UPS shippers need advice

I am in the process of getting the big run around from UPS about shipping live animals. After finally finding people at the company who know you can ship live aimals, now I am being told I have to have a daily shpper account (costing more money of course) and I would not be allowed to ship from the counter, rather I would have to have a driver grab my boxes (at whatever point in the day my stop is on his route) and then take them to the hub.

So basically they are telling me I need to pay up to 17$ a week (thats over 900 a year) for the right to allow them to put my animals at risk.

How many of you with a ups account to ship reptiles pay a daily pick up fee. And are you allowed to deliver the packages to the hub yourself, or are you also being forced to risk the animals health by sticking them on a truck to run the drivers route.

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles
402-934-9906

Mickey,

We were told you had to have the daily pick up as well. I had heard that this changed but have not tested it. When we set up our daily account we also scheduled the pick up for 4 PM or later. Also I've had no problem dropping them off at the hub (the hub is on my way home so on those rare occassions I leave early I'll just drop them off).

I also believe the daily pick up fee is on a sliding scale. The more you ship the less your fee is.

Yea, the sliding fee thing, its a bummer, but if thats the way it has to be then so be it.

However I am very concerned about the not being able to drop them off at the hub. I hope that my hub is just ignorant to the reality of the regulations, as I dont want to send animals on a truck in Nebraska middle of winter or summer. I assume you sign a waiver with them in order to ship, that voids any refunds/complaints due to any losses (be it carrier or not). It seems to me sticking an animal on a truck that much longer increases your odds for disaster.

Also do you ship lizards only or are you also shipping snakes. If you want you can email this answer to me. I am also a bit worried about this, as they opened a package on me today, and this started thw whole ordeal. Luckily it was a leaftail gecko, but I wonder if in the future if all my boxes will be opened or not.

I have tried for 3 years to get an account with UPS for reptiles, and had really given up on it. But with airbornes billing practices, and me being flagged for snakes there, I am running out of options. I had never tired to get a reptile account with ups before, as they always said you couldnt, and I didnt want to risk looseing my only option labled or not. Now I have lost that option, and am stuck in a ckle. I have a number of orders to send out, and am now turning away business. Sucks to, I just quit my day job to concentrate fully on the business. I plan to be delta certified very soon, but lets be honest, how many people want to pay for delta shipping, not many.

Mickey Hinkle
The lizard King Reptiles

hey Mickey,

this is the price you must pay : )

having a daily pickup account solves a lot of problems. UPS is fine with shipping the animals, and they do a fine job (there is no live guarantee or insurance, but i have lost perhaps 5 shipments in 10 years). but they would obviously much rather ship for a business than just "some guy". the assumption is that a true businessman will be more responsible and reliable in shipping, and that is a relationship they are looking to develop. the headaches, details, and troubles that can come with dealing with single shipments here and there are not worth it for them, hence companies that are focused to ship that type of business (for a fee : ) like mailboxes etc. and such.

once you get your pickup account, your world and troubles will significantly change. you can drop your packages off at just about any UPS location, flag down drivers, and you will develop a nice relationship with your regular driver that makes both delivery and shipments go very smoothly. my shipping back from Daytona at the Daytona UPS facility is an absolute breeze, and they go out of their way to help me, because i am a UPS customer and have a regular account.

if you can at all work the fees into your expenses, it will be well worth it.

and you are right, just about nobody wants to pay for Delta anyway, so UPS is the most workable solution.

alittle bit of useful info on the subject.
ive had an account for quite sometime with ups and i dont have to pay a daily pick up fee because its a waist of money. i call my pickups in a day in advance when i need them. this way you dont get suckered into the crap of the daily thing. but recently a box of mine was flagged at the airport because of the fact my box said HARMLESS REPTILES on it. even though i always put that on the boxes. so it was sent back and i raised hell. so now i was told you have to be on a special list to ship reptiles and i had to have a rep from ups come to my facility and do a walthrough and fill out paperwork to be on this special list. and from now on i have to attach a letter they gave me on every box i ship and the letter says this.

CMG REPTILES
UPS DOES NOT ACCEPT ANY KIND OF SNAKE, VENOMOUS OR NON-VENOMOUS, FOR TRANSPORTATION. WE WILL ACCEPT HARMLESS REPTILES MONDAY THRU THURSDAY FOR TRANSPORTATION.

then it goes on to say how to ship and blah blah blah blah.
and is signed by brad cook from ups
this is just a result of idiots that ship huge snakes and get caught. we all know you cant ship snakes but it goes on but when people ship 40 lb animals its kinda hard to say they are baby geckos. so if we dont get smart out there on how we ship our snakes then we will be relying on delta and we all know how much that sucks. but this is just my helpful insight into the situation.

chris guida
cmg reptiles

I was informed this week that you can have an occasional shipper account and still be contracted to ship reptiles. They say that this is a new change in policy. The people lower on the totem might still not be aware of this so you have to go higher. I've had this double checked by my local rep just wednesday. He thought you needed a daily too.
I will try to get a number for someone that can verify this today.
THanks
Dana

Ok the name of the person I got my approval letter from is
MaryBeth Schommer. From the Atlanta office. I deal directly w/my local rep in NM.
Good luck
Dana