make it unusable.

Maybe it does just require some shakage, but I remember shaking the living daylights out of my paint, opening and stirring them, among other crazy ideas. I think somehow it doesn't mix anymore once you freeze it. I don't have a bottle handy to test it on though. As I said, I sold my unusable paint to someone on here a long time ago. ( I'm thinking maybe he mentioned "paint" in my refs, maybe I can find him that way, to apologize of course )


My answer to your question- I'm not sure. I know that there are things that go up in price because of where we live, like vegetables, but I don't know about anything that we CAN'T get. Except paint. Or maybe I can't think of anything. We can grow meat here, even have some ranches that raise non-standard meat like elk and buffalo. The cows and chickens do fine. The hardware stores stay stocked year round in laquer and latex paint and spray varnish, inexplicably. I really can't think of anything we can't get in the winter unless we are in white out conditions and snow up to my nose (I'm 6'4" ), then we can't get a lot of things.

I also want to clarify (OT) that my particular region is actually the warmest part of the rockies, known as the Banana belt, it has some wierdness involving thermals that pushes the storms out of our way. So I've only once been snowed up to my nose, and really can't speak for colorado or canada.

Although, It was 45 degrees today. Somehow, it was nice out. I was wishing I wore shorts.