Best investment ever

After a few issues with some of the snakes we have had shipped to us (fed-ex dropping stuff off at the door without us knowing, one delivered to our very surprised yet understanding neighbors, a misunderstanding about a ship date, etc), my boyfriend and I invested in a mailbox and package service at our local UPS store. It's pretty inexpensive, and has saved us a lot of grief.

The staff at our location are awesome. We are able to call them and let them know we are expecting a shipment and as soon as it's off the truck they call us to come pick up. It ensures that someone must sign for your animals and another bonus is that the staff at the stores have a much more involved professional relationship with the drivers. One of our snakes came off the truck upside down apparently, and the UPS lady had a conversation with the driver, asking him to please be more careful with live animals (so she tells us).

There was also an issue where one of our snakes was shipped a day early. We weren't home. The UPS folks knew we were expecting a snake the next day and called us immediately when it arrived early for instructions until we could get there. It was nice to know it was inside and protected.

This is not a plug for UPS as much as it is a plug for the intermediate hobbyist who doesn't do this for a living to consider a private mail service like this one if you frequently receive live animals.

Side note: It also keeps all of your other mail and packages from being stolen.

UPS prohibits the shipping of any snakes. That hasn't been a problem for you?

Not remotely.

UPS stores will also accept FedEx, USPS and other delivery packages as well. We got an account for work and its been amazing.

So, Just to clarify, UPS won't SHIP live snakes, but they are willing to receive the package on your behalf? They were aware that the package contained a live snake, correct? If so, that's very good information to have, thanks.

They were well aware of what is in the packages. At least at the hub I use, it's never been an issue. They actually think it's fun.

If you have read any of the dozens if not hundreds of shipping threads on this site and a number of others you will see that who ships what and who puts up a fuss is highly variable. All the companies have their policies but how those policies are followed and enforced can vary greatly. UPSs official policy is they won't ship live animals. Some shippers may not be aware of this and others may not care and accept your package anyway. Others might be sticklers for the rules. Sometimes it depends on who is at the counter. One person may say no and the other may say yes.

A question for the OP. Have you ever tried to ship using them? That could be a different story. If they are knowingly shipping items that UPS prohibits I'm guessing they could get in trouble for it and could lose their franchise rights if it happened too often. Most of those store are independently owned so by the time they are getting the package the UPS rules are pretty much done with anyway. If they don't mind getting the animals they look at it like no harm no foul and they get your money for the service.

The UPS Store's are independently owned. It's up to the retail owners if they're willing to accept snake shipments for customer pickups.
However shipping snakes through UPS' network is prohibited.

We don't ship through UPS, and Sam is right. It's up to the owners of the store to decide if they will accept the packages or not, but IME, most do.

IME (in my experience), most DON'T.

All is fine and dandy, until it isn't. With tens of thousands of shipments through UPS over the years, let me just offer a friendly warning, you are courting disaster.

You are going to experience a very bad day at some point.