HowTo – Shipping lake samples to Cornell

This is about how lake volunteers ship frozen samples to Cornell via express shipment.

Change log:

When	Who	Comment
2021 02 26	sp17	Initial sketch from memory of how we did this in earlier rounds with lake volunteers.
2021 03 19	Sp17	Refinements, first completed version.
2022 07 20	Sp17	Eliminated Covid-related shipping aspects.
2022 08 18	Sp17	Update and simplify, bump to 90%.
2023 06 15	Sp17	Convert to Markdown.
2023 07 29	Sp17	Minor updates, adapt to Quarto.
2023 09 13	Sp17	Two shipping failures noted, some resulting reforms

1. Objectives:

Convey original field samples from lake volunteers to Cornell.
Maintain sample identity and integrity.

2. Quality assurance considerations:

Vulnerabilities:

Samples can warm during transport.
Delivery can go awry - delay, misdirected.
Frozen sample containers may be vulnerable to rupturing due to shocks.
Sampling volunteers require extra support compared to employees of Cornell or DEC.

Prevention:

Cornell sends in advance an insulated shipping box, unfrozen ice packs, bubble wrap, packaging tape, preprinted waterproof labels, prepaid express carrier forms preaddressed to a Cornell recipient.
The insulated shipping ice chests are filled with bubble wrap cushioning/insulation, frozen ice packs and frozen samples just before shipping. In practice this has allowed over 24 hours of samples remaining partly frozen. The volunteer knows when the shipper dropoff is open.
Volunteer ships on the day before the Cornell people are expecting them. Maintain rapport between volunteer and Cornell from before ship-out day though the end of the ship receiving day.
Volunteer and Cornell watch the online express shipment tracking until the package is in the hands of the Cornell recipient.
Cornell checks temperature at receipt: are they frozen, if not what is the temperature via an IR temperature gun?
- ToDo: revive Pacenka’s IR temperature gun (probably needs new batteries).
Sample container choice includes robustness criteria. Containers are Nalgene 250 mL narrow neck. They will fracture while frozen if dropped on their cap’s corner, but the interior of the cap in the bottle neck remains intact thus the sample integrity is preserved.
Extra insulation and shock-prevention via bubble wrap around containers in the ice chest.
Logging and other data:
- Copies of emails between Cornell and volunteers, retained at Cornell mentioned in lab log.
- Shipping manifest from the samplers scanned at Cornell.
- Metadata sheets from volunteers are scanned at Cornell.
Checking samples against the manifest by sampler before sealing, and by Cornell after receipt.

3. Steps per express shipment:

The lake volunteer has an insulated box and packing materials from Cornell that they received with containers and labels.

Cornell and lake volunteer (for short: “laker”): Maintain ongoing rapport about when Cornell can receive a shipment, via what carriers.
Cornell: Verify that freezer space is available in a viable freezer; it is acceptable to store the samples in fridge for up to two days.
Laker and Cornell: Schedule a day for shipping.
Laker: Make a sample list manifest for this batch.
Laker: Pack samples with cushioning/insulating bubble wrap, frozen ice packs, a bagged printed or handwritten sample list, bagged sample data sheets. Pack in provided Cornell ice chest. Seal the ice chest sturdily with heavy packaging table around the narrow and long directions of the ice chest.
Laker: Schedule pickup by express shipping company; mark the ice chest for the shipping company such as by attaching the shipping form.
Laker: Notify Cornell contact with the tracking number when available.
Cornell then Laker: watch the online tracking status. Verify that samples have been received in good condition and that sample labels match the list and the metadata forms. Notify the lake volunteer about results of the check, and reconcile quickly any missing data and inconsistencies between list and containers.
Cornell: Put the samples into freezer or fridge. Check samples for bulges from too much water; if bulging, thaw completely and pour off some of the water. Freezer is preferred, fridge for a maximum of two days if freezer is unavailable. (Should verify that freezer is OK before arranging the shipment.)
Cornell: Transcribe the shipping manifest and sample datasheets into the Cornell samples and analyses tables and make a note of the batch arrival in the Cornell field log.

An extra vulnerability in this process, not present in the sample shipments from Cornell to DEC, is that the lake volunteers do not retain extra water, they ship their entire sample to Cornell.

4. History of problems and resolutions:

There were zero problems with earlier lake volunteer shipments. There were problems of package loss and damage in Cornell express shipments to DEC over the years that led to current packing and tracking practice among any participants. See the HowTo for sample shipping to DEC.

There was a failure of communication in August 2023. Volunteers express-shipped samples with a semi-formal notification to Cornell. The samples sat for over two weeks in a Riley-Robb mailroom. We do not check the mail room daily; with so little snail mail we only check the mail room when we are expecting incoming packages. Department administrative staff formerly would notify about incoming packages, but admin staff are working most often from home.

Remedy: We recommitted to handshake emails between sender and recipient before and on the shipping date, and on the receiving date.

There was a UPS shipping failure in September 2023. The package was shipped on a Wednesday afternoon for delivery on Thursday. UPS mishandled it initially and notified in tracking that it would be delayed. One day would not have been a problem, but the package didn’t reach Ithaca until the weekend and no deliveries can be made to Cornell buildings until Monday. Then the UPS delivery driver on Monday did not know that all packages go to one Riley-Robb mailroom, thus holding it over for actual delivery on Tuesday.

Remedy: Switch from UPS and obsolete hand-filled multipart forms to FedEx and an online approach, which makes it easy to create online shipping labels for both outgoing and return to Cornell. We also are making the return address the mailroom number 114 rather than “B62” which was probably misread by automated UPS reading equipment as “862”. Finally, we marked the outside of the container with our names so that if it sits in the mailroom someone else who went into the room could notify us. Unlike with UPS, we can indicate that the Cornell recipient rather than volunteer sender should receive tracking information. FedEx provides email notifications to Cornell when the package is dropped off at the sender’s drop location, when the package reaches an intermediate FedEx facility, when the package is out for delivery, and when the package has been delivered.

There was a minor outgoing FedEx supplies shipping failure from Cornell in September. We attempted to ship a taped styrofoam box with supplies to volunteers, but it was not picked up according to schedule and there was no indication in online tracking why it was not picked up. We took the package to a FedEx location on the next day and they said it needed to be covered in cardboard so bits of styrofoam would not damage their package handling equipment. (The first use of FedEx after switching from UPS actually succeeded in both directions using the bare styrofoam box. Riley-Robb receives bare styrofoam insulated boxes regularly.) FedEx counter person kindly boxed it up for an extra $4 and it was on its way. This had no impact since the supplies (unfrozen ice packs, bubble wrap, FedEx return form, sample containers, packing tape, labels) are not perishable. Only the return trip with frozen samples is time critical.

Response: Buy a new foam shipping box with its own cardboard enclosure. The cardboard enclosure is marked as urgent / perishable and we will add our names on the outside.