View Full Version : uhg, never shipping again
for any one in the US, do NOT use usps. right now i dont think i want to use any thing, i never want to ship reptiles again.
i live in maryland, my friend lives in georgia, not terribly far away, well i have been lowering my collection and he loves my animals so he wanted alot of them. 8 actually. 4 turtles, 3 lizards and a snake. i called fed ex to come pick the box up and was so close to signing the papers and being done when i slipped. i accidently told him there were animals in there. he told me "want cant ship live animals" so i put the box in my car and went to the closest place to ship which was usps. told me they would get there the next day at 3 and it was a total of about $60.
well me and my friend were calling each other the next day (which is today) because they werent there yet. soon it was 4 pm.....6 pm....7 pm, we were going crazy. kept calling them over and over and checking the tracking number. they told me i would get my money back, at this point i really dont care, i just wanted them to get to him on time and safe. they told him he wont get them till tomarrow afternoon.
were so worried about them, were just going insane. i care SO much about those animals its crazy, some of them iv had for years but i figured, people ship reptiles all the time they will be fine! i hope they will be fine. im so scared hes going to get them and some of them didnt make it. i know reptiles are tough but it is pretty hot outside and im worried they might overheat. but if they are in a building tonight maybe they will be ok.
dont ever use usps to ship animals! wish me luck they arive alive.
ReptiZone
06-15-05, 07:56 PM
Ya we do Ship Animals all the time but 90% of the time we do Via Air Cargo just somthing to remember fo the future and it cost $50 some times a little more but not verry often .
The ReptiZone
Marc Doiron
Jeff_Favelle
06-15-05, 08:26 PM
Yeah, using a courier company isn't really the best way to ship LIVE animals. Done properly, through air cargo, shipping reptiles is SAFE and EASY. I do it twice a week, sometimes more.
well what is the difference really? they were put on a plane and flown to georgia and were not sure what happend but theyv got to be sitting in a building some where and they were "running late", a truck should get them and take them to his house tomarrow.
peterm15
06-15-05, 08:44 PM
should is the key word.. will it hapen.. maybe not.. they could be 3 or 4 days.. its happened to me.. was over nighted documents from an hour away and 7 days later they arrived..
wow well i REALLY hope that doesnt happen, were they still alive??
by usps you mean united states postal service right ? and i had someone ship a gecko from wyoming through them and she just shipped it to my closest post office and i went and picked it up the next day, why dont you do that its by far the easiest way. she also wrote that it was a live animal and to have the box a certain way and everything else, instead of trying to pass it off as a regular package. i actually work at the post office distribution center, and if i seen a box that said live animals i would definately get it where it needs to be. but i would never see it since i work with flat mail, but anyways just thought i could help. Justin
yes, united states postal service. i put fragile all over the box and "this side up" every where to make sure it was handled properly, hoping people would think something very breakable was inside. i was told by alot of people including the fed ex guy that no one would want to ship my live animals. if i knew all this was going to happen i would have kept them longer and done more research to find the perfect place but i had them all boxed up ready to go and had to make a quick decision.
my friend kept calling them but the only info they could tell either of us was that it left here...thats it, but it was flown out so it has to be georgia. i figured it would work out no matter who i used because it was supose to be flown over night and to his house the next day- theyd get to his house and hed be able to put them in their new cages....something went wrong and now its like total chaos.
Originally posted by Lrptls
i called fed ex to come pick the box up and was so close to signing the papers and being done when i slipped. i accidently told him there were animals in there. he told me "want cant ship live animals" so i put the box in my car and went to the closest place to ship which was usps.
I can't understand why *anyone* would be willing to ship via any method that doesn't ship live animals :confused: Doesn't matter how well you mark a box as fragile, nothing will happen to glass if it is exposed to extreme temperatures, not delivered on time, etc. Not to mention, if anything did happen (which often does, a quick read through any forum will reveal that), you wouldn't have a leg to stand on - you would be the one in trouble, no matter what happened! Live animals have to handled as such, and masking that only risks everything. As for doing research, it doesn't take much... this topic is frequently discussed on all the major reptile forums. Apologies if this comes across harsh, but this is truly one of those times where it is so easily avoided - not shipping with most courier services and especially postal service is no secret (hell even mailing letters is unreliable), and it is only common sense that you wouldn't ship with anyone that doesn't ship animals :( I hope your animals survive this lesson.
well when i went to my post office by my house i told the guy i was there to get a live animal and he said " oh the lizard" so they knew exactly what it was, so the usps will ship live animals apparently so i dont see the problem if you just tell them what you are shipping. they would probably just say that the person you are sending it to has to pick it up.
and linds why do you say ESPECIALLY the postal service? i mean at least they will ship live animals unlike the other couriers..... i will agree that mailing letters is sometimes stupid from what i see everyday, its not always the services fault but hey out of all the mail i think the success rate is very high. but enough of my defending the usps. back to the animals ....
edit: linds i just noticed that we are in different countries so im not sure how your postal services are in canada, maybe they are different than ours.
oh and sorry if i sound like im being harsh also, im really not
i would have told them i was shiping live animals if i knew ahead of time they would actually do it, i didnt want the whole fed ex thing happening again. i had the animals packed up and ready, i had to get them shipped some how. i still dont think it should matter what place you use because if you say over night it should be there over night and the animals would be fine. hopefully mine are still fine, any one can screw up. i dont plan on using any other place because i dont plan on trying this again. even if some one told me "this place has NEVER screwd up" id say, well i bet ill be the first.
gonesnakee
06-15-05, 11:28 PM
Sad. Some shippers are trained to handle live animals properly. Thats why they will do it. Others aren't & don't. It may cost more & be a little more inconvienent, but these are LIVE ANIMALS not a postcard HELLO MCFLY! IMHO You are the one here at fault for misrepresenting your package & not making your shipper very aware of what was happening as is the industry standard for the proper shipping of live animals. If you were upfront 100% & they couldn't comply to acceptable standards, you don't use them to ship. Plain & simple I hope that you were smart enough to pack them properly in an insulated box, with some ventalation so they can be neither too hot nor too cold. Hate to be harsh but lately I just can't believe people. Is it even legal to Mail live animals in the US? It isn't in Canada nor will courier companies accept them here. Anyhow I hope they are OK & this is a learning experience for you. I hope you make sure you use proper channels in the future for the herps sake ;) Most folks drop the packages off in person & pick them up in person at the airport as they land. Works best. Mark
P.s. as already stated lots of threads on proper shipping if you don't already know for sure :confused:
well like i said in 2 of my posts, i had a gecko mailed to a P.O. near me through the United States Postal Service, so yes it is legal .......
gonesnakee
06-15-05, 11:37 PM
Just because it has happened in the past doesn't always mean its legal, never hurts to ask someone officially. ; ) Mark
not being rude here but do you think the USPS would ship an animal ilegally, i mean they are pretty strict when it comes to regulations. i dont think that they would have just let one slide just because they were feeling nice that particular day. but im actually gonna go check on the web ill post what i find if its anything good .:p
Big-D Repltiles
06-16-05, 12:26 AM
Wow !! Is this guy serious ???
What a shame. :(
I hope for the animals sake they are okay !
sharno, yes they would do it. I took some snakes to the U.S for a friend to ship out of Bellingham airport but they wouldn't take them. I went to the fed-ex a couple miles down the road and he had no problem shipping them. I had to black out the live snake stickers but other than that it was good. He new very well what I was shipping, he saw them and told me to cover up the live snake signs. Fed ex has very stricked rules too, individuals, not always.
They are "rules" and what a company will do.
Piers
well..... you have a point about the stupid individuals, but that was also fed ex. i did say would the usps do it not fed ex. i mean the usps is like federal man people would be stupid to mess with that, like if you were to get caught just reading someones postcard you could get arrested well if they were really being anal about it i doubt they have undercover postal inspectors at fed ex. but anyways, blacking out the live animals sign would defeat the whole purpose of everything i have said, so if someone was to say well just black it out and we can do it i wouldnt do it.
Jeff_Favelle
06-16-05, 02:16 AM
Can't mail snakes or turtles through the US mail service. I know it sounds silly, but when you want to ship a LIVE animal, why not use a live animal carrier that SPECIALIZES in shipping live animals alld day, every day? Hmmm......
This is DIRECTLY from the USPS web site!
The following are examples of other live warm-blooded animals that are nonmailable:
a. Cats or kittens.
b. Dogs or puppies.
c. Guinea pigs.
d. Hamsters.
e. Mice.
f. Rabbits.
g. Rats.
h. Squirrels and flying squirrels.
525.3 Reptiles
All snakes, turtles, and poisonous reptiles are nonmailable.
actually, i have shipped animals in the past and they were fine so i packed mine exactly the same way. who ever said there was no ventilation? there is plenty of ventilation, i am sure of that. im not being rude either, just get a bit upset when some one tells me how i did something and thats not how it happend.
i think some of you are starting to get some what harsh and i think i regret posting this at all. i know i made a huge mistake but i highly doubted something like that would happen. i still dont really know what happend, they should have been at my friends house and now i dont care how they get there as long as they are alive.
wow i feel kinda stupid but hey, it worked for me. i saw that page but obviously did not read it that well, im gonna ask at work tmw just to see what they say. im curious to hear the answer.
well sorry guys for being a total tard, i guess people who work at the post office dont even know the rules, including me but i dont need to know what to accept or not to accept LOL. and thanks jeff for finding that
I hope the animals are alright, please post when the get there, I can imagine how you are feeling.
hey i was actually kinda feeling bad for you too, cuz i dont have anything against you i was just trying to defend the post office since i have used them before and i work there LOL but no hard feelings towards you if it sounded like it was toward you
thanks
sharno i never thought you were saying any thing against me so no worries.
i will post whenever he gets them unless this starts geting bad again then im done.
Jeff_Favelle
06-16-05, 04:42 AM
No worries Sharno. But just remember, just because ONE transaction went well with USPS, doesn't mean every one would go well. I ship up to 100x per year, and I wouldn't ever trust anything but air cargo that EXPLICITLY ACCEPTS LIVE ANIMAL SHIPMENTS.
You mess with the bull, you get burnt. ;)
Im sorry LrpT but what did you expect when you posted on here?
If you expected a bunch of herp lovers to say "oh thats too bad, were sorry the post office screwed it up for you"
Then you are not comming to the right place.
The only reason why people came down on you so hard was the fact that you wanted to ship the animals no matter what.
The statement about not wanting to unpack the animals if the post office said they couldnt do it really made me upset, im sure it had the same effect on others.
I'm not trying to come down on you, so please don't take it that way.
You just have to understand that for alot of people on this site breeding and taking care of herps is their full time job.
Alot of people like myself take alot better care of our animals then most people care for themselves.
If it has been over acouple days chances are the animals are not going to make it.
And also I have buddies that work for shipping companies. And as sad as it sounds some people that work the lines at these companies do not give two craps about what you are shipping.
My freinds have witnesses on more then a couple occasions people playing catch with boxes marked extremely fragile. :(
There are so many people in this world that dont give a rats arse about anyone but themselves.
You said you have shipped animals before?
What company did you use the first time?
Why wasnt this mentioned earlier?
You have obviously learned a very important leason so ill leave it at that
You mess with the fire, you get the horns
peace
ws
well no i didnt expect people to be oh so sorry for me, i know i made a mistake but i didnt think some of the people would be so harsh. it has been pure hell sence i dropd my pets off at the post office. its hard to eat, its hard to sleep, im constantly sick, my stomach is in knots and hurts all the time, my whole body is just ill from stress and sadness. my animals mean the world to me, i take 100 times better care of them than i would ever do for myself. i definetly would have unpacked them and put them all back in their cages if i had to. i would have kept them for weeks, months if i had to. the animals made it to the post office near my friends and hes picking them up after work.
C.ADAMANTEUS
06-16-05, 05:14 PM
Everyone says to use a carrier that ships live animals, but nobody says who to call, or a suggestion, as to who they use. ????
DELTA DASH!
DELTA DASH!
DELTA DASH!
It may cost more than other companies, BUT THAT"S WHAT THEY DO. It WILL get there, and most likely, and importantly , ALIVE.
They only go airport to airport though.
Ciao,
Rick
OH THANK GOD. he just called me and he said they are all perfect! every one is fine, completly healthy, even fed some of them. i was so happy i cried about 5 minutes. they are all doing great. iv learned my lesson but i still never want to do this again, if any one wants my animals they are coming to get them!
peterm15
06-16-05, 07:02 PM
congrats.. but theres no need to give up on shipping all together.. just next time do a little reasearch first.. im glad everything worked out for you and the animals...
gonesnakee
06-16-05, 07:30 PM
Sounds like Delta Dash is the way to go down there. Glad to hear things made it OK despite not using a proper carrier & all that undue stress of worrying about them too. Glad you didn't have to learn the "hard way" & everythings OK Mark
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