Considering amending my shipping terms

I've rarely seen anyone not ship to residential addresses. It'd make me look right past your animals...and I've never had a problem here at this residential address

Originally Posted by TheFragginDragon

2. Delivery to a residence is permissable, however, the guarantee to live arrival is null and void if the shipment is delayed due to carrier error that would have been avoided had the shipment adhered to condition #1. As above, the buyer must be available to, and actually does, sign on the first delivery attempt.


Opinions?

How do you determine if the delay from carrier error could have been avoided with shipment to the hub instead of residential delivery? Every carrier delay I've had has taken place in transit at the Memphis Hub (for us East Coasters) and has affected packages held for pickup at the hub. I actually just had two delays last month and both were hub pick-ups. This wording might be too ambiguous.

IMO, I would change it to simply voiding the live arrival guarantee to residential addresses in the event of carrier delay while keeping the live arrival guarantee if the package is held at the hub.

I fully agree with you and encourage all my buyers to have their packages held at their local hub for morning pickup. I do offer residential delivery with full live arrival guarantee, even with carrier delay, but this option has different shipping restrictions (such as no zip codes with later then 10:30am delivery, and narrower temperature ranges).

Originally Posted by Jabberwocky Dragons

How do you determine if the delay from carrier error could have been avoided with shipment to the hub instead of residential delivery? Every carrier delay I've had has taken place in transit at the Memphis Hub (for us East Coasters) and has affected packages held for pickup at the hub. I actually just had two delays last month and both were hub pick-ups. This wording might be too ambiguous.

IMO, I would change it to simply voiding the live arrival guarantee to residential addresses in the event of carrier delay while keeping the live arrival guarantee if the package is held at the hub.

I fully agree with you and encourage all my buyers to have their packages held at their local hub for morning pickup. I do offer residential delivery with full live arrival guarantee, even with carrier delay, but this option has different shipping restrictions (such as no zip codes with later then 10:30am delivery, and narrower temperature ranges).

Excellent point. The delay would have to occur after the point at which the package is sent on it's final delivery destination (ie, on the truck for delivery). If any delays occured between the point that I drop off the package and the hub at which it's loaded on the delivery truck, then it would be on me to replace the animal or refund the money if it didn't make it alive when it finally gets to the customer.