Post Office requests change to shipping poultry!

[Rock Wood Haven]

The following is a copy of a letter/email we sent to: [email protected]
in response to the proposal to increase the postage amount on poultry shipments by $9 to $11.95 per box. Contact us if you would like us to send you a copy for you to address and send in also, or copy and paste and edit to your liking.

Letter must be submitted on or before May 24, 2013
by sending to the above address or Emailed to address below.
[email protected]
with a subject line of "Live Animals."​

Rock Wood Haven
Groton VT 05046

May 22, 2013

The Manager, Product Classification
U.S. Postal Service
475 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Room 4446
Washington, DC 20260-5015

RE: 39 CFR Part 111 New Mailing Standards for Live Animals and Special Handling

Dear Sir or Madam:

I would like to voice my concerns about the proposed changes to the New Mailing Standards for Live Animals. We, at Rock Wood Haven, raise and hatch many breeds of chickens, some with conservation or critical status, trying to bring these historic breeds back for all to enjoy.

This proposal would increase the postage amount on our shipments by $9 to $11.95 per box. The Postal System is necessary for us to be able to obtain breeding stock, etc. Charging an extra fee for the shipping of poultry, especially without any improvements in service or live guaranty's, etc., is placing an undue burden on a select group. The Post Office is not broken, just like government is not broken. They are corrupt! Increasing fees and other 'solutions' that don't deal with the corruption and actual problems only further worsens the situation.

Within the proposal it describes the additional cost but does not describe the additional services we will receive for this fee. Recently, May 2, we received a large shipment of chicks from a hatchery in Ohio mailed to us here in Vermont. 156 out of 215 chicks were dead on arrival, from what seemed to us, heat exhaustion. This is what we would like to see addressed, quality of service. Not putting the ex CEO of Fed Ex in charge of 'fixing' 'the competition's' funding problems (invented by a corrupt Congress) would be a great place to start.

I feel that this rate increase is excessive and request that it not be implemented.

Sincerely,

Signed...
Rock Wood Haven

 

[redhen]

I really don't agree with the shipping of live animals through the post office. I have read too many horror stories of lost babies in the mail. Babies arriving dead or half dead...the us postal service sucks and they shouldn't be trusted with live animals. IMO

 

[Pyxis]

I really don't agree with the shipping of live animals through the post office. I have read too many horror stories of lost babies in the mail. Babies arriving dead or half dead...the us postal service sucks and they shouldn't be trusted with live animals. IMO

But the problem is, for some people, that's the only way they can get chicks and chickens. Some people don't have an incubator, and shipping eggs is a crapshoot anyway. Most times they arrive broken or so scrambled they'll never hatch. And finding a breeder that has the breed you want in your area can also be nigh impossible, so getting eggs or chicks that way is also most times a no go.

And getting them at feed stores isn't the answer either, because how do feed stores get their chicks? They get them from hatcheries, in the mail. So really, for a lot of people, shipping them is the only way to get what you want or get them at all.

I'm not disagreeing with the fact that chicks in the mail can die, or be handled badly, but the answer isn't to disallow shipping them, it's to improve the method and the care and handlnig they receive along the way.

If they did that, I'd pay this rate hike in a heartbeat. But instead it looks like they're hiking the price with no intention of improving methods or giving you anything more for your money. If the chicks were just handled well along the way, there would be little risk of death.

But, that's just my opinion and I respect yours as well! I think I'll send them a letter saying that along with the rate hike I expect them to be implementing better handling techniques.