Shipping

You’ve noticed we don’t offer one-size-fits-all shipping. That’s because we manually calculate shipping for every single box individually. It’s extra work for us but it provides you with the true costs. We understand that you would appreciate an approximate cost before you place your order. If your question isn’t answered by the information below, just ask.

We are very fast, and it is not uncommon for us to send you your total with shipping before you’ve even replied to our personal email. Most orders ship same or next business day.

We have no minimum order.

We do not ship by Express Mail or any other overnight service. Which means we do not offer any expedited services. These are cans of fish, not life saving medicines.

In broad, general terms, this is true for all shipping everywhere: the more you ship, the less it costs per item.

While there are many exceptions, one really good rule of thumb (if shipping costs on a per tin basis are of any concern to you ) is: don’t order 5 tins. Order 4 or 10. Because 4 standard-sized tins fit in a 0.1 cubic foot box, and 5 requires a 0.2 cubic foot box.

We ship using the postal service as our primary carrier, but we can ship using other methods upon request. Most packages ship by Priority Mail. Most addresses in the USA are 2 day shipping points, not including the day USPS takes possession of the package. Local addresses may be 1 day points. More remote addresses may be 3 day points.

There are three Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes, a Small, a Medium, and a Large, which are the same price no matter where in the US they are shipped. In addition to these flat rate options there are also 5 tiers volume that have different pricing per Zone, but are functionally flat-rate to any given destination. Meaning a half full box of the same size to the same location will cost the same as a completely full box of the same size to the same destination. Weight is not a factor.

This Priority Mail pricing is based on cubic volume, and has tiered pricing based on the cubic volumes of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 cubic feet. We will always ship your order in the smallest possible box which will contain everything you’ve ordered. There will almost always be space remaining in that box, which we are happy to fill with packing material. However, because we don’t charge at checkout, we can do something others cannot.

As you check out you will see a checkbox you can tick to indicate that you would like for us to contact you before closing the box if any space remains. This is because in most (but not all) cases there is a box size that’s appropriate for your order whose cost to ship will not change if you add a few more tins to the box.

We use the term “standard-sized tins” in the information below. By that we mean tins that are sized and shaped like Matiz, Minerva, and Nuri.

Guesstimate your Shipping

1-2 Tins Most (but not all) single tins, and some combinations of two tins can ship by First Class Mail in a padded envelope or very small box. Cost varies by distance and weight. An actual average value from 250 recent shipments is $4.24 for the shipping portion.

3 Tins Three standard-sized tins will fit in a Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box. This currently costs $8.55 (after our shipping software’s discount of $1.65, which we pass along to you). This will always be the least expensive way to ship to Zones 5-8. But in Zones 1-4 it’s actually slightly less expensive to use a Priority Mail 1096L Box, which is larger. The 1096L box will hold four standard-sized tins, and can hold up to 8 of certain thinner tins if they’re all the same and can nest. The 1096L is 0.1 cubic feet.

Up to (about) 14 Tins The next size up box is the Priority Mail Box 4, which is 0.2 cubic feet, and will hold about 10-14 tins. Price to ship this box will vary by zone, but not by weight, and the cost ranges from $8.31 – $13.17 (after our shipping software’s discount, which we pass along to you).

At this point whether it will be most cost effective to use a Flat Rate Box or a 0.3, 0.4, or 0.5 cubic foot box depends on your location and the specific volume of your order. Again, we will always ship by the least expensive option, but in some cases that may actually be a larger box.

Around 30 Tins The next size up box options are the Medium Flat Rate Box, or a 9x9x6 (0.3 cubic feet) box .

Price to ship the Medium Flat Rate box is always $14.75 (after our shipping software’s discount of $2.35, which we pass along to you).

Pricing on the 9x9x6 ranges from $8.45 – $18.45 (after our shipping software’s discount, which we pass along to you) based on zone (but not weight). To Zones 7-8 it’s less expensive to use a Medium Flat Rate Box, to all other zones this box costs less than a Medium Flat Rate, and to Zone 1 this box is actually less expensive than the much smaller Small Flat Rate.

Around 48 Tins (and Over) The next size up box options are the Large Flat Rate Box, a 12x9x6 (0.4 cubic feet) box, or a 14x10x6 (0.5 cubic feet).

Price to ship the Large Flat Rate Box is always $19.90 (after our shipping software’s discount of $2.90, which we pass along to you).

Pricing on the 12x9x6 (0.4 cubic feet) box ranges from $8.55 – $22.48. To Zones 7-8 it’s less expensive to use a Large Flat Rate Box, to all other zones this box costs less than a Large Flat Rate, and to Zones 1-5 is actually less expensive than the smaller Medium Flat Rate.

Pricing on the 14x10x6 (0.5 cubic feet) box ranges from $8.74 – $26.76. To Zones 7-8 it’s less expensive to use a Large Flat Rate Box, to all other zones this box costs less than a Large Flat Rate, and to Zones 1-5 is actually less expensive than the smaller Medium Flat Rate.

To determine your zone, here’s a chart that breaks it down (more or less):

USPS Shipping Zones from Rainbow Tomatoes Garden at ZIP code 18041 (pirateship.com)

Check your Zone

The USPS Zone Calculator tool lets you “Get Zone for ZIP Code Pair” when you enter our ZIP code of 17517 along with your ZIP code.

International Shipping

We ship everywhere the USPS will ship. However, it is expensive. The most cost effective option is USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes.

You definitely don’t want to ship a small order internationally, it simply isn’t cost effective.

  • Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box holds 2-3 tins. $35-$45 depending on the destination.
  • Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Box holds approximately 26-36 tins. $60-$85 depending on the destination.
  • Priority Mail Large Flat Rate Box holds approximately 40-55 tins. $80-$120 depending on the destination.

Fill It to the Max

Filling the boxes varies wildly depending on the mix of products ordered. An entire box of the same thing = maximum number of tins. Products in glass (bottles of sauce) that require additional protection will take up the space of many tins.

We are happy to work with you to maximize your order. Place your “starter” order for things you definitely want. After we box the those up, we’ll let you know if there’s room for more. If that’s the case, we’ll ask you to give us a list of extra products and we can completely fill the box. When the box is full, we will send you a final total with shipping. You can choose at that point whether to ship or cancel the order. One of the benefits of handling payments after ordering is that we can communicate with you and reconfigure orders all the way up to cancelling when necessary.

As you check out you will see a box you can tick to be notified if space remains in the box.

Special Shipping Requests

If you want to split an order, combine orders with a friend in your neighborhood, get an overnight shipment, order a ‘Dine Gram* for an online friend, or any other creative shipping idea you might have, we will do our best to make it happen.

We can print a note to include in gift boxes. Send a PDF or just the text you’d like to include. Text notes are printed on vertical half-page card stock. PDFs print on letter-size sheet, color laser printed.

If you live in an area with high theft rates, you can ask us to “fully insure” your package and we will add the cost of insurance to the shipping amount. The included Priority Mail insurance covers loss or damage in transit, but does not cover theft after delivery. But we can add additional insurance which will, if you ask.

Our Packing Materials

We are a “packing material negative” company, meaning we share with others more packing material repurposed from incoming shipments than we use. We reuse all the packaging that comes in to us and have never purchased any interior packing material. Opening your box is an adventure in mixed media.

Just like in our tomato gardens, we avoid plastic. Our packing peanuts are vegetable starch (and reused from incoming shipments); the tape we use is unreinforced, water-activated adhesive tape. Reinforced tape uses fiberglass (which never biodegrades, never) and we opted to avoid that. The only plastic we ever use in packing is what is donated to us or arrives in shipments from other companies. We give a second life to plastic bubble mailers by using them to protect hot sauce bottles.


*’Dine Gram is a cool real-life gifting game started by Redditors on r/CannedSardines. You buy a tin of sardines for a friend – you don’t need their address, only a Reddit username. I will send them a PM to let them know they have a can of sardines pre-paid to go in their next order.

This is what we do when we receive your order at RTG.

Problems in Transit / Delivery Issues

There are two basic types of shipping problems that can occur: the package stops being scanned during transit, and the package shows it’s been delivered but you don’t have it.

In the first case, we can file a claim with USPS and they will typically pay those claims. Contact us as soon as you see no movement on your package for more than a day.

In the second case, it’s more complicated, but in our experience almost always resolvable. If your package shows as delivered, but you do not have it, here’s what we recommend:

In our experience when a package scans as delivered, it’s somewhere, and a human usually knows. It’s really only a loss when it stops scanning.

The very first thing you should do is contact your mail carrier, if you know them. If not, contact your local delivering post office, in person if possible. Have your tracking number with you.

When you can reach a human, they will start an investigation, and that investigation will have a number, definitely get that number. It will help with a claim if the investigation doesn’t turn up the package. But in my experience it pretty much always does.

Definitely check with your neighbors, and look closely at the tracking for any clue (sometimes it will say “on porch”, for example, and there is no porch, or provide other clues). Take a new look at your space and imagine where you might stash a package if you were a new or temporary mail carrier on a new route and wanted to do the right thing by hiding the package from someone who might want to steal it.

Sometimes, too, the package is misdelivered and the recipient will give it back to the carrierfor redelivery. So it may just show up in a day or two. The tracking will never update again to show this new movement, a flaw in that system.

If all else fails, try starting an investigation online. But in our experience that’s the least likely to produce a positive result. Talk to the human closest to the delivery point and it’ll be found.

If not, let us know and we will do what we can to make it right.