While many have asked about it, I can count on my hand the actual number of times I’ve shipped ice cream to someone or for someone.
It’s a fairly involved process that includes preordering a 20 pound minimum of dry ice and driving to Springfield to pick it up on the day of shipping. Pints or quarts need to be frozen to -20 degrees the day before departure. Finally, everything is packed in an insulated box with said dry ice and shipped, overnight ‘hazardous’ style, to a destination guaranteeing a live person will be available to receive it. If you just tried to do that math in your head, you’ve figured out it’s not cheap and is fraught with logistical challenges.
The first time I shipped a box of dry-iced pints was to The Weather Channel for a segment they wanted to do about our Maple Bacon ice cream. A customer had a friend who worked there and somehow got us an ‘in’. It was quite a bit of work and expense but well worth it to experience the feeling of tuning into the Weather Channel that day and seeing our logo’ed pints laid out on their news desk, with a bunch of well dressed strangers enjoying it live on the air. Surreal is the first word that comes to mind.
But that’s not the ice cream shipping story I wanted to share.
The second time we shipped ice cream was for Tom, one of our long time regular customers. His best buddy, and ice cream wingman, had recently gotten an awful cancer diagnosis and was in Texas for a special treatment. His buddy’s birthday was coming up, and Tom had it in his mind to get him some of his favorite ice cream to celebrate. He approached me to pitch his idea. I gave him the facts, expecting the cost and effort to dissuade him. He didn’t blink. His mind was made up. His buddy Joel was getting his favorite ice cream on his birthday no matter what it would take.
Tom gave me his list of flavors to pack in advance. In return, I gave him instructions on how to do everything else. He got the box, drove to Springfield Ice for the dry ice and made the necessary arrangements with FedEx and the person to receive the delivery in Texas. We packed everything up at the shop, and off it went.
A few days later, Tom popped into the shop to share the good news that the ice cream was still frozen when it got there, and that his buddy Joel was beyond excited to be able to enjoy his favorite, Cashew Turtle, with his daughter and a few other friends on his birthday. Tom was beaming, pleased with himself but more just happy he was able to provide his buddy a little happiness during an awful time in his life. I’ve never seen Tom enjoy our ice cream more than that day he told us how it all worked out.
A good guy doing something nice for his buddy. Adding a little joy to the world.
We don’t get to really know most of our customers, and while we chatted quite often about local sports and his golf game, I didn’t know much about Tom. What I did learn is he was the kind of guy that would do that for a friend, and that’s pretty cool. We should all be so fortunate to have friends like that.
A few of Tom’s golf buddies came in the other day to buy some quarts of his favorite to share at a little memorial they were having for him at his old golf club.
RIP Tom, you were a good dude.
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