A urine sample is taken by providing to the person a container having a removable cap with an initially unbroken elastomeric septum puncturable by a blunt tipped pipette and self-resealing following withdrawal of the pipette from the septum. The urine specimen is deposited in the container and the cap replaced. The container with the specimen is conveyed to a laboratory location for analysis where the septum is punctured by manually pressing the blunt tip of a plastic pipette against the septum with sufficient force to puncture through the septum and into the container with the tip. A sample of the urine specimen is drawn into the pipette and the pipette tip withdrawn to allow the septum to self-reseal, such that the urine specimen is sampled for analysis without reopening the container cap following replacement of the cap at the specimen collection site.