Are you planning on shipping a loved one’s cremated remains at the conclusion of their cremation services in North Riverdale, NY? If you are, you’re going to need to know how to go about doing it in the right way. From using the right shipping company to packing the remains up tight, it’ll be important for you to take the right approach to shipping cremated remains from start to finish. Check out our guide to shipping cremated remains below. 

Plan to use the U.S. Postal Service to ship cremated remains. 

If you’re going to be shipping a person’s cremated remains following their North Riverdale, NY cremation, you’re going to want to use the U.S. Postal Service to do it. Other shipping companies like UPS and FedEx aren’t going to knowingly ship cremated remains for you. The USPS, however, allows the shipment of cremated remains and has some very specific guidelines in place for how you should do it. You’re going to want to follow these guidelines closely. 

Make sure you package cremated remains properly. 

When you package up cremated remains to ship them, you need to do it properly to prevent the remains from spilling out at any point. You’ll begin by putting the remains into an inner sift-proof container for safekeeping. This container should be strong and durable, and you should also consider sticking it into a plastic bag just in case. From there, you’ll want to surround your inner container with some kind of cushioning material that will keep the container safe. And after you’ve done that, you can finish things off by putting the inner container and cushioning material into an outer container. Ideally, it should be a USPS-branded container that is going to be able to withstand the shipping and handling process. 

Add a return address to the packaging for the cremated remains in several places. 

As long as you package cremated remains properly, you shouldn’t have to worry about them reaching their final destination safely. But there is always going to be at least a small chance that your outer container might come open and let your inner container fall out. Because of this, you should be sure that you put your return address on both your inner and outer containers in several places. It’ll guarantee that you’ll be able to get your loved one’s remains back in the event that something goes wrong during your shipment. 

Put a “Cremated Remains” label on the outside of the packaging. 

The USPS has a special “Cremated Remains” label that should always be put onto the outside of the packaging when you’re shipping cremated remains. You should get your hands on this label and place it on your outer container. It’ll let USPS employees know that they need to be extra careful with your package at all times. 

Are you still confused as to how to ship cremated remains? It can sometimes be difficult to do, especially if you’re shipping a loved one’s remains to another state or another country. Riverdale-on-Hudson Funeral Home, Inc. is here to help. Our North Riverdale, NY funeral home has plenty of experience with shipping cremated remains and can show you how to do it in the most efficient way possible. Give us a call for all your cremation needs.