How to Package Candles for Shipping Safely

I’ve seen a $28 soy candle arrive in twelve pieces because someone chose a pretty box and forgot physics. That is the whole lesson behind how to package candles for shipping safely: the candle is usually fine. The packaging stack is what fails. And yes, the “pretty box” was very pretty right up until it became confetti.

At Custom Logo Things, I’ve spent years watching brands overspend on fragrance, wax, lids, and labels, then save $0.14 on the insert and act shocked when the breakage rate jumps to 8%. Cute strategy. Expensive strategy too. If you want to understand how to package candles for shipping safely, you have to think like a packout manager, not a Pinterest board. I’ve seen this play out in Shenzhen, Dongguan, and a warehouse outside Chicago, and the pattern is always the same: the cost of doing it right is usually lower than the cost of fixing it later.

Safe candle shipping is not one magic material. It’s a system. Box size, insert fit, board strength, sealing method, route length, weather, and even the lid style all matter. If one part is sloppy, your package protection falls apart fast. I wish I could say that in a nicer way, but I’ve seen too many “almost good” packouts turn into refund requests. A $0.09 insert mistake can create a $12 replacement and a $9 reshipment. That’s not a tiny issue. That’s a margin leak.

Why candle shipping fails so often: what actually breaks

The first time I walked a packaging line for a candle client in Shenzhen, I watched a worker drop a perfectly made glass jar into a mailer with two inches of empty space on each side. The candle looked gorgeous. The carton looked premium. The shipping result was a train wreck waiting to happen. That’s why how to package candles for shipping safely starts with failure points, not with printing. Fancy graphics do not stop a box from getting punched by gravity. A glossy white mailer from a factory in Guangdong still fails if the inner cavity is loose by 6mm.

Candle shipping usually fails because of impact, movement, compression, heat, and fragrance oil leakage. Rough handling gets blamed a lot, but honestly, most damage starts long before the parcel hits a conveyor. A loose jar inside a box is already halfway to a return request. By the time it rattles once, the damage is already auditioning for a customer complaint. I’ve seen jars arrive with chipped rims after only 220 miles because the insert allowed 4mm of side-to-side movement.

Glass jar candles crack. Ceramic vessels chip. Metal tins dent. Pillars can deform or scuff. Multi-wick luxury candles often use heavier containers and thicker lids, which makes them look expensive and ship expensive. Gift sets are another headache because they combine multiple parts that can rub, rattle, and scratch each other during transit. A two-candle set in a kraft tray might look clean on a sample table in Austin, but on a route with five handoffs and one bad drop, it can turn into a refund pile.

Shipping stress is brutal in a boring, mechanical way. Parcels drop from conveyor belts. Cartons get stacked in warehouses and crushed under 30 to 60 pounds of other freight. Trucks swing from hot to cold fast enough to make wax behave badly. If your candle packaging assumes the box will stay upright in a perfect climate, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. It comes with a beautiful ribbon, since apparently that’s what some packaging specs are based on. In January, a candle can leave Atlanta at 68°F and land in Minneapolis at 12°F; in July, the same product can sit in a trailer at 104°F for six hours. Wax and labels both notice.

How to package candles for shipping safely means building for the worst normal conditions, not the best fantasy. A box needs to survive drops, vibration, side pressure, temperature swings, and the occasional operator who tosses it like it owes them money. If you’re shipping from warehouses in Los Angeles, Dallas, or Newark, assume the carton will be handled by at least three different people and one conveyor with a grudge.

For context, candle types matter a lot:

• Glass jars need tight immobilization and board strength, especially for 10 oz and 14 oz vessels with 3mm to 4mm wall thickness.
• Tins need scuff protection and lid security, because a dented 8 oz tin still looks damaged even if it technically functions.
• Pillars need cavity support because odd shapes shift, and a 3-inch round pillar will roll around if you give it room.
• Soy candles can soften in heat and need temperature-aware handling, especially when trucks hit 90°F to 105°F in summer lanes.
• Luxury gift sets need separation so components don’t damage each other, which gets tricky fast when you add matches, wick trimmers, and a glass cloche.

In a supplier meeting in Dongguan, I once had a client insist their candle only needed “a little paper wrap.” We tested it with an 18-inch drop onto a corrugated edge. Three out of five cracked. That’s not bad luck. That’s a packaging spec that never got finished. Honestly, that meeting was one of those moments where everybody stared at the sample like it had betrayed them personally. The supplier’s reaction was even better: silent, then a very long sip of tea, then a revised quote for a molded pulp insert at $0.28 per unit on 5,000 pieces.

How candle packaging works from box to doorstep

If you want how to package candles for shipping safely to make sense, think in layers. First is the primary container: the jar, tin, or pillar itself. Second is the inner protection: wrap, insert, or cradle that stops movement. Third is the outer shipper: the corrugated box that takes the abuse. Fourth is the labeling and sealing: tape, warnings, and handling marks that guide the route and the receiver. A clean packout in Guangzhou can still fail if the final shipper is 1/8 inch too wide on all sides.

The product label matters more than most people think. A beautiful candle can get scuffed by a bad insert, and a matte label can pick up abrasion marks if the candle rubs against a rough inner wall. I’ve seen foil accents get scratched by recycled board fibers because someone chose “eco” without checking surface finish. FSC-certified board is great. Scraping your branding off during shipping is not. The customer does not care that the carton was morally pure if the candle arrives looking like it went through a drywall repair. A 350gsm C1S artboard sleeve with a soft-touch finish may look premium, but if the candle can slide inside it, the finish just becomes an expensive casualty.

Corrugated board is the backbone of transit packaging. Single-wall board can work for light candles and short routes. Double-wall board is a better call for heavier jars, multi-piece sets, or parcel lanes with rough handling. If you’re shipping through a lot of sorting hubs, board quality becomes money well spent, not a luxury. For heavier SKUs, I’ve spec’d a 32 ECT single-wall for 6 oz tins and a 44 ECT double-wall for 14 oz glass jars going coast to coast. That’s not overkill. That’s math.

Then there’s the inner protection. Molded pulp inserts are excellent for snug, repeatable fit. Corrugate cradles are cheap, printable, and easy to source in many runs. Kraft wrap is useful for surface protection, but it does almost nothing against movement. Bubble wrap absorbs some shock, sure, but for heavy glass jars it often behaves like a bad compromise. Air pillows are fine for void fill, not as the only defense. That’s a very common mistake in ecommerce shipping. I’m not anti-bubble wrap. I’m anti-bubble-wrap-as-a-plan. At one factory in Ningbo, I watched a team use 0.5mm EPE foam around a 12 oz jar candle and call it “finished.” It wasn’t finished. It was decorative optimism.

Closure matters too. Tape width should usually be 2 inches or wider for standard shipping boxes. H-taping across the center seam and edges reduces burst risk. Loose tape jobs are what I call “hope packaging.” Hope is not a material spec. It’s also not a great substitute for good adhesive, despite what some teams seem to believe on a Monday morning. For a 200-unit test run, I usually ask for 48mm kraft tape with a hot-melt adhesive rated for 30°F to 140°F performance. That little detail can save a lot of broken seals.

For candles with soft wax or heat-sensitive fragrance blends, temperature control can matter. A warm truck can soften wax enough to deform the top surface or loosen a wick. Insulation, faster fulfillment, and route awareness can all help. If you’re shipping specialty candles in summer, you might need to think about thermal liners or even altered dispatch times. Not always. But sometimes, yes. And once you’ve had a pallet sit in a hot warehouse for an extra weekend, you stop being casual about it. A 24-hour delay in July can matter more than a 10-cent insert upgrade.

If you need branded packaging support, our Custom Packaging Products page shows the kinds of structures brands usually build around products that need both protection and shelf appeal. A lot of those builds start with a simple dieline in Shanghai or Xiamen and end with a carton that has to survive a UPS truck in Phoenix. Different environments. Same physics.

Key factors that decide whether candles arrive intact

The first factor is weight and shape. A 14-ounce jar candle with a thick glass wall needs a different spec than a slim 4-ounce votive. Tall skinny jars tip easier. Heavy squat jars crush easier. Weirdly shaped pillars need cavity support because they can roll around like they own the carton. That is exactly why how to package candles for shipping safely must start with the actual SKU dimensions, not a guess. I’ve watched teams estimate dimensions “close enough” and then wonder why close enough got them returns. A jar that measures 3.25 inches wide and 4.75 inches tall is not the same as “about medium.”

The second factor is breakability and finish. Glass breaks differently than ceramic. Ceramic chips at the edges. Metal tins dent and then the lid no longer seats correctly. If you have matte labels, satin sleeves, foil stamps, or soft-touch finishes, abrasion becomes part of the problem. A candle can arrive physically intact and still look beat up enough for a refund. Packaging that protects the item but wrecks the presentation is still bad packaging. Customer expectations don’t care that the vessel technically survived. A customer in Brooklyn or Calgary sees one scuff on a black matte jar and immediately thinks “cheap.”

The third factor is shipping distance. Local parcel delivery has fewer handoffs. National shipping routes mean more conveyors, more hubs, more drops, and more vibration. Wholesale palletizing is another animal entirely. A pallet load with shrink wrap and corner boards needs a different spec from a single direct-to-consumer parcel. Same candle. Different transit packaging problem. A 150-mile regional shipment from Nashville is not the same as a 2,400-mile lane to Seattle. I’ve tested both, and the damage curve is not subtle.

Seasonality matters too. I’ve seen soy wax behave beautifully in one lane and arrive slightly domed or scuffed in another simply because the route spent six hours in a hot trailer. In cold weather, some waxes get brittle, and decorative sleeves can shrink or crack. Heat can soften. Cold can fracture. Shipping is rude like that. Honestly, it’s one of the least romantic parts of selling candles. A winter shipment through Minneapolis can be just as annoying as a summer shipment out of Houston, only in the opposite direction.

Then there’s the budget versus protection tradeoff. A $0.20 molded pulp insert can save a $12 replacement candle and a $9 reshipment. That math is not complicated. Yet brands still hesitate because they only see packaging as a cost center. I’ve negotiated with suppliers who wanted to shave 1.5mm off a board caliper to save fractions of a cent. Fine, if your candle is light. Not fine if you’re shipping a heavy luxury jar across three distribution centers. At one point in Vietnam, I had a supplier quote a 250gsm insert board for a 16 oz candle. We moved it to 350gsm C1S artboard with a pulp tray, and the return rate dropped by 3.2% in six weeks.

For route-sensitive product lines, I usually recommend testing the lane before locking the spec. Test one regional route. Test one coast-to-coast route. Compare damage rates. How to package candles for shipping safely is never one-size-fits-all when freight handling varies that much. A box that survives within Texas may fail in a Chicago-to-Miami lane because of humidity, temperature shifts, and extra handoffs.

And yes, standards matter. If you’re serious, look at the testing language from ISTA for transit simulation and the guidance from EPA recycling resources if you’re balancing protective performance with material reduction. For fiber sourcing, FSC is worth checking when sustainability claims matter to your buyers. In practice, I ask suppliers in Suzhou and Dongguan for the board spec, recycled content percentage, and the bursting strength in real numbers, not “good quality.”

Step-by-step: how to package candles for shipping safely

Here’s the practical part. If you need how to package candles for shipping safely in a form your team can actually use, start with a repeatable process. I’ve watched too many brands invent a new packout method every time a new employee shows up. That’s not a process. That’s a confusion machine. It’s also how you end up with one hero packer and everybody else pretending they know what “snug” means. A proper SOP in a fulfillment center in Reno or Jersey City should work the same way on Monday and on Black Friday.

1. Inspect each candle first. Check for chips, loose lids, oily residue, cracked glass, or crooked labels before it goes into the shipper. Fragrance oil on a jar can weaken adhesion and make labels slip. If the product is already faulty, packaging will not magically fix it. A box is not a rescue mission. I usually give this step 20 to 30 seconds per unit, because rushing inspection is just paying later for a problem you already saw.

2. Choose the right inner protection. Tissue wrap helps prevent surface scuffs. Molded pulp inserts give repeatable alignment. Corrugate cradles are good for standardized SKU runs. Foam can work for premium fragile items, but I usually reserve it for very specific use cases because customers notice the waste and so do sustainability teams. A 12 oz jar with a 10mm molded pulp cradle is often enough; a 20 oz heavy jar may need an insert with a tighter cavity and top locking feature.

3. Select a box with minimal empty space. The candle should not rattle. It also should not be jammed so hard that the wall presses into the glass. The sweet spot is snug, not crushing. Oversized boxes are one of the classic mistakes in how to package candles for shipping safely. I know oversized cartons feel safer to some people, but all they really do is give the candle room to build momentum. A 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch clearance around a properly designed insert is usually enough; 1 inch of void is just a travel lane for damage.

4. Add void fill only where needed. Use kraft paper, paper pads, or air pillows to prevent shifting, not to make up for a bad box size. If you can hear movement when you shake the carton gently, you have not finished packing. If it sounds like a maraca, congratulations, you’ve built a return. For lightweight tins, 15 to 20 grams of paper fill may be enough; for heavier glass jars, the fill should support the insert, not hold the candle in place by itself.

5. Seal and label correctly. Use proper tape width, close all seams, and apply labels on a flat surface. If the candle is fragile or temperature-sensitive, note that clearly. Then do a quick shake test and a corner-drop test from about 12 to 18 inches before shipping a full batch. A drop from a bench or waist height is better than pretending the parcel will float. In a pilot run of 100 pieces, I’d rather destroy 5 samples on purpose than 50 customer shipments by accident.

A client in Austin once told me their fulfillment team “felt pretty good” about the packout. That phrase is not a test method. We ran six sample packs through a rough-handling simulation and found one insert cavity was 3mm too wide. A 3mm problem can turn into a 300-order problem fast. That’s the kind of mistake that looks tiny on paper and massive in a customer inbox. The insert change cost $0.07 more per unit, and the client still saved money because the damage rate fell from 6.4% to 1.1% in the first month.

If you’re using custom-format shippers, you may also want a tailored carton spec from our Custom Shipping Boxes page so the outer dimensions match the product instead of forcing the product to fit the wrong box. I’ve seen packaging buyers in Los Angeles try to force a 14 oz jar into a standard mailer that was 15mm too tall. The box looked tidy. The breakage report did not.

For some brands, especially smaller candles or gift bundles, a coordinated mailer is enough. In those cases, our Custom Poly Mailers can support lightweight components, though I would not rely on a poly mailer alone for a fragile glass candle. That would be a very expensive lesson. And probably a messy one, too. A poly mailer is fine for a wick trimmer or a refill card. It is not a substitute for corrugated protection on a glass vessel.

Cost and pricing: what candle shipping protection really costs

Let’s talk dollars, because people pretend packaging decisions are abstract until the returns start. Basic inner wrap can run around $0.04 to $0.10 per unit in volume. Molded pulp inserts often land around $0.18 to $0.45 per unit depending on size and quantity. A custom corrugated shipper might add $0.35 to $1.10 per order. Tape and labels seem tiny, but they still matter. Everything stacks up. On a 10,000-unit run out of Shenzhen, a $0.06 difference in insert cost is $600 before freight even enters the chat.

The price changes a lot by volume. At 2,000 units, custom inserts usually cost more per piece because tooling and setup are spread over fewer units. At 10,000 or 20,000 units, that same insert can get much cheaper, especially if you reuse the same dieline across multiple SKUs. I’ve seen a client drop their insert cost from $0.41 to $0.23 just by standardizing two jar sizes instead of making three different cavity styles. Very boring decision. Very real savings. The supplier in Dongguan loved it because they only had to run one mold instead of three.

Hidden costs are where candle brands bleed cash. A broken candle often costs more than the replacement item. You also pay for customer service time, refund processing, reshipping, negative reviews, and the weird overhead of dealing with “my parcel smelled weird” emails. Yes, that happens. Fragrance leakage can become a brand problem faster than a breakage problem. I’ve seen one leaky batch trigger 47 support tickets in 72 hours from a single Midwest launch.

Here’s how I usually frame budget tiers for how to package candles for shipping safely:

• Basic: tissue wrap, standard corrugated box, kraft fill. Good for lower-priced candles and short routes, often under 6 oz and under 300 miles.
• Mid-range: molded pulp or corrugate insert, stronger box, better tape, tighter fit. Best for most DTC candle orders, especially 8 oz to 14 oz jars.
• Premium: custom insert, branded shipper, stronger board grade, controlled packout process, sometimes thermal consideration. Best for luxury candles and high-breakage routes, especially if each order ships at $12 to $18 AOV.

Supplier negotiation matters here. Board grade, flute type, insert material, and carton dimensions can all be adjusted to trim cost without gutting protection. I once negotiated with a board supplier to switch from a heavier spec to a better-engineered B-flute box with tighter dimensions. The unit cost dropped by $0.06, but more importantly, dimensional weight improved enough to lower shipping charges on a big portion of orders. Small win. Real money. The quote moved from $0.31 to $0.25 per shipper on a 5,000-piece order, and the freight bill dropped because the carton height shrank by 0.4 inches.

And yes, dimensional weight matters. A big, light box can cost more to ship than a smaller, denser, well-designed pack. That’s why overboxing is not just sloppy; it’s expensive. A 12 x 12 x 8 inch box can cost more than a tighter 8 x 8 x 6 inch shipper even when the candle weighs the same 1.2 pounds. Carriers love dimensions. Your margin does not.

Process and timeline: from packaging concept to packed order

The best version of how to package candles for shipping safely follows a timeline. First comes the concept. Then samples. Then testing. Then production. Then fulfillment setup. Then live shipping. Skipping those steps usually means learning on your customers instead of on your own sample bench. Bad trade. I’ve seen that movie, and the ending is always the same: chargebacks, complaints, and a very quiet Slack channel. A clean workflow from a supplier in Xiamen or Qingdao will still fail if approval gets rushed.

For a simple packaging change where the box sizes already exist, sample approval can move fast, sometimes within a few business days. If you need custom inserts or new carton tooling, give yourself more room. Sample rounds, dieline adjustments, and production scheduling can easily stretch to 12 to 15 business days after proof approval, sometimes longer if you are asking for specialty board or print finishes. For a printed corrugated shipper with a matte varnish and a custom insert, I usually tell clients to plan for 3 to 4 weeks from initial mockup to packed production.

Testing should include at least four checkpoints:

• Fit test: does the candle move, bind, or scuff?
• Transit test: does it survive vibration and drop simulation?
• Temperature check: does the wax soften, sweat, or warp?
• Fulfillment test: can your team pack it quickly without mistakes?

I always tell clients to bring in the fulfillment team early. If the packout takes three minutes per order instead of forty-five seconds, your labor cost balloons. If it’s too fiddly, someone in order fulfillment will “simplify” it under pressure and undo all your testing. Human nature. Very annoying. Very predictable. Also very good at ruining careful planning. A packout that requires six hand movements and two label rotations is usually one that will be “optimized” by the warehouse in week two.

Coordination matters between the candle maker, packaging supplier, fulfillment center, and carrier account setup. If the cartons are arriving one week after the candles and the warehouse has no place to stage them, you’ve already created a bottleneck. Seasonal peaks make this worse. Holiday spikes can eat through packaging inventory faster than anyone planned, which is why reorder timing matters so much. I’ve seen a New Jersey fulfillment center run out of inserts on November 18 because the reorder trigger was set by hope instead of volume.

My advice? Keep a reprint and reorder trigger tied to actual consumption, not a gut feeling. If you use 5,000 shippers in a month during peak, reorder at 70% depletion, not 5%. That tiny planning move can save you from air freighting packaging at the worst possible rate. I’ve watched people pay for emergency freight because they “didn’t want to tie up cash” in cartons. That decision tends to feel less clever after the invoices arrive. One air freight quote from Shanghai to Dallas can erase a full month of savings from a cheaper board spec.

Common mistakes and expert tips to reduce breakage fast

One of the worst mistakes in how to package candles for shipping safely is using a box that looks elegant but leaves the candle moving like a marble in a shoebox. Nice unboxing? Sure. Broken product? Also sure. Aesthetic does not beat physics. Pretty packaging is great until the courier turns it into a percussion instrument. I’ve watched a brand in Miami spend $2.10 on a printed sleeve and $0.11 on protection. That ratio was backward from day one.

Another common mistake is relying on bubble wrap alone for heavy glass jars or multipacks. Bubble wrap can cushion, but it does not always stop shifting. It also compresses under load. If the item is heavy and the route is rough, you need structure, not just cushioning. A 16 oz candle in 3/16-inch bubble might survive one lane and fail another; that inconsistency is what makes people think shipping is random. It isn’t random. It’s under-specified.

People also forget lid security and fragrance oil protection. A loose lid can rattle and scratch the jar. Oil residue can stain labels and weaken adhesives. The candle may ship fine mechanically and still arrive looking oily and cheap. That kills repeat orders fast. Nobody wants to open a box and wonder if the product survived a spill or a bad decision. A $0.03 foam gasket or a tighter lid spec can prevent a whole chain of complaints.

“We stopped treating candle packaging like an afterthought and our breakage claims dropped almost immediately.” That was a brand manager I worked with after we changed their insert spec and standardized the box size across three SKUs. The change was made in early March, and by mid-April the claim rate had fallen from 5.9% to 1.4%.

Here are a few expert moves that have saved me, and my clients, plenty of money:

• Standardize pack sizes for your top candle SKUs so order fulfillment becomes faster and less error-prone.
• Test one shipment lane at a time before rolling out nationally. West Coast and East Coast can behave very differently.
• Adjust board grade before adding filler. Sometimes stronger structure is cheaper than more loose paper.
• Keep a clean inspection step for oil residue, cracked wax, and label alignment before packing.
• Review damage claims weekly so problems get fixed with real data, not hallway opinions.

Here’s a very practical tip: if your candle has a glass lid and a glass vessel, separate the contact points. Even a thin corrugated ring or pulp divider can save you from scuffing. It sounds basic because it is basic. Basic is fine. Basic works when it’s done correctly. On a 5,000-piece run, a divider that costs $0.02 each is cheap insurance compared with replacement shipments from a damaged batch.

Another thing most people get wrong: they overfill void space because they’re scared of movement. Then they create compression stress. The trick is controlled restraint. That’s the difference between smart package protection and just stuffing paper in until the box bulges. I’ve seen boxes so overpacked they looked like they were trying to escape. A box should hold the candle, not fight it.

What to do next: build a safer candle shipping setup

If you want to improve how to package candles for shipping safely this month, start with a SKU audit. List each candle’s weight, dimensions, vessel material, lid type, wax type, and breakability. I like to score each one from 1 to 5 for risk. A 16-ounce glass jar with a metal lid and fragile label should not be treated like a 3-ounce tin. Yet somehow, that happens all the time because “it ships fine most of the year” is apparently a strategy. Put the SKU data in a spreadsheet, add the carrier lane, and the pattern usually shows itself in under 30 minutes.

Then pick your worst offender. Not your favorite candle. The one that breaks most often or costs most to replace. Test one packaging method on that SKU first. Compare the damage rate, packout speed, and shipping cost against your current setup. That’s how you get meaningful results without changing ten variables at once. If your highest-risk candle is a 14 oz jar with a wooden lid, start there before you touch the 4 oz tins that already perform fine.

Create a simple shipping SOP. Keep it short. Four to seven steps is enough if the language is clear:

1. Inspect candle and lid.
2. Wrap or insert as specified.
3. Seat candle in box.
4. Add measured void fill.
5. Seal with tape pattern.
6. Apply label and handling marks.
7. Perform shake and corner check.

Then order a small sample run before committing to a large order. I’ve seen brands approve 25,000 boxes off a flat proof and then discover the cavity was 2mm too tight once the wax expanded in a warmer facility. That kind of error hurts because it’s expensive and stupid at the same time. The worst part is how preventable it was. If your packaging supplier in Guangzhou can’t send pre-production samples within 5 to 7 business days, that is already useful information.

Weekly claim reviews help too. Track breakage by SKU, lane, carrier, and season. If one box size has a 4.8% damage rate and another has 0.6%, the problem is not mysterious. It’s probably box geometry, board grade, or insert fit. Maybe all three. I’ve had clients in Denver and Orlando discover that the same candle needed different packouts because the routes and climate were not even close to the same.

That is the real answer to how to package candles for shipping safely. Not perfection. Control. Measure. Adjust. Repeat.

If you want branded support for the box structure, finish, or mailer system, Custom Logo Things can help you spec packaging that actually protects product instead of just decorating it. A good setup from a supplier in Yiwu, Shenzhen, or Los Angeles can save money and headaches if the spec is tight enough.

FAQ

If you’re still asking yourself how to package candles for shipping safely, the short answer is this: use the right box, the right insert, and the right amount of restraint. Not more. Not less. Just enough to keep the candle from becoming a customer complaint. Start with your riskiest SKU, lock the fit, test the lane, and write the packout down so the next person does not improvise. That’s how you keep candles intact and margins from leaking out one broken jar at a time.