EVERYONE WHO SHIPS UPS PLEASE READ!!!

Hope this is the right place to put this, if not please forgive me.


This is a copy and paste from another site.


EVERYONE WHO SHIPS UPS PLEASE READ!!!

It has been brought to my attention that UPS is beginning to open boxes and refusing to ship any animals. The louder voices get their way. It is time for us in the herp hobby to unite and let UPS know what we want. Let me encourage everyone that reads this to call UPS at 1-800-742-5877, ask to speak with a supervisor, and (be polite) tell them that we want them to ship our animals. If they refuse then let them know that we will take "ALL" of our shipping needs elsewhere. Not just animals but let them know we will not ship anything with them. Please everyone call before these rules destroy our hobby while we sit back and do nothing.

If you have an account with UPS to ship live reptiles(you have to have an account to do so) and you properly label your packages, there is possibility them being in an actionable position if they are going against your contract by refusing shipment. To ship live animals you are required to get special permission and have to be clear and specific about what it is you are shipping.

However, if you are simply shipping out packages labeled "fragile" and have no account/permission to ship reptiles, you have no recourse as you are breaking their company policy.

I personally do not think it's right for them to be opening packages then refusing to ship them. It would be great if they would just set up a separate system or department or something or some kind of STANDARD policy as opposed to the case by case basis they appear to be taking reptile shippers on.

The BEST thing to do is to ACTUALLY follow their rules. It is hard enough to get an account to ship reptiles and the rules they ask are not all that difficult to follow. Unfortunately, it is the ones who don't follow their rules that are ruining it for all of us. But in the end, the airlines are going to probably win out because they will pick up the business that the overnight shippers are increasingly pushing away.

I am wondering what the advanatages, and disadvantages are to being an "approved reptile shipper" with UPS..... I have heard alot of "I Think" info on the subject, but not any real, and concise info,,,, would someone please clairify what it means to be a " approved reptile shipper".

I ship now through Ups,, and have never had a problem,,, but this has been bugging me,, ( to find out more info)

thanks in advance for any info,,,

I've had a verified account with UPS for a couple of months now, and have no real complaints. Wish I would get bills every week, though....

I have it set up for daily pickup and have the driver's cell phone so I can call him up when needed. Got a label printer from UPS and some pretty good software to do the labels. So far, unlike Airborne, I have not had one headache with shipping (knock on wood). With Airborne, I was getting approximately one out of 4 shipments lost and/or delayed. I had to work my schedule around having to be around the phone the day after shipping just so I could track down those problems. That got REAL old.

With UPS, the guy picks up the packages, and I don't have to worry about it any longer.

Not everyone is going to be able to get an account for live animals, evidently. This is apparently at the discretion of the local station manager. I think corporate probably discourages this as well, but if the local area is hungry for business, they will probably do it. Talk to your driver. Those guys get bonus points if they sign someone up, and extra points if the new signee uses the high value shipment options. The driver may go in and fight for you.

Oh yeah, one of the major benefits of this is that you can label the box exactly what is inside and not feel like you are sneaking around sending off drugs or something else illegal.

Good luck!

I have the same labelmaker and probably the same software as RZ does [of course its all at work] This makes it easy and there is no sneaking around as he {RZ} said.
As far as ups opening boxes, its what they can do if they think something illegal is in the box .
Shipping animals by way of ups is at this moment by exception only. I haven't yet got my summer rate book [ya know the rules book], as far as any changes in the policy I haven't heard any and I deal with the ups rep on a weekly basis [he is the guy that covers a 4 state area up here] and as far as he knows there are no changes as of yet. One thing Ben [rep] told me is that ups is thinking of opening the flood gates on live shipments, I guess that they see the money involved here. one note though venomous and ceartain inverts might take longer.

Well, I hope they change their tune soon, because I was flatly turned down by UPS when I tried to set up an account for shipping my snakes! I was told "No, we do not ship snakes under any circumstances." When I then told the lady (politely) that I knew that they did because I had friends who were shipping them in the open, she told me that if I would tell her where those friends lived, she would make certain she put a stop to it, I told her that I wasn't about to ruin what others had just because I couldn't have it too!

I then called the local site manager, and he told me that any manager willing to knowingly ship snakes was just aksing to lose his/her job, and he would not do so at his site. He was really cool about it all, but he has a family to feed too, so I can't blame the guy for wanting to keep his job.

So, until things change, I guess they won't! I'll keep shipping with FedEx, simply because they do not ask "What's the box?" I follow all of the rules, but it's a "Don't ask, don't tell" type of a situation that I would rather not have to handle.

Enjoy it while you can, everyone! Wish I could!

Thanks for the info Rich,,,,,I just contacted my local Ups and they are gonna send out a rep to visit me here, ,,,, and bring a "contract" for me to sign.... so if all goes well... i will seeing him by the weekend,,, and I also ordered one of the label printers,,,,
Thanks for a great site Rich, and keep up the good work!

Rich,

Did you get my earlier email? You had a very interesting response to this subject and I really would love to get more info from you.

Thank you.

David Rivers

Rich,

When things slow down for you, I would you still love to hear from you about your responce/reply to the shipping post.

Thank you.

David Rivers

Hello

It would great if they would.I myself dont ship very many snakes I do ship tarantulas and some insects.yes they do open boxes as a matter of fact. The office were I picked up a package from yesterday has a sign that says all packages must be open when brought in for shipping so they can inspect the contents it also has sign saying they dont ship glass or china.Maybe one day we can get it changed.



George Williams