shipping times the good, bad, and ugly

[tundradragons]

so I want to hear the good bad and ugly about what happened when you received an animal that was shipped. please include the following information.

shipping carrier (ups, fed ex, other)
container (cardboard box with plastic tub inside secured properly.)
next day, 2 day , ground (i hope there were no ground shippings)
what time of year you got your mail order buddy. (aprox dates would be awesome)
shipping cost if you remember.
and if you want to plug your fav breeder for a job well done, feel free to hijack! lol

I'm doing some research on whether to offer 2 day shipping in the summer(mid july - early sept.) to lower shipping costs. I know that they will be a bit more stressed, has anyone had any bad luck with shipping related stress also?

thanks in advance to everyone who posts!

remember we all breed for you!

Charles

 

[Rukia1988]

Mine was overnight shipping and she came in a cardboard box that had styrofoam put on the sides all around and then the baby was in a small gladware type plastic container with holes and lots of paper towels. It took her quite some time to warm up to my family. She was dark for the first week....when I got her she was dark as well. I would not recommend 2 day shipping. I am not that experienced because I only went through this one time but like I said she took a week to show me her colors.

 

[Frito]

I bought my baby Iguana online, the only way they would ship reptiles is next day air UPS.

came in a box labeled ^ Perishable this side up ^

inside the box was 1" foam walls filled with shredded newspaper and he was in a plastic deli cup in the middle, of course 3 holes poked in two ends of the box and foam walls as well as holes in the cup. also had some paper fiber material inside the deli cup.

he got out of his cup pretty easily when i got him and has been very active and healthy ever since.

after finding a local pet store that actually had Iguana's and seeing the conditions they were in and how they looked i was very happy i bought one off an online pet store because mine was perfect no tail nip no scratches on his scales due to crowed living conditions and very healthy little guy. He's still skiddish to me but that's a baby iguana for you, in my experience it takes lots of time to get them to tame down to bearded dragon levels and even then they sometime have a mind of their own

 

[tundradragons]

thanks guys keep em comin! i usually only offer ups next day air myself, but customers keep saying shipping is to high. so i am looking into other options. also, I wont use fed ex, my uncaring local driver left a bad taste in my mouth and I can't stand their service. (long story)

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Charles,
Im only poppingin this am from the road. 2nd day air opens up ALOT more potenial problems. If everything goes right you SHOULD be ok, but how often does everything go right. I will stick to overnight only. Better safe than sorry.
T

 

[john_ny217]

I would never even consider sending an animal anything other than overnight. Not worth it to cut corners to save a few bucks, especially when there are beardies lives at stake here.

 

[tundradragons]

thanks guys, I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, i really never considered it until this week, i didn't think $50-$70 for next day air (i include the packaging in this fee) was too bad. i've paid far more for non living things.

i guess i just need to find some cheaper packaging materials so i can charge less for shipping.

Thanks again,

and have a safe trip tom!

Charles

 

[john_ny217]

I do not charge for shipping supplies. boxes and heat/cold packs are really cheap when ya think about it, and using ShipYourReptiles and/or getting fedex certified really cuts down on shipping charges.

Where do you get your boxes from? because the size of the box you are using also plays a huge part in the cost of shipping. For a single baby dragon you should only be using 6x6x6 boxes at the most. I have never had any size box cost $70 for shipping.

The average is about $30-$50 and anything over $50 (very very rarely) I just eat the cost.

 

[tundradragons]

here's how I calculate my shipping,

the actual ups shipping costs are between 30 and 50 dollars, occasionally higher, the box, heat or cool pack and deli cup cost me $20 from syr. including the shipping to me as i have yet to find a decent insulated box in town here cheaper.

so I add up both the shipping and the packaging (on a $25 or $50 dragon I wont cover cost of packaging.) and that's the shipping costs,

on my premium animals I cover cost of shipping over $50, but not on the low cost animals because i need to recoup some of my expenses or i mind as well give them away free locally.

also 6x6x6 seems awful small to me for a 6" dragon, (which is the minimum size recommended to ship from what I understand) especially when you figure in the insulation takes up an inch of that.

edit*** oh i use syr kit#2 mostly 12x9x6. edit***

charles

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

I buy the componets of the kits seperatly in bulk.
End up being like 5 to10 bucks for shipping materials.

 

[john_ny217]

You can buy boxes online from uline.com in bulk for cheap as well as sheets of styrofoam so you can make your own boxes. you can get hot/cold packs on ebay for way cheap.

I would say 12x9x6 is a bit too big for a 6 inch dragon. They do not need a box that they can slide around in, they need a box that will keep them secure and safe for the 16-18 hours that they are in the box.

If you are selling a dragon for $25 but the shipping is $70 lol I don't think very many people will be ok with that. But ya never know.

Good luck!

- John

 

[tundradragons]

where do you guys get your deli cups, i cant find any cheap. thanks

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

some get them from supierior or ship your reptiles.

 

[karen1]

I received two shipments from two different people, where they covered shipping. They were shipped UPS 2nd day on a Thursday, and the other was shipped USPS Priority. If I had known they were shipping 2 day I would have paid more to cover overnight shipping, that will definatly be a question on future purchases. Neither one had insulation, just newspaper. Each shipment had three beardies. All came in extremely dehydrated, cold and very hungry (after they were warmed up). As someone who has received 6 beardies this way, I would NOT recommend it. Two of the beardies were so thin they never should have been shipped overnight much less 2 day. I guess some people are better at taking pictures than taking care of beardies. So I would give it a BIG thumbs down on the 2 day shipping. I think the welfare of the beardie is more important than saving a few bucks. Just my 2cents.

 

[tundradragons]

Thanks karen,

I've never sent an animal 2 day, and by the answers I'm getting here I wont be either.