Reptiles Express, snake shipping suspended

Just got this email:

Temporary Suspension on Snake Shipping




Valued Reptiles Express Members,

The success Reptiles Express has enjoyed these first few months has been fantastic -- THANK YOU! to all who have joined as members and are using our services!



We have been working hard with UPS to develop a business model that provides value and service to the reptile community, and overall things are going well. We have however had some issues that need to be resolved concerning the shipping of SNAKES.



While reptile enthusiasts think nothing of holding, handling, or transporting a harmless non-venomous snake, this is new territory for UPS personnel, and the idea is taking some time to be fully accepted.



Technically we DO have a "snake waiver" -- we CAN ship snakes. But in spite of that fact, there has been some resistance to accepting them at some of the UPS facilities. This has resulted in confusion, delays, etc, which is obviously not good for any of us - including the animals. In order to preserve our ability to ship snakes going forward it's important that we help UPS work through these issues as calmly and smoothly as possible.



In an effort to do this, effective immediately we are placing a temporary suspension on the shipping of snakes. This is a voluntary move on our part that we feel is in the best interest of us all, and it applies to SNAKES ONLY -- we ARE still shipping other reptiles.



Updates on this issue will be posted on www.reptilesexpress.com as things progress.



We thank you for your understanding, cooperation, and for your continued support as we work towards making Reptiles Express the best it can be for us all.



ReptilesExpress.com
Clay Ghann
Michael Houtzager
Brendan Tighe

What a bummer to hear. Friggin UPS.

Great, just great. I am not signing up for any more shipping services until they work out the freakin bugs.

What it looks like is RE is sliding down. I think UPS is so unweildly large that there's a good chance they can't be consistant with policy and exception.

RE suspends snake shipping to calm UPS's snake fear down, or for higherups to make more visible that legit exceptions exist to policy? How long, couple weeks, a month? There will be centers and hubs that won't fall in line. If say, only one person in a hub knows of the authorized waiver RE has w/ them, and that person isn't available that day, there'll be a problem. On;y so many phone calls can be made to try resolve a particular instance, and execs might he swamped that day for w/e reason.
I see this as a long-term suspension if not the end of snake shippping with RE, and feel it wasn't the good option to Fedex as it first appeared to be.

Like many have said before, anyone shipping snakes get Fedex certified.

I agree that Fed-EX is going to be the way to go. I shipped a few times using RE and had no problems. I was actually upset when I got this Email today. Guess its time for the certification

I'll tell you one thing... I'm definately using RE for lizards, turtles and everything else anyhow... It's definately not them that's at fault here.. They are always on alert and ready to assist their customers in any way possible when problems arise and have been outright and forthcoming with any and all information that was asked to be provided by them on all threads related to them. I'm truly hoping this isn't the end of snake shipping through them because I enjoy the discounted rates and haven't had any issues since the first box I dropped off and that was taken care of in no time by Debbie! Since then I drop my boxes off at my HUB or with my regular driver and never had any issues.. they knew exactly what I was shipping and were happy to assist in anyway they could. The person at my Hub would actually keep the box inside by the counter just so it wouldn't have to sit in the Hot warehouse before shipping it out! Let's just be patient and see what comes of this but I have to agree... Having a Fed Ex Certification is a good thing to have just in case!

Oh yeah for sure I agree that RE has been nothing short of amazing!

It's UPS that I wish would get their heads out of their

Originally Posted by lovin2act

Oh yeah for sure I agree that RE has been nothing short of amazing!

It's UPS that I wish would get their heads out of their

There's a lot more politics involved with this then most think. I spoke to Brendan a few days ago before this email went out and I'm confident that everything will be back up and running as soon as possible, once the owners of RE and UPS settle a few things. I wish them all the best and hope this goes smoothly for them.

I talked to Deb and yes.. there is a lot more that can't be said.. she couldn't tell me much of anything but said that they are working with UPS to take care of this within the next couple of weeks and hopefully all goes well!