My experiences:
Airborne was OK when I used to use them. They always had and still false drop offs. The drivers say they delivered it at 11:40 and you walk outside and no box anywhere, so you call the office, they say box is there and if it isnt, as you insist after checking everywhere they want you to, they say the driver left it at the wrong house, that is when you call the station manager and you get a new driver
I had a box come at 3:30pm once and the internet and customer service said it was there at my door at 9:45 am!
Anyways, they always lost stuff, overcharged, even when I got the dimensional thing down.
UPS on the other hand has been a godsend till this tuesday.
I use the make your own labnel thingy on the computer and it works great. You get charged exactly what is says on the machine and label.
For ex:
You can punch in the zip code the package is going to and the dimensions and it calculates everything for you auto matically. It evengives you the options of when you put in a COD amount of adding shipping charges to the amount, etc. It is very user friendly,.
UPS has a little hidden policy. It is called (well what I call it) the " verified user, show me the money, fish and wildlife will fine you" policy.
See once I didn't label a box. This is a complete violation of the Lacey Act. It must say Live Harmless or Venomous, Reptiles, birds, amphibians, whatever. If it does not say that you are in direct violation of the lacey act. It is a 500.00fine for first time offendors(although usually waived) and increasees 500.00 each time you mes up.
Yous ee UPS calls fish and wildlife and says your shipping live animals. Fish and Wildlife comes up and checks the box, everything is contained, etc...LABELED, an invoice(which is another violation of lacey act if you dont put one in there) etc.
He/she then says its fine, we cant do anything about it. Well UPS tries to hand it over to fish and wildlife but they refuse it saying return it or deliver it. 10 out of 10 times they have delivered it.
SO to make things short, when UPS calls you saying they are investigating your account because they found a live snake in a box, you just mention Fish and Wildlife will fine them if they dont deliver it. Second you say its not a big deal but they will ask me who I spoke to and I am going to have to give them your name.
Then by now they usually say have a great day, your package is in route to delivery. If this didntwork I go for the Iam a verified shipper(which I am but it takes so long to look up their paperwork that they agree as well with you and the shipment continues). If all else fails say you spend thousands of dollars through UPS sending animals that are harmless through 7 -8 different branches of your company with different names and it would cost them about half a million a year in money and itwoudlreally suck when you mention to the rep that you stopped shipping UPS because so-and so told you you couldn.t
These are just a few tricks that work for me whenthey give me a hard time even since I am a verified shipper.
But remember if by chance on a random inspection, they open a box and find snakes, and they call fish and wildlife, fish and wildlife will call you and send you a fine which is a federal misdemeanor.
UPS is great, I havent lost any boxes or had any DOAS in over three years.
The only DOA was when a customer forgot to mention she lived in a rural area and that UPS would take two days to deliver it.
Well the box sat in a arizona truck for 3 DAYS.
But that was not their fault.
Also whatever happened to Brian something talking with UPS about policies and such.
Mike
