This is why this board can turn nasty
Rainer has shipped me Rosies on more than one occasion. They were outstanding specimens, and his knowledge of their husbandry is second to none. I suspect his kings are the same. In referance to his shipping snakes in deli containers packed with a medium, I too thought it was wacky, but the animals are always very healthy, well hydrated, and seem quite content when I have gotten them. I honestly think he has some points in packing them snuggly. If I were a young animal being shipping in a deli cup where I can be slid around and banged up everytime the box is moved, then I would be really stressed by the time I arrived at my destination. I think Rainers methods have merit, and he has proved them out over hundreds, of animals shipped this way. I know you guys will argue noone else does things this way, but I will also remind you that only a couple of hundred years ago, everyone was sure the world was flat. The point here is that just because its different than what you know, doesn't make it wrong.
Now...Rainer... you did break the law shipping USPS. That CAN be used against us as a herp community, and you should probably rethink that method. Rainer isn't the only guy who has used them, and would probably not use them if you asked him not to. I understand why it happens though. Not too many years ago you could ship just about anything via the USPS for half the cost of any other carrier. I know, I used to ship fish by the thousands this way, completely legally, and cheaply I might add. The laws have apparantly changed since then (thanks to the terrorists), so, as such, we need to abide by them, even if we don't agree.
As far as the box it shipped in, shipping baby snakes in a tightly packaged container in a small "box" type box, is just as safe as shipping something UPS/DHL/UPS overnight in a larger box. Why? Let me explain...I work for a computer parts company that ships hundreds of PC's, monitors, printers, and service parts every day. About 35000 per month actually. About 2% of those large packages arrive broken even though they are packeged in superior, top notch foam packing, in double ply boxes. The reason why is that these packages are not handled much by humans (because the dimensions of the box mark them as heavy, even if the box is not. this is called DIM Weight)...they are moved along conveyors at transit hubs etc and often can fall off. They are also palletized, and can be moved(and punctured) by forklifts etc. Also, they can happen to be the bottom box in a tall stack of heavy boxes, and get crushed his way. With sensitive parts...we often opt to use a smaller, clamshell type boxs, with some foam inserts, as the boxes are genrally handled better. With small boxes...such as the type you would use for a book, they are handled almost exclusively by hand, and almost never experiance "tramatic" damage. Its a fact, I have been doing this a very long time. Marking packages as Fragile, or Live animals, really does not do alot of good depending on which hubs the package is traveling through. The only real neagtive to this type of box is that the smaller boxes lack insulation (temperature control), which is something that can be dealt with by shipping in the right time of year, or if you are located in the south, and are shipping to a southern address ( and you watch the weather channel). Rainer is making a bad choice here,(because its illegal), by shipping USPS, but I don't think it deserves the beatdown you guys are giving him. Rainer is a good guy, who we need to convince that USPS is the wrong way to ship animals nowadays. Other than that, his animals are top notch, and his methods, though controvertial(sp), don't harm the animals. I'd buy from him again.
Shawn
I know you guys are probably going to rip this post apart, but I want to warn you, it won't make a differance to me, and I won't argue with you.
