• In case most of you have not noticed, I made changes to the donation amounts as well as the durations for all of the paid membership levels. Things are winding down here, and this seems to be the most prudent way to deal with the "end of life" period of this site.

    Contributor level members - $10 per 30 days
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    Account Upgrades Page
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
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    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

UPS has updated their policy...

Golden Gate Geckos said:
It recently cost me over $60 to ship a gecko to Upstate NY, when it used to cost me $41. The reason is that UPS has changed their dimensional weight criteria. My standard box (14x10x10) had a dimensional weight of 3 lbs. before January 1st, and now has a DW of 8 lbs!!! When I did the same dimensions with Fed-Ex, they were abut the same... DHL was slightly cheaper. Basically, the calculation for determining dimensional weight (DW) when shipping with UPS is: W x L x H / 194.

I was in an absolute panic, so I called my UPS rep. What I was told is, that if I can get my box size to a DW of 5 lbs. or less, I can buy pre-paid shipping labels in lots of 25 for $26.28 each, 50 for $24.91, etc., that are good for 15 months. Now, this sounds like it would work for me, but I need to get all new boxes now! So, I did a lot of math, and I'm on a quest for boxes that have a total of 970 cubic inches or less.

Superior Enterprises' smallest shipping box (12x9x6) has a DW of 4 lbs. Other 'ideal' box sizes that have a dimensional weight of 5 lbs. are:
12x10x8
12x12x6
10x10x9

Any suggestions anyone?
Click to expand...

This was a quote from the box size that I have!
My box (15x11x7.5) was $59.13 next day air saver and using Marcias dimentions of (12x10x8) was $52.01 so thats a $7.12 savings....but still the same size box at 2lbs shipped FedEx is $43.15 (and I swear last week that was $36.00 I think they just raised there rates) FedEx is still almost 18% less than UPS.



Results Summary

Ship From: SANDPOINT, 83864, UNITED STATES
Ship To: DETROIT, 48234, UNITED STATES
Shipment Date: Friday, January 21, 2005
Bill to UPS Account: Yes
Total Shipment Weight: 2 lbs.
Drop-off / Pickup: Retail Location - I will pay shipping charges and ship my package at a retail location such as The UPS Store™ or UPS Customer Center
Address Type: Residential
Number of Packages: 1
Packaging: Your Packaging
Customs Value: Not Entered
Currency: USD
Package Information


Service

Total (All Packages)

Days In Transit

UPS Sonic Air®
Guaranteed by: Same Day*

See Note*

Same Day*
UPS Next Day Air Early A.M.®
Guaranteed by: 9:30 A.M.
Saturday January 22, 2005
Billable Weight: 7.0 lbs.

107.59*


Saturday
UPS Next Day Air®
Guaranteed by: 12:00 P.M.
Saturday January 22, 2005
Billable Weight: 7.0 lbs.

76.38*


Saturday
UPS Next Day Air Early A.M.®
Guaranteed by: 8:30 A.M.
Monday January 24, 2005
Billable Weight: 7.0 lbs.

91.71*


1
UPS Next Day Air®
Guaranteed by: 10:30 A.M.
Monday January 24, 2005
Billable Weight: 7.0 lbs.

60.50*


1
UPS Next Day Air Saver®
Guaranteed by: By End of Day
Monday January 24, 2005
Billable Weight: 7.0 lbs.

59.13*


1
UPS 2nd Day Air®
Guaranteed by: By End of Day
Tuesday January 25, 2005
Billable Weight: 7.0 lbs.

34.77*


2
UPS 3 Day Select®
Guaranteed by: By End of Day
Wednesday January 26, 2005
Billable Weight: 7.0 lbs.

24.25*


3
UPS Ground
Guaranteed by: By End of Day
Friday January 28, 2005
Billable Weight: 2.0 lbs.

8.98*


5




And this is using the box size Marcia talked about!....

Results Summary

Ship From: SANDPOINT, 83864, UNITED STATES
Ship To: DETROIT, 48234, UNITED STATES
Shipment Date: Friday, January 21, 2005
Bill to UPS Account: Yes
Total Shipment Weight: 2 lbs.
Drop-off / Pickup: Retail Location - I will pay shipping charges and ship my package at a retail location such as The UPS Store™ or UPS Customer Center
Address Type: Residential
Number of Packages: 1
Packaging: Your Packaging
Customs Value: Not Entered
Currency: USD
Package Information


Service

Total (All Packages)

Days In Transit

UPS Sonic Air®
Guaranteed by: Same Day*

See Note*

Same Day*
UPS Next Day Air Early A.M.®
Guaranteed by: 9:30 A.M.
Saturday January 22, 2005
Billable Weight: 5.0 lbs.

99.10*


Saturday
UPS Next Day Air®
Guaranteed by: 12:00 P.M.
Saturday January 22, 2005
Billable Weight: 5.0 lbs.

67.89*


Saturday
UPS Next Day Air Early A.M.®
Guaranteed by: 8:30 A.M.
Monday January 24, 2005
Billable Weight: 5.0 lbs.

83.22*


1
UPS Next Day Air®
Guaranteed by: 10:30 A.M.
Monday January 24, 2005
Billable Weight: 5.0 lbs.

52.01*


1
UPS Next Day Air Saver®
Guaranteed by: By End of Day
Monday January 24, 2005
Billable Weight: 5.0 lbs.

52.01*


1
UPS 2nd Day Air®
Guaranteed by: By End of Day
Tuesday January 25, 2005
Billable Weight: 5.0 lbs.

28.09*


2
UPS 3 Day Select®
Guaranteed by: By End of Day
Wednesday January 26, 2005
Billable Weight: 5.0 lbs.

20.86*


3
UPS Ground
Guaranteed by: By End of Day
Friday January 28, 2005
Billable Weight: 2.0 lbs.

8.98*


5

Enter shipping information Enter package information Get rate quote
All packages are being shipped from 83864, U.S.A. to 48234, U.S.A. (Zone 7) on January 22, 2005.
Service

Delivery commitment

Rate (US$)
FedEx First Overnight®

8:00am or 8:30am the next business day to major cities

76.67
FedEx Priority Overnight®

10:30am the next business day to most cities

49.42
FedEx Standard Overnight®

3:00pm the next business day to most cities

43.15
FedEx 2Day®

4:30pm in 2 business days to most cities

22.49
FedEx Express Saver®

4:30pm in 3 business days to most cities

18.62
FedEx Same Day®

Same day in shortest time possible. Call 1·800·Go·FedEx for availability and rate.



Package weight

Package type

Package measurements

Declared value (US$)
1.

2.0 lbs

Your Packaging

12.0 x 10.0 x 8.0 in
 
it really sucks.

Overton, when I spoke to my UPS rep and to someone at the UPS Incentives Dept., I was told that if I could get my box size to a DW of 5 lbs. or less, I could purchase the pre-paid shipping labels in lots of 25, and only have to pay for a 3 lb. box. The cost of each shipment would then come down to $26.28 each, and I would be able to ship anywhere in the lower 48 (except California) using those shipping labels. This quote was for my zip code origin.

I have spoken to the folks over at FedEx, and the only incentive they are offering is a 10% discount when you open and account with them. I also got some information from DHL, and according to their rate chart it would cost me $42.72 (not including fuel tax, etc.) to ship a 14x10x10 box with a DW of 7 lbs. to Upstate New York. If I'm figuring it right, that would be about a $10.00 savings over the other two carriers.

This really sucks. It's already been difficult enough to explain to customers that it truly does cost $40 to ship... I can't imagine what will happen if I raise my shipping costs another $15!!! I suppose I could raise the prices of my geckos by $10 and my shipping by $5. As a consumer myself, I would much rather pay more for the product than in shipping!
 
Yea...I hear you! $26.28 is great but I don't plan on doing that much shipping...hmmmmm maybe I sould switch professions?....nawwwww :no01:
 
To get people to believe shipping prices put a link to the UPS/FED-EX website for them to look it up themselves...they may not like it...but at least then they couldn't argue with it!
 
I copy and paste it on my e-mail! It copies in color very simular to the UPS site, But it seems as soon as people see how much the shipping is they "Vanish" LOL
Maybe I should hand deliver? HMMMM but it would have to be the southern states only...I could use some sun! :firedevil
 
With the prices of UPS and Fed Ex so high, why don't people use USPS? I know some people say that they screw up, but so does UPS, and so does Fed Ex. And, USPS automatically insures your package (geckos included) for $100, and it only costs $18.00 for Priority Overnight. I used them a few times over the past year and they were fine. Once they delivered the package an hour or 2 late, but I went to the post office and got a refund of the shipping cost right there on the spot, no argument or anything! And, they told me that if the gecko arrived D.O.A they would refund me the $100 insurance. Luckily the gecko was fine when he arrived.

The only thing you need to be careful of is, sometimes they won't deliver overnight to some areas, but you can call them and they will tell you if they will or won't.
 
Wait a minute!!!!!!!! I thought USPS wouldn't take live animals! OK now Im really confused! :eatpointe
 
According to the USPS Publication 52 (did a search on their website), you can ship lizards, so long as they aren't large, so i think our Leo's would fall under that category.
 
The only thing you need to be careful of is, sometimes they won't deliver overnight to some areas, but you can call them and they will tell you if they will or won't.
Click to expand...

Actually, this falls into a large number of areas, especially if your shipping from the East or West coast.

Also (found this out in shipping crickets) they will change their carrier (USPS has limited if any planes of their own) from time to time and this affects their service areas. Frankly it's a pain to find out after you've charged your customer and put the animal in the system that they won't go to that area (this has happened with crickets with us before).


We've shipped a pretty decent volume with UPS and Fedex with minimal issues on delivery (10 boxes a week of live animals for 3 years with less than 10 late deliveries, only one that was a major lateness (4 days for mali's that were fine after the trip))
 
I have keeped up on this here.Here is my 2 cents.
In Minnesota usps and fed x will not ship my geckos,i have spent hours with both of them and they say NO.
DHL is the worst shipper i have ever seen,i have had 5 geckos shipped to me using DHL they were lat by a day and dead cold as ice.And no i could not get my money back,no ins.on live lizards.
With UPS i use the 12x9x6 box and get charged the real weight.

One question to all how many of you right on the box live geckos? or live harmless lizards?

One more question how many of you have accounts with UPS?
 
I used to live a couple miles from Jodi and know exactly what he's talking about... I drove all around Minneapolis trying to get 2 shipments out one time. I ended up having to use a plain box without labeling to get them out. Here in Phoenix I haven't had issues with shipping except for USPS. I have had issues with recieving shipments, kicked in boxes from DHL and boxes stuck in direct sunlight and delivered late by UPS.
I feel it is something (choosing the carrier) that should be worked out with every customer to figure out what the best carrier is on each end to ensure live timely arrival.
 
Account with UPS

I have an account, but I have'nt used it yet..One thing I did'nt like is that I don't have a account rep.. :firedevil . I did however get a name if I do need help with a problem, but that does'nt guarantee that I will get this person..

Hey Jodi, I bought that last Fat-Tail stripe male from you at last years NARBC show in Tinley Park.. He's doing great and getting fat!!!
 
I have an account with UPS. I write on the box Live Lizard, Leopard Geckos, Harmless reptile, fragile.....my boxes are covered in writing.
I think I have had luck because I use smaller boxes. But then again, I have never had a large order go out so I only pay the real weight on 1-2 pounds. My postoffice here knows I ship Lizards. Someone shipped one to me USPS and they were all excited for me to open it and show them what a Leo was. I also ship my roaches USPS...Now that they don't realize....they think it is crickets. But they always ask if I am going to ship a Leo through them, they want to see it first. It is a small town type postoffice.
 
That is how the post office is where I am. They love to see my geckos when I go in to ship them, they are amazed by them...LOL! The last time I went in there I was only shipping a letter and they were bummed, they wanted to see another gecko...LOL

So far, I have only shipped through USPS a few times (I usually only ship through them if someone asks me to), but every time it has gone very smoothly. I think I will decide who I am going to ship through on a case by case basis. If UPS wants to charge $50 to ship a gecko and the post office will do it for $18.00 (and will garauntee overnight), I will go through the USPS. Something to think about
 
I have been estimating a certain shipment's cost about once a week for the past 5 weeks or so, waiting for the weather to be right, and it just keeps going up and up. Using same weight and dimensions it went from around $42 to around $65. (Unfortunately for me the shipping price is already agreed upon based on last years costs. oh well.)

As far as I can see, $65 is getting real close to Delta Dash money. One more price hike and UPS can go jump.
 
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