Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello.

How much would i expect to pay for shipping from an order off the net? I usually just buy from local breeders and shows, but this is the first time ordering something.

Say...for overnight dilivery.

Thanks,
Geoff

Expect to pay anywhere from $30-45. That includes heat pack and overnight shipping. Prices range from breeder to breeder, but the prices usually don't exceed $45.
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Randy

Depends how the person is shipping.

I would say anywhere from $25 for USPS, which I WILL NOT USE, to $70 for Delta Dash or Fed Ex.

Talk with the person shipping the frogs. We usually tell people $70 and then refund money back to them if shipping was less. People don't realize that you have to pay by the package size with Fed Ex...
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Quality Captives

Melissa, have you had problems with UPS? I am in PA and use them all the time shipping back and forth to Floriday and they seem to be fine, in fact I have had problems with FedEx before so I don't use them. Just curious if there are issues I should be aware of.

Both have there problems. I vote for airborne express, but not sure if it is part of UPS or FEDEX. All I can say is most of the time when I order things that way it comes the same day its shipped or very early the next day. When I order some frogs they left at 10am and where here by 2pm the same day.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
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1.2.0 D. leucomelas
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My experience with UPS was pre 9/11. In Ohio, they would not accept live animals for shipment. So, like others carriers (now) you have to mislabel the package to get them to ship it.

I am also bias towards UPS after having worked there for so long. I am sure things have changed since then, but at that time UPS's focus wasn't on customers or their employees. With that attitude the customer is going to loose.

I have had friends work for almost every carrier out there and each of them have similar horror stories. Does anyone remember RPS? I had some friends who worked as 'retape' clerks. Their job was to find packages that had busted open, replace the contents if the had fallen out and repair the box if necessary and get it on it's way. If it was the end of the night and they wanted to go home, they would dump packages in a garbage bin to 'wrap up' the night. I can't remember if RPS was purchased by another company (FedEx might have done so to get their 'ground' venture going), but you don't see too many of their vehicles anymore.

I have a friend who used Fed Ex and had animals arrive dead. So he got an account and Delta Dash and had the same problem - dead animals.

If I HAVE TO SHIP SOMETHING, I would use Delta Dash for shipments of live animals. They are the only carrier out there who has a live guarantee. After that Fed Ex or Airborne would be my second choice. We stopped using Airborne after our delivery driver would enter bogus delivery times so he wouldn't get in trouble. We would always pay for early, pre noon delivery and the packages were never showing up on time. We would do a web search and find there was always a delivery attempt made at 11:50am. They would add a note saying 'no one was at the building to sign for the package'. We knew this was bogus because the packages were being shipped to a business, which was open during those times.

Our experience with Airborne was with one driver, not their company. The driver was reprimanded but we stopped using them for this reason.

Airborne definately has the best prices for shipping and they deliver in small vans that are temperature controlled.

Fed Ex is expensive, and we have found them more reliable. Plus their tracking is superior.

Delta Dash is the only company that offers "Live Arrival" guarantee.

I hope you find this helpful.

Melis
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Quality Captives

As a UPS employee I can say that some packages do get damaged. For the most part (85% of the time) the packages are damaged when they have a high volume and they get so many packages on the belts that it gets backed up and jammed. Then all the presure of the other packages will rip them apart. Or itll get caught on the side of the belt and forced open then.

Melissa, im sure every hub's intent and employees are different. It seems here we are more "customer oriented". I can honestly say i have never seen a package thrown away, or any thing like that. From what i hear, (take it with a grain of salt) UPS is really killing FedEx, taking new accounts at a loss so they can over take FedEx's buisness. And withen a year or so UPS is going to buy FedEx. Like I said, take it with a grain of salt.

Not being bised. Out of all the packages i have ever ordered nothing has been damaged or late, except for one package. The first frogs i got were from FedEx. It clearly said they should arrive before 10:30 am. I got them at 6pm.

Every carrier will eventully make a mistake. Im not saying UPS makes more or less then any other, but we are now starting to ship some USPS packages for x-mas!

aj
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I think most of us have had a bad experience with one company or another! We have had the same Airborne Experience that Melissa has had. We ordered a male Storr's Monitor (V. Storri), and it was gauranteed by noon, well 11:50 rolled around, and it had tried to be delivered once already...BS! Needless to say, we raised a bit of chaos, and the package finally showed up at 3:00 DOA. I vowed never to use Airborne again, and switched to using UPS. I haven't had any problems until the last 2 weeks! And all of a sudden I have had 2 shipments with problems. The first one was 3 tincs that were DOA. Their tracking systems SUCK I have found out, I was on the phone with them and on line, both said "Out for Delievery" I got a call on the other line saying my package was there waiting to be picked up. Kind of weird I thought. Anyway, this week I got another shipment of frogs from UPS. He shipped on Monday for Tues delivery. I got online to check the status of the delivery, it said "DELAYED" Mechanical problems! Needless to say they can't do a thing for me, and I would just have to wait for Wed. Delivery. I got a call about 8:30 Wed. morning saying my package was at the hub (I Always do a "Hold and Call" so the animals aren't sitting in the back of a delivery truck). Luckily when I got the frogs home this time the heat pack was still warm, and the frogs were all OK!!

If you must ship this time of year do it Delta Dash!! It might cost a bit more, but I honestly think this is the only way I will ship from now on!
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MIKE
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I agree that Delta Dash is the best way top go this time of the year. They know me at the airport and keep in touch with me and let me know when my shipment is going to be delayed, which has only happened once. I think purchasing from comapnies that offer a live arrival guarentee is also a good precaution. Airborne Express is also another good choice, at least in my experience. I get all of my door-door shipments from them and I have a good driver who makes any of my shipments a priority. Sometimes just talking to the driver and sometimes the shipping company itself is a good idea to ensure timely arrivals. I explained to my airborne express driver that I have very delicate animals being shipped and he was been exceptional in making sure I get stuff before noon.