When the dragons arrived on a Friday I gave them proper husbandry and care and fed them very well every day before I mailed them back out on Monday. I care about all my herps! I take in rescues on a regular basis and strive to have the healthiest, fattest, dragons around.
I sent the dragons back in the same box heated and insulated box marked perishable and keep warm. I saw a documentary about what some carriers do when they see live anything on the box and I have a personal experience as to why shipping with the post office I do not brodcast the contents. During the Summer I sold clutch of dragons, several different packages went out the same week. I did my research and without shipping anything live before I found out it was perfectly legal to ship via U.S.P.S. and decided to go through them. All but one of 7 packaged didn't make it there by 12 or 3 the next day but arrived same day or second day. I was told by a postal worker that broadcasting live animals only delays the shipping because they usually give it to Fed-Ex to ship when they see that. I took her advice and none of the follow 5 packaged arrived late. So, in my personal experience I would not reccomend labeling a U.S.P.S. priority package with live animals on the box.
I did not wait a week before doing anything about the situation, but I did call U.S.P.S. yesterday. There was nothing that I could do on my end if I was under the impression that he "missed" the delievery so I kept him updated daily on the status on the package and did everything that I knew to get him to accept the delievery. I had no idea that someone who produced something would let them sit at their local post office and die.
There was no pissing contest or duel, I was constantly communicating to him. He barely responded to my messages, wouldn't give me a contact number, or give me a call. His e-mails left me hanging and gave me the impression that he didn't care.
I was given no choice on a shipper and would never use U.S.P.S. for any animal of value. What I mean by that is, use U.P.S. or Fed-Ex if your shipping $400.00 worth of dragons, but if your mailing a normal baby bearded dragon you can't afford to pay $50.00 to ship through U.P.S. and make any money. Again, I contacted him numerous times over that weekend and every day since I shipped the dragons. I copied and pasted daily updates through the post office tracking, begged, pleaded, and urged him to pick up his dragons. On Tuesday he e-mailed me back and acknowledged that he recieved them but the just yesterday he asked where his dragon were. He gave me a sarcastic vibe and I then contacted the post office to find out what was going on. They reassured me that unless he refused the package there was nothing I could do about getting the dragons back any sooner.
Shannon, if you can not clearly see that I'm doing everything I know to do in this situation then something is wrong with you. My intent with typing this message was to get the point across that I realize there is nothing I can do about the dragons but to find out what is the best plan of action to take to at least get my money back.
Jeff Janes