I placed an order for ingredients from MB Monday morning. In that I had 2 packs of two different liquid yeasts. I paid for an insulation pack and 2 packs of ice, figuring this would be fine for this amount of transit time. They're in PA and so am I, typically 1 day.
Well, I was correct that the amount of ice was ok. It arrived a few minutes ago with the 2 ice packs barely thawed inside an insulated package. My yeast however was thrown in a different un-insulated plastic bag and left to fend for itself. So not only did I get hosed out of the 5 bucks for the ice and mailer, but the yeast situation is anyone's guess.
I have it in the fridge here at work but it has no freezer. I fully intended to pitch these directly, do you guys suppose that is still an option?. Temp of the contents of the two boxes are 77F per my IR thermometer, so that's what the yeast came at. The ice pack bag was nice and cold though.
(edit to add/update, 6/25). I wrote to customer service at Morebeer to follow up, as I'd told them I would do after seeing if the yeast was ok or not. As of this AM, it does appear it's at least 99.99% dead.. Today they replied via email but then also called to make sure I wasn't left hanging, and they did offer to replace the yeast and ice overnight. This I declined since that's a waste of overnight shipping for yeast I wouldn't be able to use right away anyhow. So in lieu of that they sent a gift card to refund the cost of the yeast and ice, in spite of my not knowing if the second pack is dead or not. (which I also pointed out might yet be ok as that's an ale strain).
My hope (and I'm pretty confident, theirs also) is they make sure this is perfectly clear to folks packing orders, that yes, the ice and yeast must go in the same insulated container or it won't survive...