Can You Post Chocolate in an Australian Summer? How to Stop It Melting

What Australia Post actually says about food and heat

Start with the source, because a lot of the answers floating around are guesses. Australia Post's Prohibited and Restricted Items List and Packaging Guide (the March 2026 edition) has a food entry, and it doesn't mention chocolate by name. It does say three things that matter in summer.

• The delivery network isn't temperature controlled. Parcels can be exposed to extreme heat and cold, and big swings between the two, on the way.
• It's up to the sender to decide whether Australia Post is an appropriate way to send that food, taking into account what the food is and what happens if the parcel is delayed.
• Where it's needed, senders must use extra controls, such as insulated packaging or temperature control devices, to help stop spoilage and keep the food safe to consume when it's delivered.

A separate rule bans perishable food that will, or could reasonably be expected to, become physically offensive during ordinary delivery. That's about food that goes off. Chocolate that softens hasn't gone off, though a slumped, white-streaked box of truffles still isn't what you meant to send. Nothing in the food entry bans chilled items, and nothing in it promises any cooling either. The job lands on you.

A separate Australia Post business article, published in November 2022, says certain food can go by post as long as it's packed to the guidelines, and that Express Post could be the best way to get food to its destination sooner. It's older than the guide, so treat the guide as the current word and the article as the sensible hint.

How hot December and January get, city by city

The Bureau of Meteorology publishes long-term climate statistics for its weather stations. We read the tables for one main station in each capital, and these are the average daytime highs and the average number of days that reach 35 degrees or hotter.

Temperatures are in degrees Celsius, from the Bureau's climate statistics tables, which we read on 25 October 2026. Perth and Adelaide cop the most hot days. Hobart cops the fewest. Darwin is the odd one: the highs sit around 32 all summer and the thermometer rarely climbs past 35, but the average December still has about 29 days at 30 or above, so the heat is constant rather than spiky.

Two honest caveats. These are air temperatures in the shade at one station, averaged over many years, and Melbourne's station only has 13 of them. We haven't found a source for how hot the inside of a parcel gets in a van or on a porch, so don't read the table as that. And averages hide the bad days: the hottest December or January days on record at these stations run from 36.1 degrees in Darwin to 46.6 in Adelaide.

Choosing the delivery day and where it lands

The parcel doesn't melt in the abstract. It melts on a van floor, a hot doorstep or a mailroom shelf, so the plan is mostly about shortening those hours.

• Check the forecast for the destination, not where you are, for the days after dispatch. A cool morning in Sydney says nothing about Perth on day five.
• Send early in the week, so the trip isn't stretched across a weekend.
• Someone home is best. Ask them to bring it straight inside, and forward them the tracking email so they know the day. Tracking goes to the sender.
• A work address can suit someone who's there all day, but check the workplace takes personal parcels and where they sit when they arrive.
• A Parcel Locker keeps a parcel off the doorstep. Australia Post's Parcel Locker page says you have two business days to collect, the locker takes parcels up to 16 kg and 35 by 44 by 61 cm, and the recipient adds the locker through the AusPost app and MyPost. We haven't found Australia Post saying lockers are cooled, so think shade, not fridge.
• A PO Box works for our boxes too. Ask them to collect it promptly.

If it's for Christmas, our order-by dates are on the Christmas gift boxes page. Parcels that land in the last week before the 25th arrive right in the thick of it, which is a reason to send a box that isn't chocolate-heavy.

Sending to the west or down to Tassie? Fresh food has its own quarantine rules, and our guide to sending food to WA or Tasmania links the official sources.

What to send when a heatwave is forecast

If the forecast looks ugly, switch the gift rather than fight the weather. Coffee, tea, shortbread, a notebook, a good pen, a print, a pair of decent socks or a voucher for a coffee near their place all arrive in the same shape they left in.

It's the same call we make on our own boxes. Four of the five contain chocolate. The Hug Away From Home and the New Beginning Box each have Marc de Champagne Truffles, the Gift Box for Her has GNAW Milk Chocolate and The Traveller has Honeycomb Chocolate Thins. If a heatwave is forecast, lean towards a box that isn't chocolate-heavy.

That's where the Gift Box for Him earns its place. It has no chocolate and no candle: Jalapeño & Lime Salt, an A3 Matte Art Print (unframed), a Crochet Comfort Companion, Australian Shortbread, Honey-Glazed Popcorn and a Pour-Over Coffee Duo. The name is a bit misleading, because it suits anyone who'd choose coffee and salt over truffles. The honest trade-off is that it still rides in the same Australia Post network as every other parcel, so we can't promise any box a cool trip.

You can also build your own box and choose every item yourself, which means you can leave the chocolate out. Express is available at checkout for an extra charge, but we don't give a dated promise for it. Delivery is free on every box, and your words wait behind a QR code on a premium card inside. If you'd like to see how it all works, start at how it works, and the FAQ answers the rest.