ALABAMA!!

[icandi]

Yeah, we like variety though. I was definately going to get one of each of the rhode/legbar. Possibly a blue marans, lavender orp (can't beat the price here!), one of each of the Wyandottes and maybe a barred rock.. I thought about a jubilee orp, but that's just too high a price to end up getting a rooster. I'd like a brahma, but the feathered legs are an issue for me... My coop and run can get pretty muddy if it rains a lot.

I was just thinking the same thing about the price on that lavender orp! lol

 

[icandi]

I stopped by my post office on the way home just now and this is how my conversation went about my chicks coming in...
Me: Hi, I have some chicks shipping from TX tomorrow and they should be here by Thursday or Friday so if I could give you my name and number so you can call me right away and I'll come get them.. then I would really appreciate it.
Lady: LIVE chickens?
Me: yes mam
Lady: *takes my name, number address* and says" wouldn't you just want them to deliver it to you?"
Me: No, because I need to get them as soon as possible and take care of them so they won't die.
Lady: You can't get them as soon as they get there because we won't be open for the public and I don't start scanning incoming mail until 8:30. Just fill this (blank paper) out with what you intend for us to do.

At this point I was definitely not feeling reassured and starting to worry about them coming >_< I wrote down the name of the company they were coming from.. it was live chickens etc and that I needed to be called as soon as they arrive so I could pick them up. I may call them again tomorrow just to make sure the note was kept and they still know about the birds showing up.
Anyone have trouble with their post office before? Hopefully I am worrying about nothing and they will all come in fine!

 

[apteryx]

I stopped by my post office on the way home just now and this is how my conversation went about my chicks coming in...
Me: Hi, I have some chicks shipping from TX tomorrow and they should be here by Thursday or Friday so if I could give you my name and number so you can call me right away and I'll come get them.. then I would really appreciate it.
Lady: LIVE chickens?
Me: yes mam
Lady: *takes my name, number address* and says" wouldn't you just want them to deliver it to you?"
Me: No, because I need to get them as soon as possible and take care of them so they won't die.
Lady: You can't get them as soon as they get there because we won't be open for the public and I don't start scanning incoming mail until 8:30. Just fill this (blank paper) out with what you intend for us to do.

At this point I was definitely not feeling reassured and starting to worry about them coming >_< I wrote down the name of the company they were coming from.. it was live chickens etc and that I needed to be called as soon as they arrive so I could pick them up. I may call them again tomorrow just to make sure the note was kept and they still know about the birds showing up.
Anyone have trouble with their post office before? Hopefully I am worrying about nothing and they will all come in fine!

That conversation is far too familiar to me. I recently had some eggs shipped to me that sat in the post office for 3 or 4 days because they couldn't find them. They arrived at the post office on Friday, I went to ask about them on Saturday and then again on Monday. I ended up talking to a supervisor who found them somewhere in the back. When I asked why I hadn't been called (phone number was clearly noted on the box) or why the person working the counter counter couldn't find them, he just shrugged.... I have had the same problem with other packages too - not just eggs.

 

[Tomtommom]

See if you can find your regional post office info. Mail will go through a bigger hub and then gets dispatched to the individual post offices.... May have to try and make the drive to pick it at a distribution center.... these goons sound awful o_o

 

[Tomtommom]

Here, try this number... maybe they can help?

Domestic General Information

Call 1-800-ASK-USPS

(1-800-275-8777)
For Federal Relay (TDD/TTY), please call: 1-800-877-8339
Monday - Friday 8 AM - 8:30 PM ET
Saturday 8 AM - 6 PM ET

Also:

https://www.usps.com/manage/intercept-package.htm

 

[icandi]

Here, try this number... maybe they can help?

Domestic General Information

Call 1-800-ASK-USPS

(1-800-275-8777)
For Federal Relay (TDD/TTY), please call: 1-800-877-8339
Monday - Friday 8 AM - 8:30 PM ET
Saturday 8 AM - 6 PM ET

Also:

https://www.usps.com/manage/intercept-package.htm

Thanks I will check it out. They don't ship until tomorrow so nothing I can do until tomorrow really I guess.

 

[Tomtommom]

Don't mean to overwhelm you with info.... Just curious myself as well!

I found the following page, which seems to have 'sectional center facilities' (those hubs I was talking about).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sectional_center_facility_(SCF)

 

[apteryx]

See if you can find your regional post office info. Mail will go through a bigger hub and then gets dispatched to the individual post offices.... May have to try and make the drive to pick it at a distribution center.... these goons sound awful o_o

I try to ask all of the people that I get eggs from to put the same thing on the box the eggs are packaged in. Most have, but I have had mixed results at my end. Some get delivered, some get held at the local post office with no phone call and just one shipment has been held at the distribution center with a phone call for me to come and pick up. That shipment had the highest hatch rate of any of the eggs that I have received. After much reading and research I think that there is a trick to getting them held at the right place. When the shipper is preparing the shipping label (if the do it online) there is an option to have the package held at the post office. When you select that option, it allows you to indicate which post office they should be held at. Then when the label is printed, it does not have a final address, but just a phone number to call.

icandi, if your chicks are coming from one of the hatcheries it is likely that they have all of the labeling etc sorted. Still, I know that after my experiences with the local post office I would be nervous. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Wisher1000]

Give them a little time to get used to the idea. It seems there are not too many people that get "LIVE chickens!" delivered through there. They may do a great job and were just surprised to hear it is actually done. My local post office looked at me like I had asked them to paint their butts blue when I went in to let them know to be looking for my first shipment. Evidently I was the topic of conversation for some time afterward, because as soon as they got the package (early morning, because their drop happens in the evening after the workers go home) they called me and were very excited to see little beaks and hear little peeps. I went to pick them up and since they were not busy, I opened the box and showed them the chicks. One was dead, and they were so sad and upset. I explained that travel was hard on them and that they are fragile and that is why I really apppreciated them calling me. I would go home and get them fed, watered, and under a nice warm lamp. I have had no trouble getting them to call me since, even when my number is not on the box! They even called one morning and said, "Your chicks are here!" but I hadn't ordered any. I was confused and told them that I was not expecting any but maybe I forgot. I asked if they were sure they were mine and she said "No, they are someone else's!' They were upset that there was no phone number on the box for the recipient and that the carrier would have to take them. LOL! Everyone there was terrible concerned, I have no doubt those chickies had a gentle ride to their new home.

 

[Tomtommom]

That's great Wisher. You're probably right... It seems it would be hard to forget a peeping box. It sure would jog my memory!