Shipped eggs...what is delivery policy for USPS?

[classicsredone]

We had a serious issue with our local post office putting our chicks on a truck at the beginning of February with it being 30* outside. Live chicks aren't an abnormal thing in the area, and they thought they were being helpful. Yeah....I lost 23 of 26 chicks. Anyways, what is the usual delivery policy with hatching eggs? Do they deliver to the door? Put them in the dreaded neighborhood mail boxes? Call for pick up?

We called twice about the chicks to complain - right afterwards, and then again after we'd lost the last of the weak chicks to stress/chilling. We stressed that it is NOT USPS policy to put animals on the trucks, and that if anything, they should have been put in a heated van. The package was clearly marked with our number, as well. But I digress...Should we call ahead to let them know we had this issue before and will be expecting two packages of hatching eggs?

 

[Denninmi]

Quote:
They always leave the parcels by my door.

If you want to pick them up at the post office rather than risk having them ride around on a truck, go to the post office ahead of time and talk to someone in authority, and also leave WRITTEN instructions of the same, stressing that you want to be called for pickup.

They do seem clueless at times. I've had them leave live queen bees and mushroom spawn in a black metal mailbox on a hot, sunny day. If you talk to them ahead of time, it may help, may not, but worth a try.

 

[madamwlf]

I always have the sender mark the box "Call for Pickup" and have them put my phone number on there. My post office has been pretty good with following that.

 

[klf73]

I do "call for pick-up", then it's in a nice cool room until I get it....

 

[classicsredone]

I think I'll have the husband call them tomorrow to give them a heads up. The lady that we spoke with last time obviously wasn't at fault last time, since she doesn't work in the back. When we polite but firm when we called, and the poor thing felt so bad that she started crying. I really hope that it got through to them and that nobody else has the same issues. It was so heartbreaking having to sort through the dead chicks to get to the live ones, and then try to nurse them back with all I had.

I picked sellers that got good reviews for packaging, so hopefully that gives the eggs an advantage.

 

[Stingrayg4]

My mail carrier pulls in the driveway and honks every time I get a package of any kind. I guess this only works if you're at home, but I'm always at home.

-S

 

[ScottyHOMEy]

First, chicks or eggs? Your header says eggs, the post is about chicks.

I spent 18 years with the Postal Service in Maine, and we had countless orders, large and small, of day-old birds come thru.

In cold weather. Several unwritten but traditional rules in cold weather. Chicks were always tailgated, i.e., last on the truck, first off. If cold on the docks, they were taken inside until time for their next truck to leave. When possible, for long trips and for bitter cold, the drivers would carry the chicks in the heated cab -- not an option with large orders.

Baby chicks are a miniscule part of what goes though the mails. Keep in mind that the USPS is the only outfit that will accept them for shipment. Many of the regional distribution centers provide service to local post offices over an area covering ten of thousands of square miles. Your idea about having a fleet of heated vans for duplicating the regular mail trucks is not economically realistic for them.

We would often ponder what might have prompted someone to order 2,000 baby chicks delivered to Madawaska, ME (which often makes the Today show as the coldest place in the the country "this morning") in the middle of February. Up this way, 23 degrees is shirt-sleeve weather compared to a night of 25 below or less.

On the more local level, I have another post somewhere on here about another common practice of the postal folks to help out those with chicks on the way. I got a batch just last weekend. My own local post office, like most others, closes at noon on Saturday and there ain't a breathin' soul casts a shadow in the place until Monday morning. Just as we did in my day, someone at the regional distribution center took the phone numbers off all the shipping labels of the chicks that arrived there and, starting at 8 o'clock Sunday morning, called everyone within 100 miles to let them know they were there, so that they might have the option to come in and pick them up.

In my case, I'm glad they called. While it's been quite moderate here, the weather in the Midwest where they were shipped from has been quite hot, and the chicks hatched last Friday, as opposed to Saturday as I'd been told they might. Four succumbed to the trip and several of the rest were stresssed pretty badly, but , if they were drawing a breath when I picked them up Sunday, they're thriving now. The heat in transit being just the opposite of the cold you cited.

I call that service.

 

[classicsredone]

Oh - It is eggs this time. We had serious issues when we ordered chicks a few months ago, though. That's why I included that story.

 

[crazyeggs]

I let my Post Office know that eggs are coming and have the seller write my number on the box. She calls as soon as they come in. I think it must vary with location but if I was you, I would call ahead and let them know you are expecting hatching eggs and have them hold for you to pick them up.

 

[farmgirlforever18]

I had eggs sent to me and they stuck them by my gate in the sun when the weather was in the 90s when i said on the box do not put in direct sunlight. and i don't know how long they were out there

but only 2 out of the 8 are still alive the i hade on quit and the rest didn't make it past the first few days. but the good news the lady i got them from said she would ship me more when the weather cools. but i could of been that we just got a new mail man the other one always came down to the house