Who's The Best

Hello everyone I can see that it seems like the are good things
and bad things about every shipping company out there so
who's the best I know that''s a matter of opinion but any input
you can give would be great I'am just getting started and would like to be a breeder some day but the shipping thing is really
bothering me because if you can't safely ship the animal then
what is the best why to serv you'r customers any input would
help lots thanks for you time

Delmer

Out of the four...

my vote is obviously for Delta-Dash, but in all fairness to the other carriers, Dash is by far the ultimate choice. Let's say you were shipping a $2,000 female Pastel BP...I think their own "live arrival guarantee" plus the fact that in some cases the purchaser can pick up the animal(s) within 6-8 hours - depending on time of drop off and destination. So in my opinion they're in a league of their own. Now if I had to choose between the other three...my vote is for UPS first, then Fed-Ex. You couldn't pay me to ship another animal through Airborne Express - my experiences with their customer service, staff, delivery personel, and billing dept. all left a very, very bad taste in my mouth.

The weakest link on all the door to door services is that final driver. I have the drivers on my end trained by now but who knows who your getting on the last leg of the trip. He can be some semi-intelligent college kid working his way through school who happens to pay attention to what is going on or he can be someone on the edge of being fired for poor work performance.

On another note, we also get supplies shipped to us via trucking companies. Sometime they are just as much of a nightmare. Really it's just a choice of lesser evils, over one that particularly good.

Thank you to all who has replied and voted the input is great any one else have any opinions please post them all the info I get can is great again thanks everyone

Hello I have one more ? Delta Dash seems to be the shipper of choice they do have live arrival and they allow harmless reptiles but there cost is higher then most of the others what do you do if the customer doesn't want to pay that much for shipping

Delta is obviously the best choice for shipping reptiles, but it's hard to include them in such a poll because their service and cost is so much different.
Added to that is the required trip to the airport to pick up the shipment. Many people live considerable distances from the nearest airport. For me it's a 3 hour round trip to pick up a package.

Everyone has their own cutoff point, but most anybody paying $1,000 plus fo ran animal has no problem paying for Delta Dash, and many actually require it. For some people the amount is considerably less.
I do occasionally see people offering snakes such as a pastel ball for $2,000 "including UPS overnight shipping". I consider this foolish on the part of the seller as well as anyone buying the snake. I know I for one do not want to shoulder the repsonsibility of guaranteeing live arrival for a snake worth 2 grand, and I often wonder what the seller would do if the snake did die during transit. While I have to date never lost a snake in shipping, I just don't trust any of the overnight carriers to that degree.

Few people however are willing to pay $70 for shipping, plus a trip to the airport if they're buying a cornsnake or a couple of leopard geckos.
In these cases, the only option is one of the three overnight carriers.
FedEx is currently providing a means for us to openly ship our snakes, whereas the other carriers still are not. Airborne/DHL are actively halting shipments, and some have managed to get UPS approval while many have not.
So at this point FedEx may be the best choice. I would list them first among the three with UPS second. I used Airborne for a few years, but I too have abandoned them as a carrier for anything.

I have never used Delta Dash, as for the other 3 were i was the buyer.

Fed Ex totally lost a shipment before it was ever scanned. Seller's Fed Ex insurance only gave him $100.00 for $400.00 worth of snakes. And i had to repick $400 worth of what snakes seller had left and the next shipment was a day late. I was not happy. But everything arrived ok.

I heard UPS driver drop my box of Green Tree's ($830) when he came to my door. I screamed at him. Green Tree's were fine though.

Airborne Express- today the driver showed up at 11am drove thru the condo's i live in, turned around and left. I called Airborne at 11:15 after standing on the corner waiting for him to come back by, and finally he showed back up a little after 12 and everything was fine.

None of those 3 impressed me. I am always super stressed on delivery day and always up before sunrise worrying.

shipping containers

i`ve recieved and sent thru all the shippers. they are all about the same minus airborne(no pressurized cabins from what i was told). the thing you should be most worried about is the quality of the boxing it was sent in. i use double layered 3/4 in insulation lining and then put the animals in a styro container and insert that into the box. this way it is pracically crush proof and wont accept or loose heat very easily. i add gel packs between the layers in extreme conditions. if you package properly you can almost make it foolproof to whatever service you choose. a little more expensive but i believe it`s well worth it. i have had mint terribilis get lost for 5 days and a rhac chahoua get lost for 4 days and have never had a problem. i even had e. tricolor take an unexpected trip to guam for the weekend and all arrived fine.
aaron handzlik
aaron`s frog farm

I liked Air Ex because they had a small customer service department and problems were resolved quickly. Now that they merged, I feel a little lost. Everything is computerized, I know, but I guess I am old fashioned. I liked being able to ask for "Lindsey" and she practically had my account memorized.

UPS has also been wonderful to me. The one time they incorrectly billed me, I didn't even notice it, and I got a check in the mail for $120 out of nowhere!

what do you do if the customer doesn't want to pay that much for shipping

Click to expand...

Three obvious choices:

1. Tough luck. Pay the shipping, or don't buy the animal(s).

2. Eat part of the shipping cost yourself, for the convenience of same day arrival, live arrival guaranteed insured.

3. Raise the price of your animals to cover the difference in shipping charges.

I vote for UPS because my delivery guy is HOT.

No, just kidding. That's not the only reason.

I've had success with Fed Ex, Airborne/DHL, and USPS delivering packages overnight, but UPS is still my first choice. They know where my house is, and they consistently get my packages here on time. Fed Ex has managed to severely beat up my packages on two occasions but luckily the contents were well-protected. I would still use them for international shipments because of their economical prices and reliability. USPS surprisingly has good service if you pay for it (i.e. Express mail with insurance, signature, and delivery confirmation). I've only had one DHL delivery, but it arrived here next-day just as promised. My only qualm is that they left the package on the middle of the porch (rather than in the corner) and they didn't ring the doorbell.

I think the reason I've had great luck with shipping is that my house is very easy to find, located right off the highway, not too far from two interstate highways, and just 5-15 minutes from the warehouses of these carriers. That and the competence of the drivers makes a difference.

Well, I've only shipped with UPS, and I've recieved all four types, and I live in Alaska to make matters even tougher. To start with, I have a little ground rule for myself when shipping or recieving anything alive. I would perfer to wait until the following week rather than have it shipped any later than Wenesday. If it were to get stuck somewhere it could potentially have to wait all weekend, whereas if it gets stuck somewhere after having been shipped out on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday it has a day to get back on track so it shouldn't get stuck anywhere for over a day. I also won't ship anything after Wednesday for the same reason.

I've never had a single problem with UPS. Not a single of the shipments I've made have been late even a minute. I know their policy is against reptiles, but I've shipped snakes and a tortoise out with them, with the contents clearly labled on the box, and they never said a word to me, even when they asked about the contents. They all made it to their destinations just perfectly. I always ask that when people ship to me that they ship UPS. All of the reptiles I've ever recieved that were shipped UPS arrived safe and sound, and just fine. Never had a problem with their tracking number system either.

I've only received a shipment through Delta Dash once - and that was full of problems. I was told by the shipper the flights that it was scheduled for, and that the package was due to arrive at 11:30pm the following day. I got online and watched the tracking number (I'm a tracking number addict) and after the first flight it showed it was scheduled to get on another flight that wasn't departing Salt Lake City for another 12 hours, when the flight it was supposed to be on was meant to depart in 4 hours. I got on the phone through their horrid 1-800 number and after about an hour and a half they had gotten a hold of someone at the Salt Lake City airport and gotten them to change the flight it was scheduled for, and they promised me that it would be on the flight I was told it was going to be on. I am not certain if this was Delta's fault, or the shipper's fault. It could have very easily been that the shipper gave me the flight numbers that I wanted to see, and didn't really pay attention when they were shipping the snake. I had all sorts of problems with that company anyways, completely seperate from the Delta problems. I have a friend that has recieved several shipments through Delta, and they had no problems whatsoever.

FedEx just can't seem to find my apartment. I've had several shipments made to me through FedEx, and every single time I've had to drive 1 hour to the sorting facility at 11:30 at night (when the drivers return to the facility) and wait for the driver because they supposedly couldn't find my apartment. Why do I pay for door-to-door service if I have to drive out to the airport to get the package? By then the poor animals have been on a truck all day, no matter the weather.

As for Airborne, I will never use them after what happened with my friend and the snake she had shipped here. She had a snake shipped to my apartment, as I would be home all day that day, and she was going to be at work until later that evening, so she would be assured that the snake got warmed up and delivered safely until she got off work and could pick it up from my place. It was scheduled for morning delivery, and so I got up earlier than normal just to be sure I was ready when it arrived. I waited and waited and waited... eventually she got off work later that evening and came by, but no package had arrived. She got online with my computer and checked the shipping status "On delivery vehicle" so we waited and waited and waited... at 10pm she called their lovely 1-800 number and after about 20 minutes on the phone with them they had gotten a hold of the driver who was running behind due to weather (it was snowing). We asked what time they stop delivering, which was 10:30. They had 10 minutes to get the snake to us. At exactly 10:30 she checked the tracking number, and it said "Delivered" which it most certainly had not been. So she called them again and stressed that it was very important for her to get the package before they closed - there was a snake in the box, and if left in a cold warehouse it could die. So they got on the phone with the driver again, the driver told the person on the phone that he had delivered it. So the person on the phone told us to walk around the building, look at every apartment door and see if we saw it anywhwere, so we did. We came back inside with no box, no snake. We called them again. They called the driver again, who then said he couldn't find the apartment. So we gave them our phone number, and waited for the driver to contact us for directions. At 10:45, still no snake, no box, no phone call, so she called again. They got a hold of the driver again, who said he was on his way, and that he'd be there within 10 minutes. At 10:55 no box, no snake, no phone call. She called AGAIN, the driver said he had delivered it... so we had to go outside and circle the apartment complex again looking for a box on someone's doorstep, no box. As we walked in the door the man came up with the box, and asked that we call his supervisor right then and there to let them know we had recieved the box. By this time it was after 11pm. Then several weeks later we recieved the bill for the shipping of her snake (since the snake was sent to our address, so was the bill) and they had wanted $150 for AM shipping. I gave the bill to her, and she was not happy... neither would I have been.

I will stick with UPS until they stop shipping reptiles to me, and then I don't know what I'm going to do...

UPS is by far the most reliable overnight carrier here and FedEx the worse.

FedEx was by far the most reliable at my last place, and UPS the worse.

Except for Airborne, who has been consistantly bad, a lot of it seems to depend on who your local drivers are. That last leg of the trip can be the worse one sometimes. Fortunately, I'm close to the airport and Delta's Air Cargo office is very easy to get to once there, so they're my preferred method of delivery. Though for less expensive animals with a good shipper (meaning a good packer), UPS has been OK this year.

I don't like Delta Dash. What is the point of guaranteeing live arrival, if you still can't get your money back? I have sent in my claims forms over a month ago and I have called them and left a few messages. They don't contact me, I bought another snake and had it shipped through fedex.......... it arrived perfect and on time.

Matt

fedex is more competent but...

they still have issues. bought a ball python and the delivery was on time, but the driver came to the door bouncing the box up in the air repeatedly (making it spin). bought a blood python from NERD ($300) and had it shipped ups. not only did it not arrive on time, but it was delivered to the wrong house number on the wrong street. plus it was left on some complete stranger's porch and they didnt even bother to knock on the door. an hour later they had the guy go pick the snake up and bring it to the correct address. he came up, dropped it (literally) on the porch and jumped back in the truck. no knocking, no signing....no nothing. yelled at the guy and he said that the package was not labeled to be signed for. 10 minutes later a ups rep from nashville (an hour away) called and said he was on his way to straighten things out. he and a coworker of his sat in our house for about an hour being ripped a new a-hole. turns out that NERD has it in their contract with ups that EVERY SINGLE PACKAGE HAS TO BE SIGNED FOR!!! i emailed kara @ NERD and she was pissed, because that was the second time in the same day that she had received a complaint from buyers about ups shipping in tennessee. so, not only did they fail to label the package correctly, they delivered it late, and to the wrong address with no knock on the door or signature. we now have it s.o.p. (standard operating procedure) that ANY package shipped here has to be signed for. my vote goes to fedex. they may bounce the box but at least they get it shipped to the correct address.

Personally I like UPS.
I have seem to built a little relationship with the customer service center here..they know what are in my boxes that arrive and go out and they are very helpful.

Once I had a shipper put the wrong address on one of my deliveries of geckos and UPS knew better than to stick the animals back on a hot truck, bouncing around..so they held them at the customer service center for me to pick up.

I make it a routine to have all animals delivered by UPS and held for me to pick up at the customer service center. The animals wait for me in a climate control office rather than stuck on a truck for delivery where all kinds of things can happen (ie accidents, rough handeling, delivery to wrong address, hold ups etc.)

When shipping your animals this is a great thing to request that your customers do as well...granted it takes a car ride to your UPS center, but it also cuts out potiental problems and or dead animals.

UPS is only so happy to do this for you.

I had to go with fed ex. I know my driver and she either calls me in the morning to see if I want to pick up the package or have her deliver it. And she has also bought 5 snakes and 4 lizards from me.

David

I would have to say DHL..I have had the best experience with them..

For my area

Fed-Ex and UPS are both pretty decent. Haven't used Delta Dash or Airborne, but the Fed Ex guys are pretty reliable in my area, always knock or ring the bell, don't get the packages too dinged up looking. They are almost always about three hours later than 24 hours from when the snake was sent out with overnight shipping, but I live in a tiny town that has lame shipping and mailing services, so it really could be worse. price of not living closer to a large population center.

I've only ever had fed ex deliveries to my home in terms of herps. Fed ex and UPS always ring the bell.

I've heard so many different horror stories from DHL/airborne express that I refuse to use them. Also, they were supposed to deliver a replacement credit card to me at one time. I called after a day later trying to find out where the letter had been sent, it had been "delivered". From the driver "I put it between the screen door and the door". I don't have a screen door and the numbers are clearly labeled on the apartments. About a week later my package showed up, opened. (After finding out the package had been lost, I had to call the credit card company back and report the new number as stolen for the second time ).