NEWS ABOUT SHIPPING EGGS

[ozexpat]

I've only had eggs shipped once, so far. The eggs were wrapped very well and shipped very well. Hatch rate was great!

One thing I noticed is that, on the outside of the box, he had written not just "Fragile" but "Fragile, live embryos."

Maybe making it sound more serious/scientific/whatever really got the attention of the workers. Like "Hey, this is something important, I'd better be careful."

Most people don't intend to do a bad job. Just like the rest of us they get into a routine & do whatever gets things done the quickest. Knowledge is power.

machines do most of the sorting of packages - they dont care what side up the box is as they have scanners on all sides. They also dont care what gets dumped on the box a container is upended by a robotic arm onto the conveyer belt.

the poor old postie only gets the last mile and we beat him up

 

[LTygress]

machines do most of the sorting of packages - they dont care what side up the box is as they have scanners on all sides. They also dont care what gets dumped on the box a container is upended by a robotic arm onto the conveyer belt.

the poor old postie only gets the last mile and we beat him up

Not quite. Mail handlers are involved in every stage of transport EXCEPT at the sorting centers themselves. How do the packages and letters get TO the machine? How do they get from the machine to the truck? And what happens when the package is at the post office itself?

My post office has no DPS machine (many individual offices don't). We rely on the main Atlanta sorting facility to not only sort it by post office, but by routes within the individual office too. And the main Atlanta sorting facility is about 40 miles away. That's a long way for sorted mail to travel and somehow stay in order.

Packages don't get sorted by route for us. At the main sorting facility, they only get divided up by zip code (post office). They arrive shrink-wrapped on wooden pallets which are brought inside one by one. One or two people stand in the middle of the back room surrounded by about 15 rolling bins. They take the package off of the pallet, determine which route it goes to, and toss it in the bin for that route.

The actual sorting machine is typically only used twice. First is to determine which flight it goes on (if any) when being sent out of the area. The second is when it arrives in the area where it will be delivered, and gets sorted to office/route. For example, I ordered chicken diapers recently, sent from Minnesota. They went from the lady's house, to her post office on a carrier truck. From there someone put it on an outgoing pallet and shrink-wrapped it and loaded it on to a truck. It went to the sorting facility in her area on this large truck, went through the machine, and was assigned a flight. Another truck took it to the airport where it was loaded on to that assigned flight. It flew to Atlanta and got picked up by a truck and brought to the sorting facility. There it went through the machine again and was sorted to my post office. That determined which pallet and truck it went on to be delivered to us. But again, people stand in the back room and sort the packages by hand once it gets to our office. Meanwhile, it's getting bounced around on hand trucks, fork lifts, pallet jacks, in people's hands, and don't forget the person actually tossing it into the bins at the actual post office.

Indeed machines replace a lot of the work that used to be involved in sorting packages. But they are still VERY far from doing all of it. And if one person can see the "FRAGILE: DO NOT SHAKE" notice on the side of the box and HAND-CARRY it to the machines or the route bins, the pallet for that Post Office or where ever, then it can go a VERY long way in stopping a lot of the sharp jolts these packages take.

 

[ozexpat]

Not quite. Mail handlers are involved in every stage of transport EXCEPT at the sorting centers themselves. How do the packages and letters get TO the machine? How do they get from the machine to the truck? And what happens when the package is at the post office itself?

My post office has no DPS machine (many individual offices don't). We rely on the main Atlanta sorting facility to not only sort it by post office, but by routes within the individual office too. And the main Atlanta sorting facility is about 40 miles away. That's a long way for sorted mail to travel and somehow stay in order.

Packages don't get sorted by route for us. At the main sorting facility, they only get divided up by zip code (post office). They arrive shrink-wrapped on wooden pallets which are brought inside one by one. One or two people stand in the middle of the back room surrounded by about 15 rolling bins. They take the package off of the pallet, determine which route it goes to, and toss it in the bin for that route.

The actual sorting machine is typically only used twice. First is to determine which flight it goes on (if any) when being sent out of the area. The second is when it arrives in the area where it will be delivered, and gets sorted to office/route. For example, I ordered chicken diapers recently, sent from Minnesota. They went from the lady's house, to her post office on a carrier truck. From there someone put it on an outgoing pallet and shrink-wrapped it and loaded it on to a truck. It went to the sorting facility in her area on this large truck, went through the machine, and was assigned a flight. Another truck took it to the airport where it was loaded on to that assigned flight. It flew to Atlanta and got picked up by a truck and brought to the sorting facility. There it went through the machine again and was sorted to my post office. That determined which pallet and truck it went on to be delivered to us. But again, people stand in the back room and sort the packages by hand once it gets to our office. Meanwhile, it's getting bounced around on hand trucks, fork lifts, pallet jacks, in people's hands, and don't forget the person actually tossing it into the bins at the actual post office.

Indeed machines replace a lot of the work that used to be involved in sorting packages. But they are still VERY far from doing all of it. And if one person can see the "FRAGILE: DO NOT SHAKE" notice on the side of the box and HAND-CARRY it to the machines or the route bins, the pallet for that Post Office or where ever, then it can go a VERY long way in stopping a lot of the sharp jolts these packages take.

thanks for the details

i have seen videos of the sorting machines dumping packages onto the belt. its vicous.

most eggs i get come by plane. the routing has SNA santa ana airport on the sticker

 

[LTygress]

That's also why people get confused when the package doesn't get scanned for several days, and suddenly seems to show up in the main town closest to them. The postal service doesn't send the packages from one hub to another, to another, to another, like FedEx or UPS. They just send it to your sort facility, put it on a plane, and it arrives at the destination sort facility. It makes no stops in between, so it won't get scanned. If it takes two or three days to get scanned, it's probably sitting on a truck somewhere waiting on a flight.

 

[ozexpat]

That's also why people get confused when the package doesn't get scanned for several days, and suddenly seems to show up in the main town closest to them. The postal service doesn't send the packages from one hub to another, to another, to another, like FedEx or UPS. They just send it to your sort facility, put it on a plane, and it arrives at the destination sort facility. It makes no stops in between, so it won't get scanned. If it takes two or three days to get scanned, it's probably sitting on a truck somewhere waiting on a flight.

sitting on a truck freezing or baking.

i get the best hatch rates on shipped eggs early spring and late fall

 

[LTygress]

sitting on a truck freezing or baking.

i get the best hatch rates on shipped eggs early spring and late fall

Exactly

 

[Fowl Mouth]

Bit late in my reply but I wanted to chime in anyhow.

A friend and I did an egg shipping experiment once using Shockwatch tube labels. This was a while back, so handling methods could have changed for the better (or worse) since then. He shipped two identical size and weight boxes, both with egg substitutes inside (clay eggs), from the same location, to the same location(me), on the same day, at the same time.

Both boxes held 3 Shockwatch inside in 50, 75 and 100g format, one box was labeled with all the fragile, do not drop, shake, etc labels one would see on a shipment of delicate instruments or fine glassware, one had no labels at all.
Upon arriving to my location nearly 2100 miles away, the box WITH the labels had the 50 and 75 Shockwatch labels broken which means the box suffered damage equal to a 2 foot drop onto a hard floor. These could have also been broken by being kicked or tossed and roughly caught. Any severe jarring of the box would break the Shockwatch if it rated high enough (50g was the lowest he used). The one with NO labels had all three Shockwatch intact.

I personally would LOVE to be able to ship hatching eggs out with Shockwatch inside just to see how roughly they are (or are not) handled during their trip... however, at roughly $3 per label it's not exactly financially appealing to most buyers or shippers that I have asked. Although, on the plus side, at one point (though this could have changed) Shockwatch were able to be used in a claims on postal handling of fragile shipments to guarantee an insurance fulfillment.

Whether or not placing the Shockwatch on the OUTSIDE of the box would stop mishandling is up in the air, we did not try this. It might actually be something to look into, though. A visual cue for postal employees might work... something to say "Im watching how you handle my box" might be nice. Who knows. I guess when you get right down to it, there are jerks sprinkled all over the world that enjoy ruining things for others.

 

[TattooedMama]

I just had a HORRIBLE experience with my postal office personnel with my first batch of shipped eggs this past week!!

I ordered hatching eggs and they arrived Wednesday. I got the notification they were at my post office but never the call to pick them up. They said please hold for pickup on the box in two places-directly next to my address and in big sharpie letters on the top of box with a phone number. I went to pick them up not feeling like waiting, excited and nervous since this is my first time attempting shipped eggs. Come to find out, my eggs weren't there. They ignored the hold for pickup labels and they put it on the truck anyways. The woman was very concerned and spoke to her boss who I could hear yelling at her in the back and telling her too bad, they wouldn't bring it back, who cares, what's the problem, etc. He actually came around the counter to ask me why I was upset and wouldn't I just be home to get them later when the truck came (which would have been 4 hours from then!! AND we are having 100 degree temps here.) I was so mad. I told him he had completely compromised the hatchability of my eggs with his carelessness, the fluctuation in temperatures and the harshness of a ride in the carrier truck all day was bad for them. I couldn't believe how rude he was. He did however, call the carrier and make them bring my box back as they had only left 10 minutes before I arrived and I threatened to file a claim. He told me later he had a picture of the box (which he looked up to verify it said HOLD on it) and he chastised me and the sender for not marking the boxes fragile or perishable, though there was a large sticker on every side(except the top) that read "Hatching eggs, Please do not Xray" they did not seem to notice or care. They stated that they only look at the address and aren't usually in the business of holding boxes-regardless of what it says, that is in the off-chance they even notice it. I am extremely wary of having hatching eggs sent through my own post office again. I can't decide if because of this ordeal they will take better care of them next time, or if because of this I should send them to a friend the town over.

I was extremely upset and ready to file a claim. Luckily for me the sender did an amazing job at packing my eggs. It has been a long time since I have candled eggs but from what I could tell only one egg had a detached air cell; it was very obvious. The rest were in excellent condition.