Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last week i got 1.1 adult gulf coast boxies and a baby spotted and two baby blandings off a guy, and we were going to use my account to ship and have them shipped to me, well airborne charged me $10 to pick it up there at the guys house on thursday between 1-3, they never showed up......... we called them they said they would pick up friday and ship express for saturday which i didn't want to do incase of delays but the lady insured me that it would all be ok and they would cover all the charges, so they picked up the 5 friday and they were 2 hours late, well saturday i waited for them all morning and called them at noon and they got in there computers as a GROUND shipment, they screwed it all up and they didn't get here till today at noon, four days in a shipping box and somehow they all made it but the spotted is a weak, i don't know if he will make it, i think now i am swiching over to fed-ex, just thought i would share about airborne's screw up

Andy

RedoFootMan@yahoo.com

So sorry to hear that. Shipping is a gamble in my opinion.

I have had the same kind of experience with Airborne, that is what I prefer to ship UPS. To each his own I guess, but shipping hazards like that, make one think different.

I hope the little weak turtle gets better!

Kelly Wood

It is for this reason exactly that it illegal to ground ship animals in Canada. If you want to ship critters, you ship them airport to airport. Having worked in shipping and receiving I know first hand just how well Fedex and UPS treat their packages and wouldn't dream of shipping anything valuable by them.

My 2 cents
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Adam
http://anraviary.cjb.net
0.0 African Sidenecked, 0.0 Northern Diamondback Terrapin, 0.1 Redfoot, 0.1 Sulcatta, 1.0 Western Hognose, 1.0 Crested Gecko, 0.1 Mali Uromastyx

I've Had Good Experience W/Airborne ?
I NEVER ship / recieve later than wednesday, period!! NO
EXCEPTIONS, PERIOD!! I drop off ALL my shipments my self,
usually one-half hour before the plane leaves. They've given
me excellent service. Thats my opinion!!

I have to agree. I haven't shipped much, only about 30 chelonians, but I always drop off at the Airborne office near the airport (I know some people don't have this luxury) between 7-8PM, fill out the form there, make sure they have it logged correctly, and ship ONLY on a Monday or Tuesday. Plus, Airborne is the only one that KNOWINGLY ships chelonians - I can mark the box six ways from Sunday, indicating that there are turtles in there, aviod extreme temperatures, ect., and haven't had any problems. Now, shipping non-live things to people, that has given me problmes. I also avoid shipments during mid-summer and mid-winter. I start watching temps at receiving and sending locations about Thursday to see how they will be on my shipping days, and sometimes have to hold animals a week or two (or even over-winter or over-summer) until a better time presents itself. Also never ship around a holiday.

Katrina

When you figure out how it works it is as reliable as any other shipper. They all have basically the same operation. As Pete said, ship early. Personally, my cutoff date for shipping is Tuesday. I just had them loose a Redfoot (again) for one day and there was no problem. I learned from the first experience what to do and not to do. It was packed with the anticipation that they would loose it. This way if they do loose the animal it is provided for.
I'll continue to use them (not exclusively) because they are no better or worse than the others and they are more convenient for me. (and I have tried them all more than once)
Ed

I just had a Big-Headed turtle shipped to me "overnight". It took 2.5 days and arrived dead. Thanks Airborne.