Ameraucana Breeders Club

The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club => News and Information => Topic started by: DeWayne Edgin on April 23, 2016, 11:48:28 AM

Title: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: DeWayne Edgin on April 23, 2016, 11:48:28 AM
I was informed from another breeder that you can ship birds on a Saturday! I didn`t know that and i thought the USPS just froze on the weekends. Well i was wrong. I toke a box of eggs to my local PO last Saturday and the lady asked me if i wanted it shipped express 2 day for $40. I said no they are just eggs. So i did the regular $12 and change. Well the eggs arrived to the Carolinas from Pa on that Monday! So it only toke 2 days anyway. But i asked the lady if packages stayed in transit on Sundays and she said yes.So i asked if dirds would be ok to ship on Saturdays and she said it was better to send them then. Well since my eggs went through so fast and i saved a great deal of money, im going to try to use Saturdays to ship. Some people probably already knew this but i thought this may be helpful to the ones that didn`t know. Like me. Lol
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Susan Mouw on April 23, 2016, 01:23:15 PM
That's good to know, DeWayne.  I always thought it was best to ship on Tuesday, so they wouldn't be sitting over a weekend in a PO somewhere.

Thanks for sharing!
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: DeWayne Edgin on April 23, 2016, 02:35:25 PM
Well for the express shipping, you wouldn`t want to ship on a Thursday or Friday. The PO is closed on Sundays and they don`t deliver mail on Sundays but the airplanes and trucks still move the mail.
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Don on April 24, 2016, 07:05:27 AM
Thanks DeWayne for that reminder.  I have seen more and more USPS delivery trucks out on Sunday in the past months.  I don't know the specifics, but I wonder if they are being forced to try to compete with some of the other carriers now. 
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: DeWayne Edgin on April 24, 2016, 11:25:02 AM
Maybe in some areas but they do not deliver in my area on Sundays. Maybe a few other members on here from other States know more about the USPS in their home states. I just know the transite doesn`t stop on Sundays and that can help me get into shipping since my work schedule is so rough on my hours at home.  :)
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Ernie Haire on April 25, 2016, 01:59:05 PM
There are three different small town Post Offices within about ten miles of me. There is only one that is open on Saturday morning. I use them when I need to ship on Saturday. The mail continues to move over the weekend whether the Post Office is open or not.

I am blessed in the fact that I can pick and chose which Post Office to ship my eggs from. All three of the Post Offices send their mail to different sorting facilities. I choose which Post Office to use based on where my hatching eggs are going. My Post Office sends the mail to Dallas to be sorted and then it is sent on its way. The Post Office in Overton sends its mail to Shreveport, LA to be sorted and then it is sent on its way. The Post Office in Price, Texas sends its mail to be sorted in Houston and then sent on its way. Sometimes, it saves a day in the mail if I ship from different Post Offices.

Ernie Haire
Poultry 2XL
Arp, Texas
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Birdcrazy on April 25, 2016, 05:07:03 PM
Ernie, it sounds like you really have a handle on your egg shipping situation. You are so fortunate to have 3 options available to use.
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Ernie Haire on April 25, 2016, 07:38:54 PM
I am truly blessed to have three different options for shipping. The people at all three of my Post Offices are great to work with. Like anything else, once they are out of my care and their care, our eggs are at the mercy of people we don't know.

Be Blessed,
Ernie Haire
Poultry 2XL
Arp, Texas
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: DeWayne Edgin on May 02, 2016, 08:57:22 PM
Well i shipped out a box of chicks on Saturday! But they didn`t make it to MS today so i called my PO. The lady told me that they always ship express on Saturdays but she got a call from her boss saying not to do it again!! Somehow they gave it to FedEx to deliver and now i can`t find it!  >:( 

I guess i wont be shipping anymore and you would think that they would owe me a refund since it didn`t arrive in 2 days! I hope they get there alive!
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Birdcrazy on May 02, 2016, 11:15:16 PM
That's terrible DeWayne. It's bad enough to get damaged merchandise in the mail, but horrifying to receive DOA chicks. My experience is some of the postal workers can be like mother hens. I had one beg me to open the box at the post office so she could see them. She said "you aren't going to eat them are you. They are so cute!" Then you see the other side that when you go to get your chicks the guy says " I'll go get your chicks, they are out on the back dock (below freezing temperatures). Here they come, loud complaining chirps. you open the box and 1/3 are DOA and the rest not far behind. The postal workers seems unconcerned when you ask him why he didn't at least bring them in earlier from the cold. At least I can say lately my experience has been the positive one. I hope you find your chicks and they arrive safely.
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Susan Mouw on May 03, 2016, 09:22:00 AM
Well i shipped out a box of chicks on Saturday! But they didn`t make it to MS today so i called my PO. The lady told me that they always ship express on Saturdays but she got a call from her boss saying not to do it again!! Somehow they gave it to FedEx to deliver and now i can`t find it!  >:( 

I guess i wont be shipping anymore and you would think that they would owe me a refund since it didn`t arrive in 2 days! I hope they get there alive!

I went through this recently with a shipment to Florida.  Shipped on Monday, went into the tracking system "black hole" after 10 pm Monday night - couldn't find them, no one knew where they were for two days.  No tracking updates Tuesday or Wednesday. Showed up around 10AM Thursday - all alive, thankfully.

Shipped Priority Express with guaranteed two days, but they wouldn't refund because it was within the 72 hour window they have on all live shipments.
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Jean on May 03, 2016, 10:06:00 AM
If they were day olds, they should be fine.  I bet they are there already this morning.
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: DeWayne Edgin on May 03, 2016, 10:14:28 PM
I toke the chicks right out of the incubator and put them in the box. Then i toke them right in to the PO. They arrived this affternoon and 12 was dead. 6 more look like they won`t make it either. I shipped 2 day express and they will be hearing from me tomorrow!
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Paul on May 04, 2016, 02:32:42 PM
  We set our incubators on Monday mornings usually between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM.  It is delayed to Tuesday mornings when the Monday that we need to set eggs falls three weeks before President’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day.  If the chicks hatch early-like on Sunday they are sent out on Monday.  If they hatch on time-they ship out on Tuesday.  If they hatch late-they ship on Wednesday.  This has worked for over 20 years.  A few years ago the PO would refund shipping charge if the express mail was late, but not now if delivered in 3 days.  If the chicks are dead-it doesn’t get a postage refund or any insurance fund-its your tough LUCK!  We have had a few boxes killed in the past.  We have learned to ship a 72 hour heat pack with the chicks.  The heat pack is placed under the toe pads.  The red stripes must be up for the heat packs to work.  Tried taping them to the top on the inside, but don’t recommend that.  If it comes loose it may crush the chicks!

  This Spring we sent a box to Missouri.  It was put on the wrong plane and went to California first, then from there to Missouri.  We lost ¼ of the box, which we made good, but the PO didn’t.

  Thirty-three years ago, I was a sub carrier for a rural route out of our local PO.  I saw what goes on behind the scenes.  Every morning the postmaster pushed a huge cart overflowing with packages into the center of the room with 6 smaller carts on each side in a line.  He would sort the packages and throw them to the carts for the different routes.  Then each delivery person would have to go get their cart to deliver the packages.  This rough treatment is why we quit shipping hatching eggs for several years until finding out about a new product of a block of foam with holes in it, to hold eggs.  We have had good success with getting eggs shipped!

  Didn’t mean to get off track.

  A large box of chicks came for one of my deliveries and the postmaster told me that they were in the back room so we didn’t have to hear them!  They weren’t outside but in a non-heated area-way too cold for the babies.  The problem is the PO employees don’t know that the chicks are chirping because they are cold!  They hatch at 99.5ºF!  We fanciers, need to inform them every time we get an opportunity to do so!

  We fanciers are blessed to have the PO to carry our birds-no others (Fed EX, UPS, DHL, bus station) carry them.  We will be sending them to our 48th state this month.  This wouldn’t have happened without the PO service!
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Birdcrazy on May 04, 2016, 04:16:54 PM
Thanks for the input Paul. You have probably shipped more chicks in 1 day than I have in a lifetime. Overall my experience with the USPS has been pretty good. I did learn one thing, don't try to rush them, they work at their own speed.
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: DeWayne Edgin on May 04, 2016, 09:10:31 PM
I would love to ship chicks on a Monday or Tuesday but i can`t. I work from 7am to 4:30 and sometimes 5 pm. I also work 30 mins from home. I don`t even know my work schedule for the next week until Friday afternoon. Sometimes i have to work till noon on Saturdays also. There just isn`t anyway that i can plan hatches to ship or even be home during PO hours. My wife used to help but her schedule doesn`t allow it either now. That is why i asked if i could ship on a Saturday. I have foam egg shippers and chick boxes but i can`t even use them. This is why i am not listed in the directory also. But hey, i may get a new job soon! Lol
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Don on May 05, 2016, 09:23:28 AM
DeWayne,  Sorry you've had such bad experience with the last shipment.  I had heard that USPS was using FedEx for their live shipments.  Not sure why.  Maybe they have more flights than the USPS.  I know that they are trying to become more user friendly in many ways.  But its pretty hard to schedule with the Post office hours when you have daytime work hours too.  And I think that most of the employees are great to work and care about their patrons and their packages.  But some folks are just not customer service oriented.

But I would encourage you to list your varieties on the Directory and list as "no shipping" for now.  That way new folks will know what you have, and can arrange to meet you or come to your home for stock and eggs.   Good luck on your hatches for the season.  I hope you are able to get out to a few shows this fall too.   
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Temple DaSilva on May 11, 2016, 03:19:22 PM
I went through this recently with a shipment to Florida.  Shipped on Monday, went into the tracking system "black hole" after 10 pm Monday night - couldn't find them, no one knew where they were for two days.  No tracking updates Tuesday or Wednesday. Showed up around 10AM Thursday - all alive, thankfully.

What I found out after numerous calls to anyone in the postal service who wasn't a machine was that the USPS contracts a great deal of their PRIORITY EXPRESS shipments with FedEx.  When FedEx takes custody of a package, USPS tracking goes black until it is scanned at the next USPS facility.  You do not get end-to-end real time tracking but no one at your local PO will know that.
Shipped Priority Express with guaranteed two days, but they wouldn't refund because it was within the 72 hour window they have on all live shipments.
[/quote]
That is odd.  I've shipped adult birds lately and over half the shipments ended up being free because the birds were a day late.  I had no problems getting a refund each time.  Actually, the clerk at my local PO who knows me as the chicken lady said he hopes they deliver it an hour late every time so I always get my money back!  Is it different for chicks than adults?  I know there is a specific box on the form that asks if the package is day old chicks.

-Temple in CT
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: DeWayne Edgin on May 12, 2016, 09:41:01 PM
They refunded me the money for the shipping. I then packed up all of the eggs that i had collected that week and mailed them along with the remaining money left over from the return. They told me there was $100 insurance on the birds which all ended up dieing but i had to file a claim online for the money that i wont get anyway. I learned the same thing you did also about the black hole when Fedex takes over.
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Temple DaSilva on May 13, 2016, 12:37:34 PM
They told me there was $100 insurance on the birds which all ended up dieing but i had to file a claim online for the money that i wont get anyway. I learned the same thing you did also about the black hole when Fedex takes over.

That is such a shame about the birds.  Why don't you think you'll get the money back?

Yeah, the USPS is quick to tout their tracking option but they don't tell anyone the little detail that tracking is only good while it's in their possession - so when you drop it off and right before they deliver it.  That whole middle part is a black hole!

Still, it's the best thing going for the money and I guess you get what you pay for.  :-(

-Temple in CT
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Cesar “CJ” on May 14, 2016, 05:55:01 AM
Sorry for your loss dewayne its a pain sometimes

If you ship again, give the chicks a few hours so they can get their strength. I realized when they're still wet and you remove them out of the heat the moisture dries and cools them up really fast. Kind of like spraying mist on a hot dry day. I wait for everyone to dry up and move around before shipping.
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Birdcrazy on May 14, 2016, 10:35:51 PM
I had a thought on this thread. With all of the posts on the subject, should we add the USPS on the list of poultry predators?
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: DeWayne Edgin on May 15, 2016, 10:03:18 AM
I have heard from different people saying that they never got their claim paid for so im just not expecting it. The chicks were dry and running around in the hatcher except one. It was almost dry though it just had a damp spot on it. I guess it ends up being another learning experiance for me.
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: DeWayne Edgin on May 16, 2016, 08:10:25 PM
Well i guess i was wrong! I got my insurance check in the mail today!!  :)
Title: Re: Shipping on Saturdays.
Post by: Don on May 16, 2016, 08:46:26 PM
That's great DeWayne.   Maybe the USPS is trying to change its stripes.  You know if Time Warner can change...