Shipping chicks and birds - ARRIVING DOA

[redhen]

Quote:
OMG.. those poor birds... I cant even imagine how they suffered.

 

[Smoky73]

If they were sent Express Mail, the PO (no matter which) has to go by the rules stated on the back of the Express Mail slip and by the time dated that was written in by the PO person who accepted the birds. The only guaranty you get is that if they do not arrive by the date the PO person wrote on your slip, next day , 2 day by noon...etc.... then you get your shipping costs back to you. That is the only guaranty. My friend is a PO employee and Express Mail has since been extended to be 3 day instead of 2 day or overnight. When I ship birds, they are always either next day or 2 day. The birds almost NEVER get there overnight, but that does not mean they still will not die. I have had terrible issues this past year with shipping birds, they have arrived dead more often than not, even with perfect weather, tons of feed, a large box and 2 day delivery. I have had issues since they have implemented the mandatory filters over the air holes on the boxes. I e-mailed Horizon about the filters (as a comment) and e-mailed the PO about their regulations. I have not heard from eithe rand its been over a month.

My question with the PO (which no one at my local area can answer) the PO website states poultry are to be shipped "Express Mail" with "special Handling" "Special Handling" is not available for Express Mail ,that is only an option for Priority Mail. So what are we supposed to do, Priority with Special Handling or Express Mail without? My friend has started to see a lot of birds go through with Priority Mail, seeing the Express Mail has now changed it policy to be 3 day instead of 2. I have not decided to chance sending Priority. I would rather take the chance of getting some shipping money back if they did not make it in time than nothing at all.

I have had my postmaster track down missing birds to me in the past. He stated that if they missed the truck or something (which usually happens here if your shipping a crowing annoying rooster)and did not make it on time , they are obligated to drive wherever to get them and deliver them to me personally. I had Denver make a special trip down to my post office (1 1/2 hrs away) when my last birds missed their truck.

 

[DragonEggs]

Oh my such awful stories! I have seriously thought twice about having live birds shipped to me now.... I hope the babies arrive ok...

On a side note about shipping, sometimes it's not so much a matter of where you are shipping from but rather where you are shipping to. IDK if you are in a small town outside of a major town or not but I know when I lived in Pampa, TX there was no such thing as overnight or express either to or from simply because all mail had to be routed through Amarillo PO. That doesn't make much sense to me since Amarillo was only 45 miles (an hour drive tops) from Pampa but that was their rules. I suppose if it was important enough you could make the 45 mile drive to send/recieve something overnight or express.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

I'm so sorry that this is happening to those poor birds. One thing about living in a small town is that if packages come in for me on Sunday, (yes, there are people working on Sunday in the post offices), they'll call me and let me know so I can go into town to pick them up.

I hope you find something out soon.

Laurie

 

[barngodess]

Thank you all for your concern, prayers and kind words.

I got a call late last night and they found the box with the chicks....THEY ARE ALIVE....ALL OF THEM!
I asked the lady that found them to please get them some water and a piece of fruit if anyone had some. She had brought an apple and gave it to the babies. SO, SO, SO HAPPY. I picked them up this morning at 6:30am, they are in their pen in the sunshine, eating, drinking and loving life again.

I plan to follow through with the USPS consumer affairs office to see if there is anything to be done about the tracking, and getting birds reclassified as LIVE instead of perishable. Not sure what or how to do, but I will make an effort to at least try and help improve the system.

Many thanks to all of you,

Pamela

 

[leenie]

wow

HAPPY DAY!

 

[lurky]

What a wonderful happy ending to this

 

[Camelot Farms]

Woohoo!!

Pam, when I ship, I have to call the nearest HUB and get permission to ship LIVES and then on all of my paperwork, it says LIVES.
My HUB is Roanoke, VA.

Do you think that different HUBS have different 'rules'?

 

[DragonEggs]

God is great! I'm so glad they are all ok!

 

[smileybritches]

whew