Chat Thread for the New Crazy 24 hour Auction

[brucifer]

View attachment 1096526

Thank you! Do you think UPS would be better at shipping than USPS? I have to assume that my local USPS shipping hub just DOESN'T have any staff for sorting, all fragile labels have been completely ignored, even the "caution liquid syrup" trick, am positive that it is entirely automated, or I'd have to assume at this point that it's being done on purpose.
Bull semen... bet you can't look at a bull without at least a mental flinch now! OMG, I am still flinching for you!!! Good thing you've not had a broken egg shipment, got one recently and the rotten egg smell just about knocked me over! With all the heat, it didn't stand a chance!
My husband sympathizes with you on the bull semen too, and he says thank you for the well-wishing.

Thank you! It used to be that the USPS was terrible with damaging the contents of packages during shipment, but UPS and the USPS are pretty comparable these days. IMHO, USPS Priority Mail is a real bargain, and the postal service usually does a good job handling those packages. However, I still get concerned when I consider the hubs that the packages must go through. Those are the points where the possibility of damage increases because of the volume of packages being handled and sorted. For example, I recently had two hatching-egg shipments go through major sorting hubs. One shipment went through Chicago; the other went through Nashville; and, both went through Atlanta. However, I'm pleased to report that both shipments came through just fine. A lot had to do with the outstanding way each seller packaged their respective hatching eggs, but a lot also had to do with the way the USPS handled the packages with care. From @Nyla I had 28 hatching eggs, and at first candling not a single clear and all were growing fine except for one. Also, the way @Ravynscroft packaged the hatching eggs she shipped was exceptional. Not only did the eggs not move or jostle at all during shipment, but the packing material she used served as an effective shock damper.

Some people are concerned that putting "fragile" on a package is like putting a target on the package, but to be honest with you, when sorters and package-car loaders look for and read labels, it is usually only the address label. They work so quickly that they don't have time to look for and read anything else. My average package-sorting rate was 810 packages per hour, and I was trained to treat all packages with care, not just the ones with special labels. Anyone at UPS who treated packages too roughly when I worked there was either warned once or fired on the spot. Most of us had enough pride in our work that we wouldn't have done something like that intentionally. Usually damages were caused by either volume overflow, machinery, or load shifting in the feeder trucks.

The bull-semen event is just one story. There are other things that I cannot mention because BYC a family-oriented website. I'll just put it this way, businesses and people will ship just about anything and everything if they think they can get away with it. Some things that happened at UPS were funny, but others were sad. For example, I remember one package that got caught in the meat grinder and came out looking like an accordion, and the contents were obviously crushed. On all sides of the outside of the package there were drawings from children in all different colors of crayon and in big letters the words "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!." When I saw the amount of time and love that a family put into that very special package and how our company let them down, it was upsetting.

I didn't mean to ramble. I have some fence to run and am procrastinating. lol! Have a great day!

 

[bullets]

Thank you! It used to be that the USPS was terrible with damaging the contents of packages during shipment, but UPS and the USPS are pretty comparable these days. IMHO, USPS Priority Mail is a real bargain, and the postal service usually does a good job handling those packages. However, I still get concerned when I consider the hubs that the packages must go through. Those are the points where the possibility of damage increases because of the volume of packages being handled and sorted. For example, I recently had two hatching-egg shipments go through major sorting hubs. One shipment went through Chicago; the other went through Nashville; and, both went through Atlanta. However, I'm pleased to report that both shipments came through just fine. A lot had to do with the outstanding way each seller packaged their respective hatching eggs, but a lot also had to do with the way the USPS handled the packages with care. From @Nyla I had 28 hatching eggs, and at first candling not a single clear and all were growing fine except for one. Also, the way @Ravynscroft packaged the hatching eggs she shipped was exceptional. Not only did the eggs not move or jostle at all during shipment, but the packing material she used served as an effective shock damper.

Some people are concerned that putting "fragile" on a package is like putting a target on the package, but to be honest with you, when sorters and package-car loaders look for and read labels, it is usually only the address label. They work so quickly that they don't have time to look for and read anything else. My average package-sorting rate was 810 packages per hour, and I was trained to treat all packages with care, not just the ones with special labels. Anyone at UPS who treated packages too roughly when I worked there was either warned once or fired on the spot. Most of us had enough pride in our work that we wouldn't have done something like that intentionally. Usually damages were caused by either volume overflow, machinery, or load shifting in the feeder trucks.

The bull-semen event is just one story. There are other things that I cannot mention because BYC a family-oriented website. I'll just put it this way, businesses and people will ship just about anything and everything if they think they can get away with it. Some things that happened at UPS were funny, but others were sad. For example, I remember one package that got caught in the meat grinder and came out looking like an accordion, and the contents were obviously crushed. On all sides of the outside of the package there were drawings from children in all different colors of crayon and in big letters the words "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!." When I saw the amount of time and love that a family put into that very special package and how our company let them down, it was upsetting.

I didn't mean to ramble. I have some fence to run and am procrastinating. lol! Have a great day!

More stories please! Good and the bad

 

[Robin Koski]

Ravynscroft ..... I wanted to give you a update on the Cemani eggs. I removed 3 from the incubator last night after I candled for the 3rd time that didn't form. 6 of them look super good! 3 are iffy but I am not giving up hope for them. They will start to hatch a week from tomorrow. I have to say I am very pleased. Especially since this is my first hatch!

 

[Bluechick2u]

Thank you! It used to be that the USPS was terrible with damaging the contents of packages during shipment, but UPS and the USPS are pretty comparable these days. IMHO, USPS Priority Mail is a real bargain, and the postal service usually does a good job handling those packages. However, I still get concerned when I consider the hubs that the packages must go through. Those are the points where the possibility of damage increases because of the volume of packages being handled and sorted. For example, I recently had two hatching-egg shipments go through major sorting hubs. One shipment went through Chicago; the other went through Nashville; and, both went through Atlanta. However, I'm pleased to report that both shipments came through just fine. A lot had to do with the outstanding way each seller packaged their respective hatching eggs, but a lot also had to do with the way the USPS handled the packages with care. From @Nyla I had 28 hatching eggs, and at first candling not a single clear and all were growing fine except for one. Also, the way @Ravynscroft packaged the hatching eggs she shipped was exceptional. Not only did the eggs not move or jostle at all during shipment, but the packing material she used served as an effective shock damper.

Some people are concerned that putting "fragile" on a package is like putting a target on the package, but to be honest with you, when sorters and package-car loaders look for and read labels, it is usually only the address label. They work so quickly that they don't have time to look for and read anything else. My average package-sorting rate was 810 packages per hour, and I was trained to treat all packages with care, not just the ones with special labels. Anyone at UPS who treated packages too roughly when I worked there was either warned once or fired on the spot. Most of us had enough pride in our work that we wouldn't have done something like that intentionally. Usually damages were caused by either volume overflow, machinery, or load shifting in the feeder trucks.

The bull-semen event is just one story. There are other things that I cannot mention because BYC a family-oriented website. I'll just put it this way, businesses and people will ship just about anything and everything if they think they can get away with it. Some things that happened at UPS were funny, but others were sad. For example, I remember one package that got caught in the meat grinder and came out looking like an accordion, and the contents were obviously crushed. On all sides of the outside of the package there were drawings from children in all different colors of crayon and in big letters the words "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!." When I saw the amount of time and love that a family put into that very special package and how our company let them down, it was upsetting.

I didn't mean to ramble. I have some fence to run and am procrastinating. lol! Have a great day!

The package I got from Nyla 3 weeks ago did not have broken eggs, was packaged extremely well, but many aircells were detached and scrambled, and only a few have made it thus far. The hub near me seems to be exceptionally rough, so I've been advised to look into paying the extra 10.00 for special handling, as at least a dozen shipments now have had problems. One was packaged so well that none were broken despite a very severe dent in the box, but were scrambled to badly that bubbles were visible. Do you think the special handling might help this?
(I think my USPS hired a t-rex to sort priority mail packages...)

 

[Ravynscroft]

Ravynscroft ..... I wanted to give you a update on the Cemani eggs. I removed 3 from the incubator last night after I candled for the 3rd time that didn't form. 6 of them look super good! 3 are iffy but I am not giving up hope for them. They will start to hatch a week from tomorrow. I have to say I am very pleased. Especially since this is my first hatch!

Good to hear!!

Sorry, I meant to comment earlier, pics of your eggs were to difficult to make out details... and I have a very hard time telling things for certain off of pics...

 

[Bluechick2u]

Ravenscroft, any chance of another auction? I really wanted those eggs, and the chance of another ER trip are pretty slim statistically speaking...

 

[Ravynscroft]

Ravenscroft, any chance of another auction? I really wanted those eggs, and the chance of another ER trip are pretty slim statistically speaking...

I can't guarantee anything, but why don't you send me a private message? We'll talk about it...

Btw, I tried the Special Handling service before, no difference in how the box was handled...

 

[WVduckchick]

I have some extra laun (sp?), thin wood stuff. Wonder if it would help to line the sides of the outer box with it?

 

[brucifer]

The package I got from Nyla 3 weeks ago did not have broken eggs, was packaged extremely well, but many aircells were detached and scrambled, and only a few have made it thus far. The hub near me seems to be exceptionally rough, so I've been advised to look into paying the extra 10.00 for special handling, as at least a dozen shipments now have had problems. One was packaged so well that none were broken despite a very severe dent in the box, but were scrambled to badly that bubbles were visible. Do you think the special handling might help this?
(I think my USPS hired a t-rex to sort priority mail packages...)View attachment 1097077

That looks like damage caused by a load shift where a heavy package fell onto your package. The best packaging job on the planet won't protect the internal contents of your hatching eggs from a hit like that.

Did you look at the tracking number history of that package and follow its progress? I'm sure it went through the Chicago and Portland hubs, and possibly the Seattle hub as well. It also had a long distance to travel across the country.

I admit for a couple of reasons that I was concerned when @Nyla shipped hatching eggs to my place in Georgia. First, after working in the shipping business, I don't trust shippers with packages that contain delicate contents. There's a lot of jostling that goes on with the handling of packages. For example, on a number of occasions I have traveled several hours one way for local pick up of hatching eggs, and one time several hours just to pick up a single four-week-old cockerel that we wanted. Second, my local post office makes a lot of shipping and handling errors. At least that has been my experience with them. They don't even have my street spelled correctly in their system. Only in Georgia! Anyway, I was concerned that the hatching-eggs would either be forgotten in some hot room or crushed through carelessness. However, what I learned is that my county is rural enough that the post office has an annex at a second location for livestock shipments and hatching eggs. What a pleasant surprise! They treated our hatching eggs with special care.

As for shipping, I think your best bet is USPS Priority Mail. UPS ground goes through a lot of hubs and handling, and Next-Day Air and 2nd-Day Air are cost prohibitive.

BTW, I see that you're from Oregon. My father was from the other side of the Cascades in Hammond near Astoria, right at the mouth of the Columbia River. It was there while visiting my grandparents on their small farm that I fell in love with chickens. They grew and raised everything that they ate. My dad told me that he had never eaten a canned vegetable until he was 12 when a friend shared a can of beets. Times sure have changed.

 

[brucifer]

I have some extra laun (sp?), thin wood stuff. Wonder if it would help to line the sides of the outer box with it?

I think what @Ravynscroft uses is perfect, and I'm sure you have it. It's pine shavings! (I hope she doesn't mind me boasting about how she packs egg for shipping. ) Her shipment came double boxed with pine shavings used inside both boxes, including on top of the eggs and below the eggs, and on top and below the inside box. That's how it done! Pine shavings are just like old-fashioned excelsior but even better because they can be recycled and used with the chickens! I'd love to post a photo, but I'll only do that with @Ravynscroft 's permission.