UPS, FedEx, Airborne Express, USPS - bad guys.

Originally posted by Brian Oakley
I expressed how large of a chunck of business they would gain if they took the same steps with me and just made it universal to our industry.

FedEx as a company may make oodles of money by letting us all have a waiver like this, but Joe Bloe who you are talking to doesn't stand to directly financially benefit from it. It's just more work for them. That's why they don't care.

Paul Weaver

Ok, I set up my acct. Pretty painless and quick.

I was told that it takes 24 hours for it to go through, but I still made the call for the Acct. Rep. to call me tomorrow.

To be continued............


PS. I LOVE THIS STUFF!

PS. I LOVE THIS STUFF!

Want a job?

I personally HATE dealing with red tape from large companies. Give me a small business I can sit down with over lunch and discuss a business relationship that works for both people. And then back to working with reptiles

I would be more than happy to 'tele-conference' with anyone for a small fee.
I forget the word for it, but maybe I should start doing that sort of thing.

I enjoy 'negotiating' and things of that nature.

Well, after just getting recovered from a total system meltdown, I get back on , finally, and find this wonderfully interesting thread. It's about time and I'll be starting the process either on Friday or Monday. Glad to see the process already lined out and KUDOS to everyone who has taken part so far.

I hate AE, can't stand USPS for lizards due to their slow and careless handling and UPS ticked me off for the last time aobut 2 years ago. Just thank God that we've been slow these past couple of years due to redirecting our projects for the future.

This couldn't have come about at a better time as this year looks to be a solid improvement for us and, to be honest, shows in this part of the country are few and far between so that shipping becomes a real issue, expecially with the nearest "real" airport 110 miles away. Will keep everyone posted as to my progress as well.

Again, thanks to Rich, Tom, Brian and everyone else who has taken the lead on this issue. You're proving that this business/hobby does indeed have a voice and can survive. I'll look forward to the crying from the idiots at AE and UPS before long. Will be passing this info along to everyone I have contact with along the way and hopefully they, too, will join in the move to a company that seems willing to find a niche for us.

David Jobes
Double "D" Reptiles
Stigler, OK

I am at about the same point as you Brian. I spoke with Mr. Brown this afternoon and got a very positive response. I also opened an account last evening and called again to have an account rep contact me.

We will see but I have to admit I am getting reasonably good vibes about this.

Well, I will go on record here saying I hope like hell that this arrangement with FedEx works out. I spoke to an attorney at length today about this situation and his initial opinion is that we are SOL if the shippers say they will not take our business. There is nothing legally that can make them do so. There is the gray area of discretionary choices that most businesses have that would just about cover anything at all. Unless we all happened to be a "protected class" of people, of course.

However, if some local offices are accepting packages of specific contents that are being denied to competitors in the same business, then this may certainly be sufficient grounds to pursue. However, unless there is the bigger stick of having a way to force the shippers to take packages from all shippers, pursuing this would very likely only result in the current businesses with active accounts simply losing their accounts. I am certainly not comfortable with the idea of being responsible for that sort of widespread damage that could result.

Now this is from a single entity standpoint that I approached this, and I did not approach the idea of possibility of the class action or mass action lawsuit except in passing. I think that the same rules would likely apply in those cases as well. However, a nuisance suit filed by a large group of people simply because they want these companies to accept our business may not be something that the shippers would logically want to fight too hard. I mean people are SUING them to accept their business, and they would spend the bucks to FIGHT against this? We would be suing them to try to get them to take our money. That doesn't make much sense to me. Why would a company throw tens of thousands of dollars into legal fees to fight something like this?

But I think the best course of action at this point would be to wait to see how things pan out with FedEx. I must admit, however, from reading the contract posted here, that I am not at all keen with that clause stating that FedEx can withdraw their service at any time. I would feel a whole lot better if it were worded with "with clear just cause", or some other manner to keep someone who screws up from getting everyone's accounts cancelled. Or some new CEO comes in who just says "Ewww, I don't like snakes, so we aren't going to ship them."

But let's keep this on the front burner. Even people with current UPS and Airborne Express accounts really should be jumping on this bandwagon with FedEx as well. Because, like it or not, there is a darned good chance that your accounts will be in jeopardy sooner or later. So make the effort. Put some numbers behind this effort.


Open a FedEx account now, please. I certainly can't hurt, but very likely will help immensely with this concerted effort.

It would be very profitable for FEDEX or whoever to ship for us Im very small and do it from my home and I shipped over 3000 last year not alot.....what about 500 people doing the same!

Tom,
That reminds me. Did they ask you if you were shipping retail to retail? They said they would not ship from my home and I was wondering how you got around this. Even if you lied, I don't care, just wondering.

Originally posted by JJFOUTZ

I would recommend anyone that attempts to get a waiver should have the customer service person that they talk to add James Browns name and phone # on the request they are going to forward to the account executive for validation that this is possible or it may be turned down automatically.

I think this point is definatly worth repeating. I got a call from a woman from the animal desk today instead of an acct rep. She gave me the name and # of my local customer service manager and told me that I had to call him and he needs to put me in contact with thier sales manager. The sales manager will have to set up a proposal to be given to James Brown for approval but I would have to send a test package to the packagindg dept of FedEx and the have to approve the packaging technique that I have used. They are going to test it to see if it will hold up to the abuse that the package may be subjected to at the main hub going through the belt systems. After the package has been approved, the sales rep will make the proposal to James Brown for final approval. After he decides if it will be approved, he will draw up the waiver. Since there is no standing waiver, he will draw them up individually. I set my acct up as a express shipping acct and I was told they will pick up express deliveries the same day at my home for a $4 fee.

James Browns # is (901) 434-8494 (for the customer service people to add to the request)