Shipping

[LizStreithorst]

A while back USPS had become so unreliable that I quit using them. My alternative was to drive 50 miles round trip to ship from Hattiesburg. Then I accidently found out that UPS picks up every day from Boe Hog Farm which is right down the road. I asked if they would allow me to drop off my fish boxes to be picked up there. We are kind to neighbors here in the rural south and they said yes. It was no big deal to them. The label is already paid for and printed out, but it was still a kind neighborly thing to do.

UPS worked like a charm for a long time. No box was ever late. Life was good!

Then 2 weeks ago everything turned to $hit. The fish arrived late but alive. I have one box that was shipped overnight that was supposed to arrive last Thursday. It was out for delivery in the hot sun all day Friday. It was not delivered. That box is still in limbo.

I told the buyer I shipped to today about the delays (UPS blames it on the situation in Ukraine. What BS!) He told me that FedEx cooked a box of Altum Angles on him last week.

Now, nonel of the fish I've been shipping have been as expensive as Discus, but they are still expensive fish that are in high demand.

I hope that what is going on resolves soon. I have Discus that I want to put up for sale. I just can't risk it until UPS gets it's act together.

Sorry for the rant. I couldn't help myself. This problem is weighing on me heavily.

[GeauxDiscus]

I blame the labor shortage too. I like Hattiesburg. I used to drive through there all the time going 49S from Jackson to Gulf Port.

[Charlyc11]

You just ca't win they all have their issues. The Pony Express hardly ever made it either that's why they shut it down in 1861.

Cheer up Liz..

A while back USPS had become so unreliable that I quit using them. My alternative was to drive 50 miles round trip to ship from Hattiesburg. Then I accidently found out that UPS picks up every day from Boe Hog Farm which is right down the road. I asked if they would allow me to drop off my fish boxes to be picked up there. We are kind to neighbors here in the rural south and they said yes. It was no big deal to them. The label is already paid for and printed out, but it was still a kind neighborly thing to do.

UPS worked like a charm for a long time. No box was ever late. Life was good!

Then 2 weeks ago everything turned to $hit. The fish arrived late but alive. I have one box that was shipped overnight that was supposed to arrive last Thursday. It was out for delivery in the hot sun all day Friday. It was not delivered. That box is still in limbo.

I told the buyer I shipped to today about the delays (UPS blames it on the situation in Ukraine. What BS!) He told me that FedEx cooked a box of Altum Angles on him last week.

Now, nonel of the fish I've been shipping have been as expensive as Discus, but they are still expensive fish that are in high demand.

I hope that what is going on resolves soon. I have Discus that I want to put up for sale. I just can't risk it until UPS gets it's act together.

Sorry for the rant. I couldn't help myself. This problem is weighing on me heavily.

[LizStreithorst]

If it's not UPS screwing up I'll do it for them. I didn't discover today when I was boxing more fish that I sent the wrong fish to the wrong guy yesterday. You can not believe my embarrassment when I had to contact 2 different buyers and tell them that I made a mess of shipping their fish. I want to dig a deep hole and stay in it.

I do remember reading hear years ago that a Sponsor here made the same mistake. That is an expensive mistake for a Discus seller. Lucky for him, both guys that got the wrong fish were very happy with them. I've always kept that story in the back of my mind so I wouldn't make the same mistake. But I did it anyway.

One piece of good news is that the guy whose fish were lost for 6 days got them today. I was sure they'd be dead because they road around in the back of a hot truck all day Friday. Saturday we had no idea where they were. When he finally got them this morning they were alive and well.

[fljones3]

That's good news, Liz.

[jwcarlson]

That's wild they lived that long in transit (but good news)!

I occasionally ship queen bees and usually have had good luck over the years with USPS and UPS. But the last few years it's gotten a little dicey. I had trouble getting them to hold the queens at the post office for pickup even when sent with the correct forms and labels. Wiped out a batch of about 8 queens a couple years back because they put them in a hot truck all day.

[LizStreithorst]

You raise bees? How cool. I wish I could but those supers are heavy. I simply don't have the strength for it any more. Maybe in my next life...

[Willie]

It's not possible for everybody, but I have my fish shipped to their major distribution point for pick up so the fish doesn't sit all day in a hot - sometimes freezing, truck. Usually, fish comes into town via airplane and will get unloaded and into the local FedEx or UPS airport office within 2 hours. FedEx works well because their plane lands at the Minneapolis airport around 5:30 am and I'm there when the office opens at 8:30 AM. If the seller is shipping via USPS, I give them the local USPS address only and my phone number.

It's better on my nerves and better for the fish.

[jwcarlson]

Yes, Liz, they sure are heavy. I've got about 30 colonies and sell nucleus (starter) colonies in the spring. And some queens. Been scaling back a bit as it's too much for me to do it the way I was doing it. Been at it eight years is all. About four years ago I had like 70 colonies (not all full size), and raised like 150 queens. This year I only raised about 30. I'm trying to learn to make the bees fit my needed, I'm really good at growing an apiary... but the last thing I need now is more bees.
Been thinking hard about exiting what has now become a very overgrown hobby. I don't keep them at home so that makes it difficult for me to stay on top of them. But, to be frank, I'm also just kind of over them to a certain extent. When I started there weren't too many people around. Now you just about can't drive down a street without someone who has bees. Lots of small sellers of honey and they've really flooded the "local honey" market which I am not complaining about or anything. Talking about people harvesting something like 200 pounds a year. I've been scaling back honey production heavily the last two years as not many want to buy it. I usually harvest about 1500-2000 pounds. I'm going to pull honey this weekend and I hope to get just 300 pounds or so. And only that much because it's really difficult to make bees NOT make honey!

Hold for pickup is the way to go for shipping anything live. Usually that works out pretty well, but on a few occasions I have had the local PO deliver queens even with hold for pickup plastered all over it and sent specifically that way. That has been a few years though, and I think the procedure for hold has improved pretty well.

[CliffsDiscus]

I was shipping airport to airport same day, this is the shortest and quickest route, everything was simple till they lost my previous shipping records, so I was deleted from the Known Shipper List.
I only use USPS one day express shipping, good because they are near by but they would lose a couple boxes out of 10 shipments.
FEDEx, took boxes to FEDEx and have the buyer account number handed his account number the FEDEX clerk said your good to go. Next day the buyer called and said where's the shipment so I when back to FEDEX the boxes were still sitting there I ask the clerk and he said that the buyer's account was previous unpaid.

[LizStreithorst]

God help us all.

[CliffsDiscus]

God help us all.

Liz, by the way the FEDEX story doesn't get better, the buyer is someone we know.

Cliff

[LizStreithorst]

My last shipment arrived perfectly on time. What a relief. I just sent another today for arrival tomorrow, and so far just 1 for Monday. Fingers crossed. If things get back to normal with UPS I'll start advertising my baby Discus.

It's strange with me. But what I'm bad at I'm very very bad at. I tell people if anything involves numbers I will get it wrong. I can't remember dates which is why I insisted to my diseased husband that we get married on April 1st. I can remember April Fools Day. I don't know east from north from south from west. On the other hand, I can breed and raise fish without hardly trying. When it comes to things that are out of my hands, or when I make a mistake that might affect others (like my buyers) I get totally stressed. I wish I were more nearly normal.

[CliffsDiscus]

Liz, I think you are normal April 1 is a good date to remember my marriage is on Valentine's Day because my wife knows I can't remember. Funny I remember the past more then the present . Saw a commercial about people who bought Prevagen how it helps their brain.

Cliff

[LizStreithorst]

My brain still works well enough to know what sites to Google to get reliable advice from medical experts. I'm afraid it's snake oil. Thanks, but I think I'll pass.