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Jim O said:
Actually it is not in the least lacking in insight, as I have thought about this a great deal. The person who won't spend an extra few dollars to ensure the welfare of their animal is the one lacking in insight. Here's why:

Let's suppose the animal is destined to remain in the buyer's possession for five years (the numbers favor my argument if you assume longer, but five years make them quite obvious). Let's look at the cost of ownership and amortize one time costs (including shipping) over the five years.

  • Cost of animal: $25 = $5/year
  • Cost of shipping: $75 = $15/year
  • Cost of cage, hide, water bowl, heating unit: $100 = $20/year
  • Cost of substrate: $10/year
  • Electricity to heat cage: $1/month = $12/year
  • Cost of feeders: $1.50/week = $78/year
  • Gas to go get feeders (or shipping cost if mail ordered) $1 every 2 weeks = $26/year
  • Vet bills -- assume one visit in the entire five years at $150 with medicine = $30/year
  • Cleaning products $5/year
Have I missed any costs? Maybe. But a rough estimate of cost of ownership of this animal, with the one time costs amortized over five years is $201 per year. The $35 extra for shipping amounted to $7 of that annual cost or 3.5%. You can argue that it's $35 out of pocket up front, but so are the costs of the cage and furnishings, the animal itself, and the $40 in "low cost" shipping.

My point is not what you *should* do. My point is that if someone wants a healthy snake and you point out the real costs of ownership, $7 per year amounts to less than 14 cents a week for five years. Anyone who is not willing to pay that *probably* is not going to buy the snake anyway, much less care for it properly.

So...if door to door shipping were not available, people would adapt. That was my point. It still is.
Click to expand...
Unless there is a reptile show within driving distance
 
I can see where a $75 S/H fee for a $20 snake may possibly lose some clientel. A lot of people wont see the value of having there snake arrive safely, as a justifyable $75. Than again, anyone who truly cares, shouldn't mind the fee. It's like insurance in a way. A safe baby, that will be with you for 5-10 yrs.

For the top end breeders, and this is just my oppinion, I wouldn't be able to justify any shipping fee after spending 1-15K on a snake. It should be free in that case. I know mine will be when I'm up and going. :)

But people have their own beliefs, and will do what they think is best.

Ciao,
Rick
 
In my opinion the discussion we were having on shipping options is a very interesting one. What would happen if all of a sudden we were restricted to ship just through airlines? This is obvious a business discussion and as such I would like to follow it up in the GBD forum. Here is the link to the poll:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71336

All comments will be greatly appreciated. Maybe we can learn something about where this hobby/business is heading, and can be proactive rather than reactive if something like this happened.

Regards.
 
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