Perishable Shipping Solutions Safeguard Pet Food, Customer Trust for Busy Shipper

Case Study Summary

Discover how Unishippers helped Hare Today optimize perishable shipping solutions through dependable UPS parcel services, responsive support, shipping technology and a UPS drop trailer program, improving operational efficiency while delivering frozen pet food safely to customers nationwide.

For Ashlee Luke, Hare Today isn't simply a business. It's a family legacy that began with one difficult question: Could better nutrition help pets live healthier lives?
That journey began in 1999 after the family's boxer was diagnosed with cancer. Determined to understand why, Ashlee’s mother immersed herself in researching pet nutrition, spending evening after evening on the family's dial-up internet connection while a teenage Ashlee impatiently waited for the phone line to free up.

"As a teenager, we all thought Mom had some pretty unconventional ideas," Ashlee said with a laugh. "This was way before fresh pet food was available or even before the concept was in the market."

Looking back, Ashlee sees what few others could at the time: her mother wasn't following a trend. She was helping create one.

What started as a small farm eventually grew into Hare Today, a company dedicated to producing natural frozen pet food years before it became mainstream. In 2007, the business was featured in The Wall Street Journal, validating a vision that had been years ahead of its time.

Today, Ashlee and her husband continue building on that foundation as second-generation owners. Years spent learning every aspect of the family business have given Ashlee a unique perspective. She doesn't view shipping as something that happens after a sale. She sees it as an extension of the promise Hare Today makes to every customer.

"I'm integral to every piece of the operation," she said. "From shipping and working with Unishippers to speaking directly with our customer base and really having hands-on responsibility for the health and wellness of their pets. It’s a lot of accountabilities. And shipping is part of that."

For Ashlee, every shipment carries more than frozen pet food. It carries the trust of customers who depend on those products arriving safely and on time. That's why dependable perishable shipping solutions have become just as important as the quality ingredients inside every package.

Where Perishable Shipping Solutions Meet Personal Service

Hare Today specializes in offering natural, species-appropriate diets and supplements for dogs, cats, ferrets and other meat-eating pets. Local family farms supply their FDA and/or USDA-inspected pet food, which Hare Today then processes and distributes to discerning pet parents around the country.

Shipping frozen pet food presents unique challenges. Transit times matter. Visibility matters. Communication matters. When customers are waiting on food for their pets, uncertainty quickly becomes anxiety.

Like many growing businesses, Hare Today previously worked directly with parcel carriers. While Ashlee appreciated those relationships, frequent turnover made it difficult to build long-term partnerships with representatives who truly understood the business.

That changed when a Unishippers representative reached out to discuss the company's parcel shipping needs. As part of the nation's largest non-retail authorized reseller of UPS®, Unishippers pairs industry-leading UPS parcel solutions with personalized support, industry expertise and advanced technology.

Because Ashlee values relationships as much as results, she immediately recognized that this partnership felt different. Instead of simply providing competitive UPS shipping solutions, the Unishippers team invested time learning about Hare Today's products, customers and shipping requirements.

Today, Unishippers supports Hare Today with perishable shipping solutions, responsive support and shipping technology that help the company confidently move frozen pet food across the country.

Roadblocks to Shipping Success

As Hare Today continued to grow, several shipping challenges became increasingly important:

• Maintaining reliable transit times for frozen, perishable shipments
• Keeping customers informed when delays occur
• Creating a more efficient outbound shipping process
• Building a long-term partnership instead of managing changing carrier representatives

Download the Case Study Here

Challenge 1: Delivering Frozen Pet Food With Confidence

Shipper challenge

Shipping frozen pet food requires more than dependable transit times. It also requires clear communication when unexpected delays occur. When customers are waiting on food for their pets, uncertainty quickly becomes anxiety.

Based in Pennsylvania, Hare Today ships frozen pet food to customers across the country, including Alaska and Hawaii, where longer transit times make dependable perishable shipping especially important. That means Ashlee needs accurate shipping information quickly so she can keep customers informed and maintain the trust they've placed in Hare Today.

"Transit times are very, very important with perishable goods," Ashlee said.

Unishippers solution

Unishippers helps Hare Today leverage dependable UPS parcel solutions for frozen pet food shipments. Combined with responsive support, shipment visibility and advanced technology, Ashlee can quickly provide customers with updates whenever questions arise.

Because Hare Today's existing shipping platform integrates with the myUnishippers™ transportation management system (TMS), Ashlee can also quickly compare shipping options and select the time- and temperature-sensitive services that best fit each shipment. That visibility helps ensure every shipment is matched with the appropriate service while protecting product quality.

"If I'm able to get that information quickly from my team at Unishippers, I'm able to pass that along quickly to my customers," Ashlee said. "The integral part of shipping and overcoming challenges is being able to communicate with each other in real time so that we can relieve our customers’ angst and anxiety."