Shipping woes

[Amykins]

So I had a question for all you egg sellers out there - I know there's evidence supporting that postal workers will sometimes intentionally mishandle packages marked "fragile". It's pretty disgusting. However, if it's marked "live cargo" does that change anything?

I used to breed betta fish, and when I shipped an order it seemed to me that the package always went through more smoothly when I'd marked the package clearly as having a live animal within it. Or, at the very least, was better at keeping the proper end up at all times. Has anyone else had any experience with that? Has anyone even tried it when shipping eggs?

 

[learycow]

The postal service has been really good to me this year, but I can't say the same about all packages in the past.

3 years ago I sent a box of eggs to WA (I'm in ME). It was labled "fragile, hatching eggs" etc VERY clearly. When it arrived, it was smashed beyond recognition. It literally had someones boot mark on it! They did refund the cost of the eggs though. But it was still upsetting and unnecessary.

Since then, I offer any buyer the option. I personally do not like to label them as the labeling can draw negative attention. Whereas an unmarked package goes unnoticed and arrives in tip top shape like most other packages.

My experience with live birds has been nothing but excellent. And I shipped too many to count this year. Ducklings and adult birds. The required shipping boxes for them are labeled and quite obvious as they have ventilation holes. And it seems like most postal workers do care and handle them respectfully. Since I started shipping live birds 2 1/2 years ago, I only had one mishap. I had a box of day old ducklings going to TX. Shipped express to arrive in 2 days (no longer overnight to all locations). I packed them with extra food for travel as I've done this before. 2 days packed right, in proper temps has never been an issue. But on day 2 when they should've arrived, the tracking showed no change and no delivery. I had the buyer call the PO and they had never shown up. They tried tracking them down but couldn't figure out where they were.
They finally arrived 1 1/2 days LATE. Out of 16, only 4 had made it. There was still food in the box but it had looked like the box had been covered with other boxes and they may have suffocated. It was the saddest thing I have ever seen (he sent me pics of when he opened the box). They did refund him the cost of the ducklings, but to me those lives lost were worth more than their sticker price. No living animal should have to go through that. So since that happened, I have changed it so that I will not ship ducklings unless they can make it in 1-2 days. Even with proper temps and adequate food, it's just too much stress and too risky for babies. All adults I've shipped have made it in 1-2 days and never with any issues

 

[txcarl1258]

I give my buyers the option if they want it marked or not. I also double box my eggs and use A LOT of bubble wrap and shredded newspaper. I'm in TX and the buyers who live in neighboring states have had good results. One hatched 7 out of 8 shipped muscovy eggs! However I had a repeat buyer from Oregon who wasn't able to hatch anything from both batches he bought. I bought a lot of eggs this year as well and in my opinion all of them but one were not packed as well as they could of been. The best package I got was some chocolate muscovy eggs that my broody hen hatched 5/6.

 

[Espresso]

I have gotten eggs, and they've been marked as hatching eggs and not marked but double boxed. Both sets were perfect. Though the outer box on the double boxed UNmarked eggs was far worse off than the single box of my labeled eggs.

 

[ChicagoDucks]

I had a box of hatching eggs shipped to me labeled only with "Caution, Live embryos, handle with care". The mail carrier rang my doorbell to tell me that the box had arrived at the post office, but they were too afraid of rough handling to send it out for delivery and asked nicely if I could pick it up from the post office.