Best Places for Ordering Live Maine Lobster Online

Live Maine Lobster.  Photo courtesy of Billy Kitchen.

I have had several people write to me and ask for advice on getting live Maine lobster shipped to their home or business.  In response, I've decided to put together a post with a few recommendations on getting live Maine lobster shipped to your front door.

The first thing to note is that, if you want someone to ship you Maine lobster,  it most likely will not be easier or cheaper to go directly to a lobster fisherman.  Because lobsters need to be shipped live and are a highly perishable product, the process of arranging the packaging and sorting out the shipping details is rather complex.  For many fishermen, it just isn't worth the hassle.  Most Maine lobster fishing villages are in remote corners of the state, far away from shipping supply stores and Fed Ex drop off points (the closest Fed Ex drop off point to Cutler is a half hour drive).  Unless a lobster fisherman wants to do someone a favor, he'd much prefer to sell all his catch at once when he gets into the dock at the end of the day.  If a fisherman is willing to ship you lobsters directly, he'll most likely mark up the price of the lobsters to make up for the extra hassle of packing and shipping them, which will cancel out any savings you hope to make by going directly to a lobster fisherman.  

If you have found a lobster fisherman who is willing to ship you live lobsters, consider yourself lucky and appreciate the extra effort he has gone to to get those lobsters to your front door.  If you don't have a connection, I think the below companies are great options for ordering live Maine lobsters online.

1. Hancock Gourmet Lobster Company

Handcock are a family run company, based in Cundy's Harbor, and have been in the business of shipping live Maine lobster and other lobster products for many years.  You can order their products through their website and also via Amazon.  You can get two live Maine lobsters (1 and  1/4 pounds shipped to your door for a grand total of $120.68.00 ($68.00 for the lobsters and $52.95 for the shipping).

You can also order a wide variety of other lobster products from Handcock Gourmet Lobster, including,  Lobster Mac and Cheese, Lobster Flat Bread, Lobster Cakes, Lobster Pot Pies, Lobster Bisque, Lobster Stew, Lobster Corn Chowder, Lobster Rolls (which have very good reviews on Amazon), Lobster Risotto Casserole, Lobster Wellington and Lobster Newburg.

2. Cousin's Maine Lobster

Cousin's are a newer establishment but they're making waves in the Maine lobster distribution business.  Cousin's are another family run company with deep Maine roots. They started out as a food truck business (bringing lobster rolls to LA) and recently been featured on Shark Tank and abc for their online lobster business.   They currently list two live Maine lobsters (1 and1/4 pounds each) for $65.00.  The shipping element is a bit unclear to me.  You can estimate the shipping costs by plugging in your zip code.  When I entered the zip code for Daytona Beach it gave me a shipping cost of $20.00 which seems unusually low to me, given the need for guaranteed next day delivery and the overall weight of the package.

Cousin's also offer a variety of other lobster products for purchase from their website.

3. Dorr Lobster Co

Dorr are another family run lobster business based in Downeast Maine.  One neat thing about ordering live lobster from Dorr's is that the lobster will come with a special tag on it, which you can use to see exactly where the lobster came from - down to the specific fisherman who caught the lobster. Dorr are currently listing two 1 and1/4 pound lobsters for $55.98 plus shipping.  Again, you need to enter in your specific shipping details to get an exact shipping amount. I imagine the price of shipping would be the same as the other companies.

When I have more time, I hope to do a more extensive review of all the live lobster shipping companies out there and which look to be the best. If you have any feedback for me please let me know!