UPDATE ON SHIPPING

Ben,


             You really should get more credit for what you have accomplished !  You have found out what and why UPS's problems with shipping herps is, which is more than I could do locally when I called I was told  " ITS OUR POLICY SIR, THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT " .  You have gone way out of your way to help us all out and you should know that people appreciate your time, effort and commitment to this matter which is beneficial to all of us that do ship herps.  I had a situation last year and you tried to help me out and I wont forget that either.  We need more people like you involved in the herp community and I personally would like to thank you for what you have done.


Gary Walsch
Sunshine State Reptiles

What did LLL do?
Lucas

Here is a question for all of you...
How many people out there are allowed to use ups for shipping reptiles without a daily pickup account?

I have tried several times, only to hear that I am not allowed to ship reptiles (much less snakes) without a daily pickup account where ups comes to my facility every day.  That I am NOT ALLOWED to drop off packages at a counter or center.  Then I hear of several people who have occasional shipper accounts and permission to ship reptiles and do drop offs.  I tell Ups this and they say that it is against national policy and these people are not allowed to do this.

If any of you do have permission to ship without a daily account, I would greatly appreciate knowing who you deal with so that I can get somewhere!  I would be happy just using usps, but they now cannot guarantee any overnight shipping of live animals--only 2nd day.
I figure step at a time--cant get them to let me ship snakes, if I cant even get an account.  

Thanks for any input.
Dana

Ben, Thank you!  I am sure it took a great deal of your time to make all of the arrangements.  For the rest of us, how do we proceed.  Is there anything we can reference (UPS contact?) if we encounter any problems at the UPS counter?

THANKS EVERYONE,

I'LL TRY TO ANSWER EVERONES QUESTION BEST I CAN.
AS FAR AS I KNOW, EVERYONE HAS TO HAVE A DAILY PICK-UP
ACCOUNT TO GET WRITTEN PERMISSION TO SHIP. I KNOW THIS SEEMS EXPENSIVE TO SOME BUT ITS EASY TO DO IF YOU SHIP EVEN JUST ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK. THE PICK-UP RATE IS BASED AND WHAT YOU SPEND ON SHIPPING WITH THEM EACH WEEK. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU SPEND 60$ OR MORE IN SHIPPING THEN IT IS FREE. IF YOU SPEND 30$ A WEEK IT COST SOMETHING LIKE 10$ AND IF YOU SPEND NOTHING I THINK ITS 15$.  THIS IS THE EASIEST THING TO DO.  WHEN YOUR DAILY DRIVER SHOWS UP JUST TELL THEM WHAT DAYS YOU ARE MOST LIKELY GOING TO SHIP ON (MON-WED) AND TELL THEM NOT TO WASTE THEIR TIME COMING THE OTHER DAYS. IF YOU SHIP TWICE A WEEK THEN YOUR OUT NO $$ AND ALL IS WELL. ALSO, TO EASE GETTING PERMISSION ALWAYS REFER TO YOURSELF AS A "BUSINESS LIKE ENTITY". FOR EXAMPLE, WE WERE NOT INCORPERATED OR ANYTHING SO WE WERE C.R.C.-HOBBY SHOP.  THEY SEE IT AS A BUSINESS WITH BUSINESS TO BE HAD AND WERE MUCH MORE OPEN THAT THE ORIGINALL CONVERSATION WE HAD WITH THEM AS A "JOE BLOW INDIVIDUAL SHIPPER".  FURTHERMORE DO NOT GO TO THE COUNTER SOMEWHERE AND ASK FOR PERMISSION TO SHIP, THIS IS JUST ASKING TO GET DENIED. WHEN YOU OPEN YOUR ACCOUNT ONLINE THERE IS A "HELP" EMAIL FOR QUESTIONS ETC.... EMAIL THEM ABOUT YOUR WANTING TO OBTAIN WRITTEN PERMISSION TO SHIP "HARMLESS REPTILES". THEY WILL GET A REP IN CONTACT WITH YOU. THESE ARE SALES REPS WHO MAKE MONEY FOR GETTING YOUR BUSINESS, AS OPPOSED TO THE SUPERVISER AT THE COUNTER THAT IS PAID BY THE HOUR AND HAS NO INCENTIVE REALLY TO GET YOUR BUSINESS. THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST WAY TO GO!!
 SORRY IF I DRAGGED THAT ALONG THERE, NOW TO THE QUESTIONS ABOUT LLL.
 BACK IN JANUARY LLL WAS SHIPPING SNAKES WITH UPS AFTER ALREADY BEING BUSTED BY THEM ONCE AND TOLD NOT
TO DO IT AGAIN. A PACKAGE SHIPPED OUT BY LLL SOMEHOW GOT BUSTED OR SOMETHING AT A UPS DOCK AND THE SNAKE
APPARENTLY GOT LOOSE SOMEHOW. A UPS EMPLOYEE PUT A
5 GALLON BUCKET OVER THE SNAKE AND THEY CALLED LLL.
LLL COMPLETELY DENIED THAT IT WAS THEIR SNAKE ALSO DENYING TO TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY  FOR IT.  THE "UPPERS" AT UPS INVESTIGATED SWIFTLY AND THERE WAS NO DENYING THAT THIS WAS LLL'S SNAKE. MEANWHILE THE SNAKE SITS UNDER THIS BUCKET FOR 2 DAYS UNTIL UPS PULLS ITS SHIPPING FROM LLL, NOT ALLOWING THEM TO SHIP. AFTER "SHUTTING DOWN" THEIR SHIPPING LLL ADMITTED THAT THE SNAKE WAS THEIRS, ADMITTED THAT THEY LIED, SIGNED AN AGREEMENT NOT TO SHIP OUT ANYMORE SNAKES VIA UPS, AND FINALLY WENT TO
GO GET THE SNAKE. THIS WAS SOOOOOOO DAMAGING YOU
CANNOT IMAGINE. LLL IS CONSIDERED IN THE TOP 5 SHIPPERS
WITH UPS (IN THE REPTILE INDUSTRY) AND FOR THEM TO PULL THIS OFF MADE THE WHOLE INDUSTRY LOOK PRETTY BAD.  I WAS TOLD OF THESE EVENTS DIRECTLY FROM UPS.
 IF ANYONE ELSE HAS ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FEEL FREE TO ASK OR EMAIL ME PRIVATELY, I'LL DO ALL I CAN TO HELP.

GOD BLESS TO ALL!
BEN SPARKS <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

Ben. You lost me. LLL is not allowed to ship snakes with UPS, but smaller dealers can ship, if they have a daily pick-up scheduled? Did LLL do something besides ship a snake, when</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">BACK IN JANUARY LLL WAS SHIPPING SNAKES WITH UPS AFTER ALREADY BEING BUSTED BY THEM ONCE AND TOLD NOT
TO DO IT AGAIN</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
&nbsp;Are you saying that for $15.00 a week, we can schedule "daily pick-ups" and they will ship our snakes for us? I applaud your efforts! Thank you!

SORRY ABOUT THAT,

YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SHIP ALL REPTILES, EXCEPT SNAKES. &nbsp;WHERE LLL GOT IN TROUBLE WAS THAT THEY HAD
PERMISSION JUST LIKE I DO TO SHIP REPTILES, BUT NOT SNAKES. THEY WENT AHEAD AND SHIPPED SNAKES AND GOT
BUSTED ONCE, AND THEN GOT BUSTED AGAIN AS I MENTIONED ABOVE. IF YOU GO THROUGHT THE STEPS I MENTIONED AND HAVE THE "DAILY PICK-UP" ACCOUNT, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SHIP EVERYTHING BUT SNAKES. &nbsp;THE
"SNAKE" SIDE OF IT WAS WHAT WE WERE WORKING ON AND
ALTHOUGH OUR REP TOLD US "GO AHEAD AND SHIP WHATEVER
YOU HAVE, JUST DONT WRITE "SNAKE!" ON THE BOX" WE ARENT TECHNICALLY ALLOWED TO SHIP SNAKES. &nbsp;WHAT LLL DID HURT US PRETTY BAD BECAUSE UPS SAID THAT THEY HAD A SPECIFIC WRITTEN AGREEMENT WITH LLL OF WHICH THEY SIGNED STATING THAT THEY WOULD &nbsp;- NOT - SHIP ANYMORE SNAKES, AND THEN THEY DID. CREDABILITY WAS THE FACTOR HERE. &nbsp;GIVE ME A EMAIL OR CALL ME AT 918-487-6803 (LEAVE A MESSAGE IF YA GET THE MACHINE AND I'LL CALL YA RIGHT BACK).

GOD BLESS
BEN <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

I have a box with Mail Boxes Etc, and always ship my kids out through them...the boxes are usually marked perishable and sometimes live harmless reptiles, and I have never had any issues shipping out or receiving reptiles in this fashion. So try MBE and see if that works for you Dana.

LC,

I thought about using MBE, but I was hesitant to do so. &nbsp;Do you send them via FedEx or UPS when you use them? &nbsp;I also know that MBE charges a little bit extra for their service. &nbsp;Do you know how much it is?

Thanks,

Darin

I've sent fedex, airborne, and ups. It's maybe $5 or so more and they'll see what carrier has the best price, and it's worth avoiding the headache of going to a UPS counter. I've never had a problem with the MBE that I go to....every time something new comes in, they love to see what's in the box &nbsp;<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

Granted, I doubt all of em are like that, but it's worth a shot. Plus for me, I don't have to worry about critters sitting in bad conditions when they arrive...they stay inside, and no one tosses the box around, plus I get a call as soon as they come in.