Other couriers are ambient parcel couriers. They don’t operate mechanical refrigeration systems. Anyone claiming otherwise is either misinformed or deliberately misleading.

This isn’t speculation – it’s observable fact. Check their fleets. Standard cargo vans and trucks with no refrigeration equipment. Check their service offerings. “Temperature-controlled” is not listed as a service category. Check their pricing. R45-85 per parcel doesn’t cover refrigerated transport operating costs (R150-250 minimum for professional cold chain).

What other couriers actually offers:

Standard ambient courier service:

• Cargo vans without refrigeration
• General parcel handling
• Competitive pricing for ambient goods
• Extensive coverage network

This is excellent for most parcels. It’s inadequate for frozen food requiring -18°C throughout multi-stop delivery routes in 35°C Johannesburg summer conditions.

Can customers send frozen items via other couriers?

Technically yes – most other couriers don’t prohibit senders from packaging frozen items with ice packs and using their ambient service. Practically, results are predictable:

Physics outcome:

• Sender provides poly box with ice packs (finite thermal mass)
• Item loaded into ambient cargo van (no active cooling)
• Multiple stops before recipient delivery (ice depletes with time and door openings)
• Summer conditions accelerate warming
• Product arrives partially thawed after 4-8 hours

Who assumes risk:

• Sender: Provides packaging and ice packs at own expense
• Recipient: Receives product in unknown condition
• Courier: Provides transport service with no temperature guarantees

This isn’t “frozen food delivery” – it’s ambient courier service where sender attempts temperature control via passive packaging. Sometimes this works for short distances and single deliveries. Often it fails for multi-stop routes in summer.

Why this matters:

For senders (you):

• Product quality risk (ice cream melts, meat partially thaws)
• Customer satisfaction risk (your customers blame you, not the courier)
• No temperature documentation (cannot prove product stayed frozen if customer complains)
• No recourse (courier provided transport service as specified – they didn’t promise temperature control)

For recipients:

• Unknown product condition upon arrival
• Must trust sender’s packaging and ice pack calculations
• No visibility into actual temperature during transport

Professional alternative:

Professional cold chain couriers (like us) provide:

• Mechanical refrigeration maintaining -18°C regardless of route duration
• R638-compliant temperature monitoring and documentation
• Insurance covering product loss from temperature excursions
• Trained drivers understanding cold chain handling
• Clear accountability for temperature control

This costs more (R160-R270 versus R45-85) because professional equipment and expertise cost more than ambient courier vans.

Honest assessment:

Other Couriers for frozen food:

• ✗ Not designed for frozen logistics
• ✗ No mechanical refrigeration
• ✗ No temperature control guarantees
• ✗ Sender assumes all temperature maintenance responsibility
• ? Works sometimes for short single-delivery routes
• ? Complete gamble for multi-stop or summer conditions

Professional cold chain courier:

• ✓ Designed specifically for frozen food
• ✓ Mechanical refrigeration throughout route
• ✓ Temperature maintained and documented
• ✓ Courier assumes temperature control responsibility
• ✓ Works reliably across all conditions

The real question isn’t “Does The Other Courier deliver frozen food?” but rather “Are you willing to gamble your product quality and customer satisfaction on passive ice pack cooling in ambient cargo vans?”

If your product is valuable, your brand reputation matters, or regulatory compliance is required (R638 for commercial frozen food), use professional cold chain logistics. If you’re shipping a single frozen meal to your friend on a cool winter day for short distance, ambient courier with good ice packs might work.

We’re not competing with other couriers – we’re serving completely different market needs with fundamentally different equipment and capabilities.

Related Resources:

• Services: What We Actually Provide
• Why Professional Cold Chain Costs More
• How Professional Couriers Maintain Temperature

We actually understand thermodynamics, and we’ve spent eight years validating theory against many thousands of kilometers of operational reality in South African conditions.

This isn’t marketing differentiation. It’s engineering differentiation. Here’s what’s actually different:

1. Equipment Engineering (not just equipment ownership)

General courier approach:

• Purchase refrigerated vehicle from bodybuilder
• Accept manufacturer specifications at face value
• Operate equipment as delivered
• Blame “equipment failure” when temperature excursions occur

Our approach:

• Specify refrigeration capacity 25-30% above sea-level ratings (compensating for 1,750m Johannesburg altitude)
• Calculate actual thermal loads based on route profiles (door openings, stop duration, urban heat island effects)
• Retrofit variable-speed compressor controls when manufacturer provides crude on/off systems
• Validate equipment performance against thermodynamic predictions
• Modify systems when performance doesn’t match requirements

Result: Our equipment works reliably at Johannesburg altitude in summer because we engineer for actual conditions rather than accepting European specifications.

2. Operational Understanding

General cold chain courier:

• Drivers trained to “keep doors closed” and “don’t leave refrigeration off”
• No understanding of why these procedures matter
• React to equipment alarms without understanding root causes
• Blame “hot weather” when temperature control fails

Our approach:

• Drivers understand thermodynamics of door opening thermal loads
• Trained to recognize equipment performance degradation before failure
• Can explain to customers why professional cold chain costs more (because they understand the physics)
• Take ownership of temperature control rather than treating it as incidental to driving

3. Transparency and Documentation

Industry standard:

• “Temperature-controlled” in marketing with no specification of actual temperature
• “We monitor temperature” with no data logging or documentation
• “Refrigerated vehicle” that might be mechanical refrigeration or might be ice boxes
• No temperature data provided to customers (because they’re not monitoring rigorously)

Our approach:

• Specific temperature maintenance: -18°C ± 2°C, documented
• Continuous data logging with 1-minute interval sampling
• Temperature log data available upon request for any delivery
• R638 compliance documentation as standard, not optional
• Honest about equipment limitations (we’ll tell you if your route requirements exceed our capabilities)

4. Physics-Based Problem Solving

Industry approach to temperature excursions:

• “Equipment malfunction” (check refrigeration unit)
• “Operator error” (blame driver)
• “Unusually hot weather” (blame conditions)
• Replace equipment when problems persist

Our approach:

• Calculate expected thermal loads for route profile
• Measure actual equipment capacity at altitude
• Compare measured performance to thermodynamic predictions
• Identify root cause (undersized equipment, excessive stop density, insufficient recovery time, altitude correction inadequate)
• Implement engineering solution (resize equipment, optimize routes, modify systems)

5. Technical Content and Education

Industry marketing:

• “Advanced cold chain solutions”
• “State-of-the-art refrigeration”
• “Industry-leading service”
• No technical specifications
• No operational data
• No thermodynamic explanations

Our content:

• Technical articles with actual calculations
• Thermodynamic formulas explaining cold chain performance
• Operational data from 770,000+ km validating theory
• Specific equipment specifications and altitude corrections
• Honest assessment of where industry practices fail

Result: Customers understand what they’re paying for and why professional cold chain costs more.

6. Honesty About Costs

Industry pricing:

• Loss-leader pricing subsidized by investor funding
• Hidden surcharges and fuel fees
• “Temperature-controlled” service at ambient courier prices (impossible with mechanical refrigeration)
• Prices disconnect from actual operating costs

Our pricing:

• R160-R270 per delivery based on actual cost recovery
• No hidden fees or surcharges
• Transparent cost breakdown explaining why frozen food courier costs more than ambient
• Sustainable pricing that doesn’t depend on venture capital or cross-subsidies

7. Selective Market Focus

General courier approach:

• Serve all markets (frozen, chilled, ambient, hazmat, oversized, everything)
• Generalist equipment and procedures
• Scale through coverage rather than specialization

Our approach:

• Frozen food only (-18°C mechanical refrigeration)
• Specialized equipment optimized for frozen logistics
• Deep expertise in specific application rather than superficial coverage of many
• We’ll decline business outside our capability rather than providing marginal service

The actual difference:

We’re not “better couriers” – we’re engineers who operate courier services as validation platforms for thermodynamic analysis of transport refrigeration systems in South African high-altitude urban conditions.

This sounds pretentious until you recognize:

• Industry-standard equipment systematically underperforms at Johannesburg altitude
• Standard sizing methods ignore multi-stop thermal loads
• Timer-based defrost wastes 60% of defrost energy
• Urban heat island effects add 30-50% to calculated thermal loads

Someone needs to actually measure this, calculate the corrections, implement the engineering solutions, and prove they work. That’s what we do. The courier service is how we validate the engineering.

Your frozen products arrive at -18°C because we understand why equipment fails and how to prevent it – not because we bought better equipment from the same suppliers or hired better drivers from the same labor pool.

Related Resources:

• About: Our Operational Experience
• Technical Articles: Industry Challenges
• Technical Formulas: Altitude Corrections, Thermal Loads

You can try. You’ll probably succeed once or twice. Then you’ll lose a customer who received melted ice cream or partially thawed meat, and you’ll realize why professional cold chain exists.

This question appears in many forms:

• “Can’t I just send frozen food in a cooler box?”
• “Why not use dry ice instead of expensive refrigerated courier?”
• “Isn’t mechanical refrigeration overkill for frozen food?”

Answer: No, no, and absolutely not.

The ice pack math:

Let’s calculate what ice packs actually accomplish on a multi-stop summer delivery route:

Given:

• Route: 20 deliveries in Johannesburg summer
• Ambient temperature: 35°C
• Cargo space: 12m³ (typical small refrigerated van)
• Door openings: 40 (open for delivery, close, open for next stop access, close)

Ice pack thermal capacity:

• Latent heat of fusion (ice→water): 334 kJ/kg
• 10kg ice pack total cooling: 3,340 kJ before complete melting

Door opening thermal load:

• Air density at Johannesburg: 0.95 kg/m³
• Temperature difference: 35°C – (-18°C) = 53K
• Air exchange per opening: 40% (η = 0.4)
• Heat per opening: 0.95 × 12 × 1.005 × 53 × 0.4 = 243 kJ

Steady-state thermal loss (insulated box, no active cooling):

• Typical poly box U-value: ~0.4 W/m²·K
• Surface area: ~2 m² (medium shipping box)
• Temperature difference: 53K
• Continuous thermal loss: 0.4 × 2 × 53 = 42 W
• 6-hour route: 42W × 21,600s = 907 kJ

Total thermal load:

• Door openings: 40 × 243 = 9,720 kJ
• Steady-state loss: 907 kJ
• Total: 10,627 kJ

Ice packs required:

• 10,627 kJ ÷ 3,340 kJ per 10kg pack = 3.2 packs minimum
• Realistic (accounting for thermal bridging, imperfect contact): 4-5 × 10kg packs = 40-50kg ice

Problems:

1. Weight: 40-50kg ice packs consume payload capacity
2. Progressive depletion: Ice melts progressively, not uniformly. By stop #10, remaining ice insufficient for recovery
3. Meltwater: 40-50L of water leaking in cargo space or requiring absorption/drainage
4. No monitoring: No way to verify temperature maintenance
5. No recovery: Once ice depleted, products warm irreversibly

This is why mechanical refrigeration exists. A 4kW refrigeration system continuously removes 4,000 J/second, recovering from each door opening within 10-15 minutes and operating throughout entire route regardless of duration or stop count.

The dry ice alternative:

Sublimation cooling capacity:

• Dry ice (solid CO₂): 571 kJ/kg sublimation energy
• Sublimation temperature: -78.5°C

Required quantity (same 20-stop route):

• Total thermal load: 10,627 kJ
• Dry ice required: 10,627 ÷ 571 = 18.6 kg minimum

Why professional logistics doesn’t use dry ice:

1. CO₂ accumulation: 18.6 kg dry ice produces 18.6kg × (44/44) = 9,500L CO₂ gas in enclosed vehicle
2. Safety hazard: CO₂ displaces oxygen, creating asphyxiation risk
3. Ventilation requirements: Vehicle would need active ventilation system
4. Handling difficulty: -78.5°C requires protective equipment, complicates loading/unloading
5. Regulatory restrictions: Transportation of dry ice subject to hazmat regulations
6. Over-freezing risk: -78.5°C can damage some frozen products designed for -18°C storage

Dry ice works for:

• Single-package air freight shipments
• Specialized applications with proper ventilation
• Products requiring ultra-cold temperatures

Dry ice doesn’t work for:

• Multi-stop urban courier operations
• Enclosed cargo vehicles
• General frozen food logistics

The “good insulation” fantasy:

Some believe sufficiently good insulation eliminates the need for active cooling. Thermodynamics says otherwise.

Insulation slows heat transfer. It doesn’t prevent it.

Best-case scenario (aerospace-grade vacuum insulation):

• U-value: 0.002 W/m²·K (100× better than typical cooler)
• Still allows: 0.002 × 2 × 53 = 0.2 W continuous thermal gain
• Over 6 hours: 4,320 kJ
• Temperature rise: Depends on product thermal mass, but inevitable

Realistic scenario (good quality cooler):

• U-value: 0.3-0.5 W/m²·K
• Thermal gain: 30-50 W continuous
• Over 6 hours: 650-1,100 kJ (enough to warm 20kg frozen products from -18°C to -10°C)

Insulation is essential. Professional refrigerated vehicles use ATP-certified insulation (U-value < 0.7 W/m²·K for entire cargo space). But insulation supports mechanical refrigeration – it doesn’t replace it.

When ice packs work:

Successful ice pack scenarios:

• Single delivery, short distance (<1 hour transit), cool conditions
• Small product mass relative to ice pack mass (500g product, 5kg ice)
• Immediate handoff with no intermediate stops
• Winter conditions (15-20°C ambient)

Example: Sending 1kg frozen meals from Sandton to Rosebank (15 minutes drive) on winter morning = ice packs probably sufficient.

Unsuccessful ice pack scenarios:

• Multi-stop routes (4+ deliveries)
• Long duration (3+ hours)
• Summer conditions (30-35°C ambient)
• Large product mass (limited ice pack capacity)

Example: Delivering 10kg frozen products across 20-stop Johannesburg route in summer = ice packs guaranteed failure.

Our position:

If you want to gamble your product quality and customer satisfaction on ice pack calculations, that’s your risk to take. We’ve measured ice pack performance across hundreds of scenarios. It works sometimes. It fails predictably under multi-stop summer conditions.

We use mechanical refrigeration because:

• Physics demands it for reliable performance
• R638 regulations require documented temperature control
• Customer satisfaction requires products arriving frozen, not “mostly frozen”
• Professional operations don’t gamble on passive cooling

You cannot buy professional frozen food logistics results using amateur ice pack methods. The equipment costs more because thermodynamics is expensive.

Related Resources:

• Technical Formulas: Thermal Load Calculations
• Why Professional Cold Chain Costs More
• How Mechanical Refrigeration Works

All major South African general courier companies either explicitly prohibit perishable goods or exclude liability for them.

The Courier Guy

Explicit Prohibition

From FAQ Section:

“We can’t ship dangerous goods, perishables, or illegal items. This includes: …Fresh food that can spoil”

From Terms & Conditions (Section 10.1.4):

“TCGSA shall not be liable for any loss or damage whatsoever caused by the perishable, fragile, or brittle nature of the goods and packaging.”

From Prohibited Items List (Section 12.3):

• Explicitly lists prohibited items including transport of perishable materials

Liability Limitation

• Maximum liability: R1,000 per consignment
• Explicit exclusion: “shall not be liable for any loss or damage whatsoever caused by the perishable… nature of the goods”

RAM Couriers

Explicit Prohibition

From Prohibited Items Schedule (Section I, Page 19):

• Perishable goods are listed with prohibition icon

Perishable Food items (Perishable Goods) / Bulk Foods

From Terms & Conditions:

• Section 6.1.2: All shipments at “CUSTOMER’s risk” unless gross negligence
• Section 12.5.1: Customer must NOT tender any Shipment containing “RESTRICTED ITEMS” without RAM’s prior written consent
• Section 12.5.2: Customer must NOT tender any Shipment containing “PROHIBITED ITEMS”

Liability Limitation

• Default liability: R1,250 automatic coverage (excluding hijackings)
• Maximum liability with insurance: R5,000
• No insurance available for perishable goods
• Exclusion of indirect and consequential damages

Fastway Couriers

Explicit Policy

From FAQ Section:

“Fastway doesn’t accept perishable items for transport within our network. However, if you still want Fastway to carry perishable goods then we can do so, but this will be at your risk – no limited liability coverage is included.“

Definition provided:

“Perishable items are goods that are subject to spoilage or decay such as foodstuff or plants.”

Liability Limitation

• Perishable goods: NO liability coverage included
• Customer assumes 100% risk
• Listed alongside dangerous goods as restricted items

Collivery.net (MDS Collivery)

Policy

From Terms & Conditions:

• While no explicit “prohibited perishables” list was found in the main terms, the liability structure makes perishable shipping impractical:
• Default liability: R1,000 per waybill
• Maximum with risk cover: R10,000 per waybill
• Excludes: “indirect and consequential damages”
• Excludes: “damage resulting from inadequate packaging”

Customer Warranty Required (Section 3.6.3):

“The Client has to the best of its knowledge and belief, complied with all laws, rules and regulations regarding, the carriage and that the goods are not prohibited by Government regulation.”

Practical Implications

• The terms effectively exclude perishable goods through:
• Low liability limits (R1,000-R10,000) inadequate for frozen food loss
• Exclusion of consequential damages
• No mention of temperature-controlled services
• Standard ambient courier service only

Legal/Regulatory Context

Why General Couriers Exclude Perishables

• Liability Risk:
  • Temperature excursions cause total product loss
  • Consequential damages (customer relationships, brand damage) far exceed product value
  • No control over temperature during multi-stop routes

• Operational Limitations:
  • No mechanical refrigeration equipment
  • No temperature monitoring systems
  • No R638 food safety compliance
  • Drivers not trained in cold chain handling

• Insurance:
  • Goods-in-transit insurance excludes perishables or requires massive premiums
  • Maximum liability (R1,000-R10,000) inadequate for frozen food value + losses

Research compiled from publicly available terms of service and FAQs published by courier companies as of November 14, 2025.