General care should be exercised in the packaging of cheese for shipment by parcel post. The surface of the cheese should be clean and, if necessary, paraffined. As a protection to the cheese it should be wrapped in several layers of paper, preferably with a waxed paper next to the cheese. Corrugated or other fiber-board containers or wooden boxes may be used as shipping containers. (See [figure 6].) When rather weak fiber board or wooden boxes are used they should be wrapped with several sheets of tough paper.
Addressing and Mailing Parcel-Post Packages
Parcel-post packages, like other mail matter, should be carefully addressed, including the street number of the person to receive the parcel. In the upper left-hand corner the name and address of the sender should be plainly written. It is preferable to place all addresses on the package itself rather than on a tag tied to the package, for if the tag becomes detached the addresses of both the sender and receiver are lost. A rubber stamp for butter shipments bearing the statement: “Butter—keep away from heating apparatus,” may be used to show that the parcel is perishable and should be handled accordingly by the postal employees. The letters in the word “Butter” should be one-half inch high, the others one-fourth inch high.
In shipping by parcel post such a perishable product as butter, which is affected by exposure to heat, inquiry should be made of the post office regarding the daily mail service for parcel matter from that point to the destination of the shipment. Arrangements should be made to post the packages as near as practicable to the mail time in order to obtain delivery in the quickest possible time.
Parcel Post Package Ready for Sending.
Consideration should be given to the practicability of using night mail service when available, as the temperature is usually cooler at night than in the daytime. Night shipments to points within the first and second zones ordinarily are delivered early the next day.
In a general way the foregoing precautions suggested for butter should be observed in shipping cheese.
Postal Requirements
Postal regulations provide that—