USPS Express Delivery!!!

I found out recently that the delivery policy concerning USPS Express Delivery has changed again. According to the local offices, the next day delivery to many places in the US is no longer guaranteed. The computer is automatically kicking out a 2nd day delivery on many new places that it never did before. They will tell you that it doesn't mean that it won't make it in one day but oh well if it doesn't. I guess they were losing money on the next day deliveries not making it on time and folks asking for a refund.
Just thought I'd pass this along to those that haven't heard yet.

Mel,

If your referring to shipping of Live animals express, they can not and will not guarantee next delivery anywhere of live animals or perishables any longer. The main reason is all the Mail is now carried by Fed-Ex and Fed-Ex will not accept the shipments of Live animals so USPS has to schedule the flight on a commercial airline. If you call the main hub in your area early enough they can usually get the package there overnight (without a guarantee) but if you just go and ship it like normal it arrives at the Hub in the early evening and they can not always get it out that day on a commercial airline and it will have to wait until they can. USPS is not a good carrier any longer for shipping Reptiles at all. The only time I use them now is if I am shipping to another location in the State of Florida where I know it will not have to travel by airplane or if it does it will travel via Delta hopper service.

When did this go into effect? I've read several things about USPS over the last year or so that doesn't ever seem to apply to me. I've shipped animals from SC to MA, to CA, etc. guaranteed overnight via USPS and gotten refunds when they didn't make it there on time. This has been as recent as January and that's why I'm wondering about the timing on the newest change.

Thanks guys!
Erin

This change went into affect last year about September or earlier. If you are marking your boxes legally with "Live Harmless Reptiles" etc. and you are still getting your money back then you are getting very lucky as the USPS policy now states they WILL not guarantee next day delivery on Live animals or perishables. Now if you are not marking your boxes they will be able to be sent overnight and can get a refund but you are illegally shipping. All Boxes MUST be clearly marked as "Live Harmless Reptiles" etc and MUST have the species name listed on the box somewhere as well.

I guess I would like to start by asking, Why would you ship through usps to begin with? The old saying "you get what you pay for" I think fits here. I have shipped reptiles(no snakes) through USPS several times over the years and never had that good of luck. Packages always seemed to take longer then they were supposed to and sometimes they had no idea where the package even is. They are not set up to ship live animals with the exception of baby birds,crickets and a few others. Most generally they will tell you very clearly that they dont RECOMMEND shipping live animals through them,even airborne express says this.(that should tell you something.)

as far as them changing policies on overnight shipping, I dont doubt that they finally figured overnight shipping everywhere is outside of their ability. I live in vermont and I used to ship to missouri alot. I would pay for overnight shipping,they would specify overnight even though it was impossable to get it there over night. when he shipped back to me, they told him,they can only do second day delivery. I would say its just an issue of upgrading technology. Im sure once they get their computers all steightened out, you wont be seing anything like that happening.

Shipping is so stressful on an animal and if the owner cares about the animal being shipped, they would take all proper precautions to make sure it makes it to the reciever alive and healthy.( USE A PROPER CARRIER)

Airlines are definatly the safest and least stressful shippers available but unfortunatly they are rather expensive and not everyone can ship through them. We all know that there are some other safe alternatives though. Airborne express does an okay job but they dont recommend live animals. I dont generally have a problem with them but EXCELLENT packaging is a must.

I have contacted U.P.S and FEDEX on several occasions and they have made it very clear that they dont accept live animals.


The above statements are my own personal opinion based on my own experiences,BASH AWAY lol

I chose my words very carefully when I wrote my original post as to not imply or mislead anyone but it seems that this is a good example of things being read into a statement.
I do appreciate being corrected if I'm wrong in my facts but in this case I was standing in front of the same PO counter that I send Express Mail from all the time and on that particular day, which was only 2 days later from the previous day that I sent out an express parcel, (and to the same person I might add) the clerk told me upon processing it through the computer that the delivery time that just came up in the computer was now no longer guaranteed to be next day as it had just 2 days before. She then proceeded to tell me that the PO had changed many of the guaranteed delivery times to 2nd day but that the actual times would probably still be the same but they were not sure. The main mail processing center for my area is within about 5 minutes of an International Airport.
Now let me say again!!! I mentioned nothing about reptiles or any other live animals.
This is plain and simple fact and I thought that some people out there might like to know that before they waited in line at the PO for 20 minutes to send out a very important next day parcel, that maybe they should instead send it out via another carrier to make sure that it gets there on time.
Thanks folks. As always, it has been interesting.

Faunaclassifieds forums>Reptiles and Amphibians>General Business Discussions (looks to me an easy assumption considering where this thread was placed)

Maybe instead of being cautious in not mentioning the shipping of live animals you could have mentioned that this has nothing to do with shipments specifically containing live animals so that everyone knew the direction you were heading.

Wow... things seem to have gotten a little less than nice. I want to clear up a few things that I think were possibly implied about myself. When I ship, my boxes look like grafiti there are so many large labels on them "Live harmless lizard" "Keep out of extreme temperatures" " Keep out of direct Sunlight" "Please Call 333-333-3333 Upon Arrivial" (If I ship USPS) and my personal favorite "Please be kind to God's animals". I have the packaged labeled as a lizard at least three places on the box and have the other goodies in various easily seen places.

Ok, the reason people ship USPS is when the person recieving them has a day job and will have to get the animal on a lunch break. Post offices are usually easy to get to, and have no problem holding packages for the person to pick up when they get a chance. This keeps the animal in a moderate environment and keeps the person from having to take a whole day off work.

Shipping UPS... UPS does take a select list of animals if you have a business account. Just for the record, I have an account and usually ship with them. Those boxes are also well marked.

If anyone takes any of my reply personally, please don't. I'm simply trying to put out a few things as information.

Happy thoughts guys!

Erin

I won't type as fast and proof next time...

packages, graffiti, and received

I really am educated, I just fail to project that in my typing skills. If I missed any more, ignore them... I'm a math person

I really don't see as how the contents of the package make any difference. Express service is express service regardless of what's in the box. Perhaps some of the others were thinking of live arrival guarantee rather than the timeframe delivery.
As to what Mel said, I have had the same experience. Within the last 6 weeks or so I have sent two pieces of correspondance via overnight express. One went to Missouri and one to Pennsylvania. I'm in NC and neither place is that far away all things considered. Both instances they informed me that while they might indeed get there the next day they would only guarantee second day delivery.

Another interesting occurance with USPS I have experienced on two occasions. I have had animals shipped to me via next day service which arrived the second day. The label had been changed before delivery. The express box was scribbled through and second day was checked.
One of these packages contained 5 leopard geckos I purchased from Kelli Hammack in very early 2001. I know Kelli sent them overnight, so that means somewhere along the way the label was changed by a postal employee. I can only assume this was to avoid honoring the guarantee.