My last order of 3 boxes of G4 sensors was shipped from San Diego to my home in Virginia. The shipment was en-route for over 3 days during a very hot period across the entire country with temperatures well into the 90's. I'm guessing it spent a lot of time on an un-air-conditioned truck, UPS sorting facilities and even in the cargo hold of an airplane. In any case, my order was exposed to high temperatures, a lot hotter than the 76 degree maximum shown on the sensor box. I was at home when the shipment arrived and when the UPS driver handed me the carton it was warm to the touch. I asked him about it and he said the carton had been on the truck since 5:30 that morning. It was just after 3 pm at the time and the temperature was 97 degrees.
My questions: How can temperature extremes be avoided during shipment of sensors? Have others had this problem? Do temperature extremes affect sensor performance/accuracy?
I have wondered this as well, especially after my last shipment (in 90* weather) got put into my mailbox without even an attempt to deliver it to my door. I called the third party distributor who sends my sensor order and left a message explaining my frustration, but I never heard back from them. Very frustrating!!!
I had a similar incidence earlier this summer, the box was warm to the touch when I received it. During summer I usually can get 2 day ship, but it still spends considerable time in warm temps. The shipping details showed it was >24 hrs on a truck.
I called Dexcom, and their answer was that 'long term' storage needs to be under the temp indicated on the box, but for short term it was ok. I asked if Dexcom would replace them if I had problems once I started to use them, and she said yes. I marked my boxes with the date I received them, and temps for the days they were in transit, and the date/time/person I spoke to at Dexcom.
I've since used them all, and no problems. But I was glad to have called Dexcom, to have it 'on the record', in case I had to call back later.
