What method do you use to ship?

Ok, here I am confused. I went to the little "rate" page on FedEx.com. If I sellect "own packaging" and ship it overnight by 10:30 it is $57.93 if I do by 3pm it is $50.31.
If I select "FedEx Box it is $34.30 and $30.36. Confusion part is that I was told that there are not fed ex boxes. Now that I think about it, that might have been when I was ordering supplies (lables, etc.) and maybe they do not have them there for ordering because if you have an acct. the labels and smaller stuff is free. I bet that is it. So my earlier post about it being so much would not apply....ONLY if you can find FedEx boxes somewhere. Playing dumb today, I cannot think if I have ever seen one before. I only use letter holders and such.

I used my zip code and the dad's zip in Tennessee to calculate the above rates.
I just got off the phone with FedEx. and the only boxes they have with their logos 12x10x2, a medium size that I forgot and a large wich is 17x14x3 1/2. They do not have ANY fedex logo boxes that would be good for our shipping needs. I asked about any demensions (size) that are more "Square" and she said that would be our own packaging, not fedex logo boxes.So the HIGHER amount would be the one that applies to this situation.

Like I was saying, that will be a rude awakening for buyers when quoted those kind of rates. They are going to feel ripped off, but there is nothing I can do about it.

You all follow me here?
It would be better, unless you live far from an airport, to use the airlines for 10 dollars more and get it the same day!

Yea, that is what I was afraid of.

I sent a snake fed ex a few months back (no labled of course) and it was approx 60$ for the shipment. Come to think of it, the box was one of my 12 x 12 x 12 boxes.

So now I guess its time to see what happens from here. I still think most people will perfer fed ex to delta for a couple of reasons.

For shippers they can shcedule a pick up, they dont have to have their facility inspected, and they dont have to ship 3 packages in x amount of time to secure their status as a shipper.

For coustomers they will not have to drive to the airport.

That all being said, I would have to agree with Brian that it would be better from a sellers stand point to ship delta. As such you would get it there in one day, as Brian stated, but more importantly your package will be insured.

Also with Delta you can send VERY LARGE packages for the price of tiny boxes via fed ex.

On the bright side, I was able to ship UPS today, but it was torts not a snake. However with the way they have been lately , even with my "waiver" I still get worried they will not accept my packages.

Maybe its just time for customers to start to expect higher shipping cost on snakes. But we all know more people will continue to ship snakes via ups and airborne untill they are called on it. As such that will make it difficult on thoose of us who cant, and will likely at some point cause the end of all live animal shipments via ups, as they will soon realize that many people with "waivers" are shipping snakes, against policy. But then again when that happens, atleast all shippig will be priced the same across the board, and that would make me happy, even it if does mean 60$ boxes.

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

When I was shipping with Airborne Express, I was using boxes that measured 15x11x7 inches approximately. Airborne dimensionalized this box to be 6 or 7 pounds, depending on the phase of the moon. With UPS, this same size box was below the floor level where they would apply the dimensionalized rate, so it was actual weight. That made a substantial difference in shipping price. So it is all going to depend on FedEx and how low they have the floor level for the minimum size box that is dimensionalized. UPS didn't start dimensionalizing until I went to the medium sized boxes ( 15.75 x 15.75 x 7 inches).

We need to check with the sales reps we are working with. It is entirely possible that they have plans that would be more cost effective based on volume, daily pickup, or any number of other options. There may even be a waiver of dimensionalizing too, since Airborne Express once mentioned that to me, but I never followed up on it.

But yes, we are still going to have some work to do with this. There are still going to be inequities for a while until the playing field gets leveled a little bit more. But first things first. We only have a toe in the door right now. I didn't believe for a moment we would even be this far with this issue at this point, so a little bit of patience may be in order.

I like the idea of rate slashing (as I would call it) based on volume. One challenge for me is that you ship in a month what I ship in a year.
Maybe there could be a pirce thing for all 'registered' shippers with FedEx. If we could contact them, do some marketing for them to increase the 'registered' users and then put us ALL in a pile and give breaks based on the business rather than individuals. That IS asking alot of them, but we have the means to get the word out with sites such as this. Who knows what can happen.
All it would take is each of us to send a email (which I already did by the way) talking about this waver and then those sending it on to others and so forth. Word would spread like CRAZY once people saw that there was a company actually working with me and others.

Just a thought!

I put a message up on a couple of the KS forums about it (Brian already had one there, too), and I offered to send the link to anyone who emailed me. Several people already have emailed me (including some old friends I hadn't heard from in years!).

I also went to FedEx to get samples of their own boxes and found the wrong dimensions for our needs. But if they decide we are a big enough industry, maybe they will consider adding a couple squarish ones in a couple of standard sizes for our use. We could them put our styros inside of their boxes. No telling where it might go if we can only impress them with volume and professional actions.

"No telling where it might go if we can only impress them with volume and professional actions"

I agree with that statement 100%. Hopefully we can get alot of the "old timers" to jump on board, as without some of the bigger guys this will not be done easily.

Good work everyone

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

I think that some of the "bigger guys" now using UPS or Airborne Express, unless they have a specific waiver for shipping snakes, should strongly consider getting on board here with us and FedEx. If those shipping companies get their feet placed to the fire to either ship snakes for ALL of us or NONE of us, to be fairly and evenly treated, no telling what might happen.

When UPS pulled the plug on me, I was out of the loop for a couple of weeks. Still am, matter of fact. And if it can happen to me, it can certainly happen to them. The only warning I got was when my wife asked the driver to stop back later that day for a pickup, and he looked puzzled and said "Didn't anyone call you yesterday?"

A word to the wise should be sufficient.

When UPS pulled the plug on me, I was out of the loop for a couple of weeks.

WHAT ?!?!?!
When did this happen?

Hello. Just like many others I've been following this and the related threads with great interest. I've had a FedEx account for a while, but primarily use UPS. In the past they've provided me with better service out here in the country, I know the driver, he knows what I'm shipping, etc. Well, now thanks to the efforts of Rich, Brian, and others it looks like I'll happily be changing carriers. I called FedEx a couple of times last week and never got a call back. Finally, I went to their website and sent them an e-mail. I then promptly received a call from my local sales rep, Mark Dodson. He couldn't have been nicer about it and acted like it was no big deal, "Oh yeah, no problem, we'll get the ball rolling right away" he tells me. He was just as friendly and helpful as could be. Wow! I just want to thank Rich, Brian, and everyone else who has made this possible. This is a great thing that should have a profound positive effect on all herpers.

THANKS AGAIN & GOD BLESS!!!

Phil Frost
ZNJ Exotics
znjexotics@hotmail.com