Shipping chicks and birds - ARRIVING DOA

[Whitehouse Quail]

Did they arrive today? If so, how did they fare?

 

[barngodess]

I am the purchaser and no I did not urge, conjole or push to have them before the holiday. It was early Thursday, both their and my postoffices are open on Saturdays and again, their postmaster assured us of the GUARANTEED July 3rd by 3:00pm delivery. This is not new, express mail used to be GUARANTEED next day and USPS's new regulations give them two days to deliver on that guarantee now. Yes, it would be nice to have consistancey with all of the postoffices.
This is not a case of push pull, greed, I want it now, or the blame game between two breeders. We have both been in tears for days now and needless to say our holiday was stained with worry, heartbreak and yes, a bit of anger. We have been and still are working together, from both ends, to find them. I think we narrowed our personal, in the future, shipping windows to Tuesday and Wednesday only. Neither of us has ever experienced this before and we both ship birds. Our lesson learned the hard way, as I said before.
This is day 6 and I regret to say that the birds are still not here. I spoke with USPS consumer affairs this morning at 8:00am, told them the birds had been scanned in Tyler, TX at 10:53pm Sunday evening and I have not heard back from them. They close their office at 4:30, so I am hoping hear something Wednesday (day 7).

 

[LuckyChick]

I feel I need to comment on this post. I am the seller of the chicks that never arrived. I have been sick about this since the day they were guaranteed to arrive and never made it. I have fretted over this situation for days now and I would NEVER have shipped these babies if I had ANY doubts that they would not have arrived at their destination on the day I was told they would get there. I hatched out these chicks and cared for them and have never in the past had any problems with Express Mail. Most shipments arrive next day or second day. The breeder I sold these to has also shipped and received birds and we both made the mistake of agreeing on the ship date believing the USPS would not guarantee shipment or even ACCEPT shipment if they could not deliver. If the USPS tracking system was set up to scan the packages at EVERY location, shippers and buyers could at least KNOW where the package is and attempt to go get the birds. As the shipper, I did everything I could on my end to try to locate the birds, including contacting my Postmaster at his home when the birds didn't arrive as promised. And I know the buyer did everything in her power to try to find out WHERE the birds were so that she could go get them. What is the point of having a tracking system if you can't track a package? The tracking finally showed that the package arrived in the state a day late and that it was on it's way to it's final destination. This was now three days and I was still hopeful that the chicks would arrive safely. As of now, still no delivery and no one knows where the birds are. I have learned a painful lesson and will never ship late in the week again, but I also feel that live birds should not be allowed to ship if delivery guarantees cannot be met. If I had had any previous problems with shipping, I would have told the buyer that I would not ship. It's been six days now and I can't find out anything. After seven days the package is considered lost. I feel now that no seller should ship after Wednesday and I would like to see improvements made in the tracking of LIVE shipments. I am thankful that USPS ships birds, I would just like to see safer policies in place. I think the postal workers would, too.

 

[Camelot Farms]

I am in great hopes that a wonderful postal worker has broken the rules and cared for the missing birds.

I'm certain that the buyer and the seller are broken hearted. Sad for everyone....

 

[jojo@rolling acres farm]

Sad story all the way around. I'm sorry you are both going through this. Somehow, someway I hope something positive comes of the pain and frustration you've both been dealing with.

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Oh my goodness. You will be able to get a refund because of the time it took; Express is GUARANTEED to be 2nd day or less, or your money back. (Not that the amount would cover the birds and stress)

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Express is NOT guaranteed to be 2 days or less. It is expected that to/from most locations it should take two days or less, but it is not a guarantee. I have NEVER received a shipment in less than 3 days, and once it was I believe 5. That said, I have also never received a dead bird. I do know a nearby breeder who received an entire shipment of dead birds this past spring (don't recall the number, but shipping cost was $300, so it was quite a few)

I agree that the tracking system is the pits. UPS and FedEx both have ecellent tracking systems--at any point during shipment you can find out EXACTLY where a package is. US mail tracking is supposedly updated every night--I have had tracking show that a bird had not arrived two days after I received it.

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/online-auction-info/797004/

USPS Express Mail guarantee

 

[keesmom]

I was told by my postmaster when I last shipped out birds that delivery was guaranteed to be within two days. They arrived in 36 hours. Just about all shipments to me have arrived in less than 24 hours. Maybe I'm just lucky enough to be located near a hub?

I will only ship on a Tuesday (preferred) or a Wednesday depending on where they're going. I will definitely agree with Sonoran's assessment of the USPS tracking system. It's awful. But given that they lost $3 billion last year I don't expect to see any improvements there, although I believe it would help to prevent lost packages.

 

[loot4louie]

Praying for a kind postal worker for you! We had a batch come in to my PO. When they finally figured out botched address, Buyer refused. The local PO took them under their wing and cared for them until they could get it sorted out with the hatchery. (It was not however hatcheries fault.) So hopefully you will get help as well!! Good Luck!