I am so angry, I could scream!

[geebs]

I had a saddle shipped from Texas and it looked like it had been run over by a bus... The horn was broken... They never did squat about it. and it WAS insured. Cost 300 dollars to repair.

 

[ZooMummzy]

My first buying shipped eggs experience ended with 21 silkie eggs being lost for almost a month during the cold month of December the entire country had. Lost all of them

and the post office didn't even say sorry. The second experience was better - eggs came in two days and all but 4 of the 30 hatched

I just don't think anyone can really trust the post office at all anymore, which is really sad.

 

[greyhorsewoman]

Last year the USPS handled approximately 177 BILLION pieces of mail, each sorted through several of its 27,000 post offices. Statistics, as far as they are able to be garnered, suggest over 90% of those deliveries were intact. In a year's time (365 days), there is a 100% chance that I will drop and break a whole bucket of collected eggs at least once, delivering them from my henhouse to the kitchen. Why trash one of the cheapest, more reliable sources of delivery service? I am amazed that the postal service manages, with the sheer volume it moves, to deliver the majority of these exceptionally fragile packages in tact. We could hire a private delivery services. Except, then most of us would NEVER be able to afford to get eggs or chicks from the many locations throughout our country.

As to UPS or FedX, it is the same, as far as handling. (I don't know that either will knowingly accept eggs for shipment and to best of my knowledge, do not accept live animals.) Actually, the USPS subcontracts to one or both for some of its 'mail movement' so who knows who is not handling the fragile packages in an appropriate manner?

So pack your packages as best you can, better even. Send them priority or overnight with delivery confirmation. Remember, the farther you ship, the greater the chance of damage or loss. When shipping something as fragile as eggs, be prepared to deal with the situation if broken in shipment. MAYBE, be thankful, for a moment that the post office ACCEPTS eggs, live chicks, heck, even FULL GROWN birds ~~ making all this sharing between us possible ! Just think what would happen if the post office decided it would no longer accept them?

And, no, I do not work for the post office.

OK, rant over.

 

[MrsChickendad]

I know here near Flint, Michigan that the PO contracts with Fedex to ship live birds. I found out what time the truck picked up to go to the airport, got to the main PO a half hour before closing and sent the bird. He arrived in Idaho at 2:30 the next day (Mountain time). I thought that was exceptional service.

Perhaps with eggs it would be a good idea to send them just before they get put on the truck to the airport. The less time they have to get moved around, knocked off the shelf, etc. the better. I always pick up eggs at our local PO so they don't go bumping around the back roads in the postal delivery truck.

 

[Ms.FuzzyButts]

I'm in Alabama and I ordered 36 silkie eggs from a lady in Tennessee. They arrived on a Saturday morning. The post lady usually honks when she drives up. She didn't this time though. I wandered out onto the porch and found the box sitting on my charcoal grill mangled. No wonder she dropped and dashed!! I had 4 or 5 eggs really smashed and only 8 of them even hatched. The seller had packed them really really well. So I can only imagine what the box went through. Luckily she was understanding and replaced them for me. I talked her into insuring the replacements and they arrived fine. Although the hatch rate still wasn't good.

 

[evonne]

Quote:
i was talking to my post office girl the last time i sent eggs out.... on top of this conveyor belt system, they drop off the conveyor belt into bins.. could be 3', could be 6'
and the weight limit for the USPS is 75 lbs... she said there could be a 75 lb box on the belt directly after your eggs... off go the eggs dropped 4', then the 75 lb box lands on top of them....

yeah....

but when it's the only chance you have to get the eggs you want......

 

[beerman]

I worked part time at UPS in northfield when I was in college and let me tell you any package marked fragile or handle with care got targeted. They would be tossed, thrown, kicked, what ever they could think of to do to it. As far as the post office I understand things can happen but there whole attitude is not my problem, I don't care, nothing I can do, not our responsibility, if you don't like it ship with someone else.
All a plot by the man I tells ya

 

[speckledhen]

Though I've done my share of complaining about the post office, most mail does get to where it's going and intact. I agree with halo about only putting "FRAGILE" on the box. The more you mark it up, seems the worse they treat it, but it probably only seems that way. I never, ever put anything about hatching eggs on my boxes on the rare occasions that I do ship.

One aspect that is rarely discussed is the shell quality of the shipped eggs. If you have weak shells, it's a given that no matter how the box is handled, there will probably be cracked or broken shells. That is one critical aspect that is often overlooked.

Mail is automated now and machines will puncture or crunch some packages since they can't read. One of the two boxes of eggs I received last week was punctured on one side, but the eggs were not near the sides. Sometimes, I even put an extra piece of cardboard against the sides of the box so that whatever punctures it would have to go through two thicknesses.

 

[muddyhorse]

These eggs were sent to me. Little Grey Bantam packed them very well. the side of the box was crunched and leaking. She sent more eggs than I had paid for and I am happy with what survived here are pics

warning graphic photo of smashed eggs

the survivors 16 of 30

they are in the bator now I'll candle at 7 days and see if anything made it

 

[little_grey_bantam]

Quote:
Hey muddy horse - could ya send me pictures directly??? The boyfriend got these insured and so hopefully we can rightfully get what we deserve.

You'll probably get a package of free eggs sometime in the near future!
I apologize sooooooooooooo much for the accident nonetheless!!!!

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOO glad, I sent extras!!!!!!!!
On the bright side, from the pictures, it looks like you got mostly Wellsummer/Speckled Sussexes (those are the dark eggs with speckles on them) and everyone else is a mix (be sure to rub your hands for Marans!!!

) and everyone else is SPeckled Sussexes or bantam mix