ship your reptiles website

[mike17l]

Congrats to the ProExotics crew. This looks great. Keep up the good work.

 

[Jerry_c_62]

Competition, the heart of capitalism, I love it. Should be a great thing for the hobby.

 

[TripleMoonsExotic]

Anyone that ships under the All Pro Shipping sites will be included in our UPS agreement on snake shipping- meaning YOU CAN LEGALLY SHIP SNAKES with ShipYourReptiles.com, or any of our APS sites. Non-venomous, of course

It was never illegal to ship any non-venomous reptile through any courier other then USPS.



I'm curious...Why UPS? FedEx already provides a Reptile Shipping Waiver, was their a reason why you went after UPS instead of FedEx?

I might have to consider offering UPS as an alternative shipping method. My UPS driver is an idiot (always delivers my stuff to the wrong house), but I have three UPS pickup locations within a 5 mile radius of home, so packages could just be dropped off at one of those locations.

 

[MohrSnakes]

Nice to see pro's in it this time.

 

[robyn@Pro Exotics]

You are right, it isn't actually a legality issue, it is a policy issue. Shipping against UPS policy can get your account cancelled though, and certainly does not create friendly relations.

Breeders and sellers are worried, rightfully so, about the current lack of ability to ship snakes using UPS services. Shipping under the All Pro Shipping banner (including our niche hobby sites like ShipYourReptiles) includes you in our hard won exception : )

As for UPS vs. FedEx, certainly folks have their own experiences, good and bad, but in 15 years of shipping with UPS, thousands and thousands of packages, my issues with UPS barely break double digits.

FedEx on the other hand, does not give us the same result.

Both of the services, on the whole, do an excellent job. You are talking about millions of packages each day. The exceptions are a small percentile, overall. But when I compare that percentile of FedEx with UPS, the choice, for us, is simple.

UPS gives us reliable, predictable, affordable service, for both PE and our customers.

UPS is the industry leader. FedEx has worked hard in the last couple of years to court the reptile shipping market, to their credit. And they have made strong inroads. Their success is a large part, I believe, of what really opened the ears at UPS to this type of arrangement, and we intend to hit not just a home run with it, but a grand slam.

(as for retail pricing, these two shipping giants are extremely competitive. retail pricing is at parity. there are other surcharges that are added above and beyond the freight charge- residential surcharges, rural, fuel- these add to your total cost, and can be seen as "extra charges, you jerks", but those are also at parity between UPS and FedEx. our next day air rate is set at 30% below the retail rate, but you still have surcharges for the above items, there is no way around those : )

 

[Gary O]

Very good news Robyn!! Thanks to you and the crew for working so hard at this. A great thing. Any banners we can put up on our sites to show support to this great thing?

 

[robyn@Pro Exotics]

My UPS driver is an idiot (always delivers my stuff to the wrong house), but I have three UPS pickup locations within a 5 mile radius of home, so packages could just be dropped off at one of those locations.

You can drop off your package at any UPS counter- the UPS facility, UPS Store, any Office Depot has a UPS counter, you can even hand it to a driver you flag down. Your APS package is prepaid and ready to go.

As for the driver delivering to the wrong house, if that is indeed the case, call it in. UPS is VERY strict about driver performance. A few dings can put the driver on notice that deep water is coming.

I have explored this "driver" issue with UPS, in the course of our development. Not getting required sigs, not making the delivery attempt, delivering to the wrong address, or the bushes, are all unacceptable. Having just a couple of reports to this type of reality can get you a whole new driver, or at least the individual attention you need.

I am NOT ADVOCATING a phone campaign against your driver, but if it is plain ignorance, or poor performance, you do NOT have to tolerate that as a "cost of doing business".

With APS, we have a special team of UPS customer service reps, but since you would be OUR client, you would relay the issue or problem directly to us (call me directly if you like) and we will knock the heads as necessary. If my hammer doesn't work, I will get a bigger hammer.

I won't tolerate consistent poor performance, and neither should you : )

 

[robyn@Pro Exotics]

Very good news Robyn!! Thanks to you and the crew for working so hard at this. A great thing. Any banners we can put up on our sites to show support to this great thing?

Yes, banners are coming soon, including something for BOI. I need to call Rich...

 

[tricksterpup]

Well this is good news and I do wish you the best.

 

[KathyLove]

Hi Robyn,

Congrats on a job well done - hope it works out great!

Will your service eventually offer deeper discounts if somebody ships more volume, above some set amount? Or will the discount be the same whether a shipper sends one box a month, or 50 boxes?

I have never shipped via UPS. I will have to look into any advantages as far as drop places, etc. It sounds like, unlike Fedex, residential delivery will be allowed for live animals? And we would not need our own UPS account as we would ship under yours?

 

[robyn@Pro Exotics]

Congrats on a job well done - hope it works out great!

Will your service eventually offer deeper discounts if somebody ships more volume, above some set amount? Or will the discount be the same whether a shipper sends one box a month, or 50 boxes?

I have never shipped via UPS. I will have to look into any advantages as far as drop places, etc. It sounds like, unlike Fedex, residential delivery will be allowed for live animals? And we would not need our own UPS account as we would ship under yours?

You are correct Kathy, there is no "business to business" shipping restriction with our UPS service, and anyone shipping through our family of sites is essentially shipping under our All Pro Shipping (APS) account.

And you are on our wish list for Business clients : )

There is another non-public UPS interface for our business clients that has custom rates for those that are bringing an even larger shipping volume to the table. It includes custom billing analysis and super sweet manipulation that provides a greater level of interaction and use than current UPS and FedEx bills offer.

I am overseeing the Peer to Peer (P2P) sites, Chad Brown is handling the Business Client Services, I will have him contact you : )

 

[robyn@Pro Exotics]

We are working out the exact details with Wayne, but APS will also have an endcap booth at this year's Daytona Reptile Expo, and we will be offering shipping of your purchases, live reptiles or dry goods, right to your home or business, direct from the show, for either show attendees (hobbyists) or exhibitors (businesses).

You can buy a snake at the show and ship it home, as opposed to driving it home, smuggling it home, or even passing on a purchase altogether because you have no way to GET IT home. Or for the vendors that show up with 13 boxes of reptiles, and sell 10 of those boxes, you can ship home the other three, as opposed to getting up at dawn on Monday to hustle it to Delta or the UPS counter.

And it will be less expensive.

The scope just grows and grows : )

 

[KathyLove]

Now THAT is a much needed service for the show! Isn't there already a vet there who does health certs if needed?

 

[TripleMoonsExotic]

I am NOT ADVOCATING a phone campaign against your driver, but if it is plain ignorance, or poor performance, you do NOT have to tolerate that as a "cost of doing business".

I very, very rarely receive anything via UPS which is why I've never bothered to complain (plus they just deliver to the neighbors - should have seen their expression when they gave me my miss-delivered 5k cricket order!). Once this program is launched and if I make purchases that uses it, I will be certain to call into UPS with any problems.



Will you be requiring that shippers prove they can ship reptiles properly like with our FedEx Certifications? Will you be providing detailed information (including Lacey Act labeling requirements) on how to appropriately ship live harmless reptiles?

 

[robyn@Pro Exotics]

We provide the packaging and text and video FAQs on how to properly package and ship your reptiles, but there is no certification process. You must also agree to our Terms and Conditions, along with the standard UPS T&C, to use the site.

As for customer service, you would be doing business through All Pro Shipping (more specifically ShipYourReptiles.com) so your customer service needs actually go through US, not through UPS. We will be ready to help by email or a live phone call.

 

[ophidile]

Very interesting! The difference between $35 and $50 may only be $15... but it sure seems a lot bigger
Will insurance for packages be an option?

 

[Cat_72]

We provide the packaging and text and video FAQs on how to properly package and ship your reptiles, but there is no certification process. You must also agree to our Terms and Conditions, along with the standard UPS T&C, to use the site.

If you provide the packaging, does this mean that we will no longer be able to use the boxes from other companies (Superior) that we may already have on hand?

And please tell me that the drivers and general staff are somehow going to be educated on the fact that we CAN ship live reptiles through them now! I understand that with such a large organization, there will always be those that will have all of the wrong answers, but since it has been prohibited for so long, I'm hoping that there won't be a bunch of snags due to UPS staff being uneducated or ignorant.

 

[MohrSnakes]

We are working out the exact details with Wayne, but APS will also have an endcap booth at this year's Daytona Reptile Expo, and we will be offering shipping of your purchases, live reptiles or dry goods, right to your home or business, direct from the show, for either show attendees (hobbyists) or exhibitors (businesses).

Now THAT will be a nice addition. Just curious, though, what kind of guarantee will be in place for Daytona shipping or other live future shipping for that matter. FedEx does not guarantee live arrival....will there be a difference with UPS? I know this is a hard guarantee to put in place but what kind of UPS guarantees will be offered?

 

[robyn@Pro Exotics]

We offer packaging for purchase on our site, drop shipped from Superior. You can buy boxes and supplies in bulk, or one-off individual shipping kits of different sizes that contain everything you need to get your reptile packed. You can also use your own insulated box if you choose.

As always, UPS does NOT guarantee live arrival, they do not guarantee the reptiles themselves, only the cost of shipping. With dry goods shipments, as always, you can insure for full value against loss or damage.

 

[Bill & Amy]

And please tell me that the drivers and general staff are somehow going to be educated on the fact that we CAN ship live reptiles through them now! I understand that with such a large organization, there will always be those that will have all of the wrong answers, but since it has been prohibited for so long, I'm hoping that there won't be a bunch of snags due to UPS staff being uneducated or ignorant.

This is a very good point Cathy, I know to this day some FedEx employees still don't know of the certification of shipping harmless reptiles.