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mail man took the oustalets??

Brays Chameleons

Brays Chameleons

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so i shipped off a cham to Massachusetts today. it still hasnt gotten to where its supposed to be in east bridgewater,ma. it arrived in Pennsylvania at 1pm today. hasnt moved since then. any suggestions? the buyer already revoked their payment on paypal....and the post office told me that i can get my shipping cost back $40. but lovely right?! ive heard of these types of things happening before, especially on the east coast of the us. idk what to do at this point. i really care about this cham and hope that i can get some answers soon
 
There is no such thing as guaranteed overnight delivery of reptiles via the USPS. If the box arrives today, and the chameleon is alive and well; provide that info to PayPal. If it doesn't get there until Monday, or later; there isnt much you can do besides count it as a lesson learned the hard way.
 
Wait...you shipped it TODAY? (Yesterday, at this point in time)
Why would you expect it to be there by 10:30pm of the day you sent it? That's pretty unrealistic, don't you think?
 
Definitely a hard lesson learned. Say NO to shipping with USPS.

FedEx, Reptile Express or Ship Your Reptiles
Next Day Priority
Guaranteed by 10:30 or Noon 99% of the time.

Hope that poor cham makes it. :(
 
they finally delivered the package! now time to see if he's alive or not and if the buyer will be nice and resend me the money...im never using usps for east coast packages again! cant believe how horrible this agency is on that side of the states!
 
It shouldn't be used on the West coast either!

If you truly want the best for your animals, shell out the extra cash to have said animal properly shipped.
I don't care if USPS has worked on the West coast for you before or not, shipping live animals with USPS is down right irresponsible.

Good luck in the future.
 
Brays Chameleons said:
they finally delivered the package! now time to see if he's alive or not and if the buyer will be nice and resend me the money...im never using usps for east coast packages again! cant believe how horrible this agency is on that side of the states!
Click to expand...

It's not the east coast that's the problem. Everyone knows you don't ship reptiles through usps. That was a bad move to begin with so let this be a good lesson learned from here on out. SYR and FedEx are always the best options.
 
snowgyre said:
Isn't it against USPS policy to ship live animals anyway?
Click to expand...

They do restrict some kinds of live critters but permit others, here are critters you cannot ship USPS:


525 Nonmailable Live Animals

Nonmailable types of animals discovered in the mailstream must be reported to the PCSC in accordance with the instructions in POM 139.118. Additionally, the mailer and the post office of mailing must be notified to prevent future shipments from being incorrectly accepted for mailing.
525.1 Live Birds

Live birds, other than the type of day–old poultry specified in 526.31, are nonmailable. In addition, day–old poultry vaccinated with Newcastle disease (live virus) is nonmailable. The following are some examples of nonmailable birds:
Canaries.
Cockatiels.
Finches.
Parakeets.
Parrots.
Adult birds, except those specifically permitted under the conditions in DMM 601.9.3.4 and 601.9.3.5.
Be aware that the preceding list is not all–inclusive. Generally, all types of birds not listed in DMM 601.9 are nonmailable.
525.2 Live, Warm–Blooded Animals

The following are examples of other live, warm–blooded animals that are nonmailable:
Cats or kittens.
Dogs or puppies.
Guinea pigs.
Hamsters.
Mice.
Rabbits.
Rats.
Squirrels and flying squirrels.
525.3 Reptiles

All snakes, turtles, and poisonous reptiles are nonmailable.
525.4 Poisonous Insects and Spiders

All poisonous insects and all spiders, except scorpions under limited circumstances (see 526.5), are nonmailable. Other nonpoisonous and non–disease–conveying insects are permitted as stated in DMM 601.9.3.9 and in Exhibit 526.6.
 
Ah, thanks for the information Lucille.

USPS said:
All snakes, turtles, and poisonous reptiles are nonmailable.
Click to expand...

I guess that means all reptiles are actually mailable. I'm not aware of any that are actually poisonous for human consumption. Get these people a dictionary! Poisonous is not a synonym for venomous!
 
Brays Chameleons said:
im never using usps for east coast packages again! cant believe how horrible this agency is on that side of the states!
Click to expand...

As I said before: There is no such thing as guaranteed overnight delivery of reptiles via the USPS.

In confirmation of that statement, this passage was taken from USPS.com...I find it saddening that people continue to use this service without having a clue to the terms.
Live animal shipments using Express Mail® should expect a 2- to 3-day transport, so try shipping early in the week and avoiding holiday weeks with limited acceptance days and times. Express Mail postage will not be refunded unless the delivery or attempted delivery is more than 3 days after the day of mailing.
 
Why the HELL would you ship an animal via USPS? :rolleyes: That's just plain DUMB on You the shipper's end of things. You're lucky the animal got there before the weekend. :yesnod: If you even think that you are going to have a chance in this business then you need to learn the right and wrong way to handle shipping and business, PERIOD. I feel sorry for your customer who TRUSTED you to ship their animal to them the safest way possible for the animal. Not the CHEAPEST way possible for you.

NOTHING is guaranteed to be there on time with USPS, PERIOD...They say that it will eventually get there the day they say (sometimes), but it's not guaranteed...:ack2:
 
Espress mail delivery times are absolutely guaranteed. And for all of those always bashing the USPS. this is merely and opinion.I shipped 800(almost $20,000.00 spent in 2012 with the US post office) plus packages last year through express mail and had very few problems.I have been doing this for almost 20 years and I have seen problems with all shipping entities. For example I had a pair of Nephrurus amyae shipped to me for an export and it took 3 days!! That was UPS. So looking at my perecentages over the last 12 months fed ex and UPS are last place. SHip long enough and you will have issues with all.
So speaking from enormous experience i can say the post office is no worse than the others.In fact in my experience they are better. And I am not trying to save a buck i am saving my customers. Furthermore I guarantee live delivery on all shipments no matter what. Oh and the post office is open and delivers on saturday. People should pack their animals expecting the worst. If there is an issue it is my responsibility to make it right. Packages get lost. it happens.
 
Actually I wouldn't send ANYTHING through USPS if you can think of any other way. Just tried to get a registered letter sent to me from the USA. Turns out "registered" means "we track it to the US border, after that we don't care at all" - totally lost and they do not track once it leaves the country.

Another lesson learned the hard way....

But anyway, did the Cham survive the experience?
 
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