Super Shipper

Can anyone top this one!!!!!!!!


I shipped out a box of discus last thursday overnight by airborn express to california to arive friday morning by 10:30 am.

I had airborn come by and pick up the box thinking everything was cool and called the customer and gave him the tracking number so he could track if need be and said please call me tomarrow and let me know how the fish are doing. Well thats when the fun began.......

the next morning i get a phone call asking me where the discus are and i replyied they should be there soon, well when i called airborn they said the package was delayed meening the plain did not take off on time so when asked were they were they said somewhere in Ohio. I then called again friday afternoon and asked will they be shipped out to califoria today and they said no the box will be there on monday morning.

Well then i called the customer and told him im sorry for all that has happend and told him Ive never had this problem before and i also said expext all to perish meening all DOA! i told him to call me when they come in and i would take care of it.

:)Well its Monday now and guess what all of the Discus arived alive no DOA's :) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Im very happy! cant you see.....

He said all the bags were about 79* F and that they wernt realy stressed out much.

Does anyone else have any super shipping stories????

Michael Heppner

[April]

Wow Mike thats great. glad they are all ok. ive had up to 50 hour fish and they were all alive but coldish water. but all did well.
I did get some from heps and they did arrive very toasty warm over night. good it wasnt winter.

[Ryan]

The time of year was probably on your side for this one! Imagine losing that box in the dead of winter. Fishcicles! I had some discus get lost once in the mail, and they arrived two days late. It was the middle of summer in Florida, with temperatures over 100F.. let's just say, the smell when I opened the box was NOT pretty! :puke:

Ryan

yeah 50 hours is a long time but this was 4 days i shipped them last thursday and he got them today (monday) thats like more than 90 hours in the bag and they all made it fine thats whats amayzing :) :) ;D :D i dont know but i was shocked. I still cant believe it, its like i packed them to go to war or something.

Michael Heppner

[Not2Day]

Mike
You did pack 'em to go to war. I have shipped a lot of fish and must say your packaging is what saved 'em. I unpacked them in the front yard because I was sure they were going to be DOA's. I was amazed... Truly Amazed !! I have to tell you that Mike had already promised me his best replacement fish with no questions asked. He must have spent hours tracking and talking to Airborn Express not to mention Lots Of Long Distance Phone Calls. I have already ordered more Discus from Mike and would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone.
Dave

[chinoz]

Wow i cant believe those discus are still alive...WOW !!! :o :o

[Serpae]

That is amazing :o, how have they settled in.

[limige]

one of the breeders on this board was shipping out fish and bagged them, and set them in a bucket, apparently forgot about them and found them quite some time later, amazingly they were alive and fine,

who was that???

how long was it, i forgot?

[CARY_GLdiscus]

4 days LOL!

[chinoz]

;D ;D ;D who is that? ::)

Can you believe that cary :D I cant still! WOW

Im going to send him some of my super red melons again even though he didnt have any DOA's but this time there going to be out of my stock for future breeders. when i ship them out today hopefully they get there with no problem im shooting for less then 90 hours.

Michael Heppner

[fcdiscus]

Try Fed Ex this time. Frank ;D

i probably will frank they seem to do a good job a little more expensive but they do get there. How have you been frank?

Michael Heppner

[Jean]

:oCary???? Oh noooooooooooooo................................... not UUUUUUUUUUU!!!! http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung/aktion/action-smiley-068.gifLOL


Jean ;D 8)

[Jean]

Hey Not2Day!

Do u have some pics of these fellas for us?? That would be great!


Jean ;D 8)

[ronrca]

What a great story! That is incredible!

Dave, I can almost imagine the excitement when you opened the box and found the discus alive! ;D ;) I would be :bounce: around everywhere (well, that usually happens anyways ;D ). Id probably be :waaa: for joy! :D

And of course, we need pics of those super discus! ;)

[ReeferKimberly]

well i ordered a pair of oriental leopards from george garcia, all as well and they arrived on time. there was another bag in the box but i just thought it was there to keep the other two steady. well i got them about 8 in the morning and went to school. after school i went over to my friends house and george called me to see how the fish were doing...i told him the pair was doing fine and he asked about the two 2 inch bd babies he threw in, i said "babies, what babies????" he said, "yeah i heard you were pressed for cash so i threw in a few extras free" ohhhh shoot looks like the bag wasn't to hold up the other fish but it contained other fish!
i went home and went in the garge where i left the bag, the hot sweltering garage i may add.... it was about 5 in the afternoon by now and i picked up the bag....babies were fine and swimming around. after i let the into their own 20gal i tested the water of the bag.....it was around 95 degrees!

well babies are still fine today and growing every day!
kimberly :-*

[Serpae]

These stories are getting scary. Any one tried sending them freeze dried. ;D

[dred]

Mike,

We know all about how Airborne treated the fish I received. If my incident and this one are indicative of their level of service (personally, never use them), I would strongly advise considering an alternate carrier.

Knocking once and dissapearing into the truck before I could get from the couch (where I was holding watch) to the door did not impress me. Delivering live fish 1.5 hours late and then putting them on the doorstep in 95deg weather wasn't impressive either. And, I wonder just how much abuse it takes to nearly completely empty 2 of 7 quadruple bagged bags?

They don't do much better with the blackworm deliveries from Dan (so far, one two hours tardy, and second delivery on time, but they forgot to knock), but at least I won't be brought to tears. I've still yet to meet/greet an airborne delivery person dropping special deliveries at my house. At least UPS and FedEx wait around for signatures.

My .02 on Airborne experiences.
milton

[Rick_May]

You all need to do what I did. Marry off your brother in law to the Airborne lady. You can bet I'm first on the delivery list.

[Pat_in_NC]

Limige,

If memory serves me right it was Joe at Enchanted Discus that had the story of the discus that--still in the bag--got put out of sight behind a tank and left for some days and came out fine. I don't remember the strain or size of the fish though. Perhaps someone else remembers more

HTH,

Pat

[fishfarm]

Hi All, I once did a test just to see how long a fish could live in a bag out of curiosity. I took a Neolamprologus brichardi (African cichlid) That had a crooked back and most obviously a cull that normally would have been Frontosa food and put it in a bag like I would normally ship. Having purged it for two day to make sure water quality was not a factor and tossed it on top of the water heater in my hatchery and promptly forgot about it. 23 days later I noticed a flat bag with water in it on the water heater and thought, Oh yeah, I blew that experiment as it had been so long. I picked up the deflated bag and low and behold one very skinny but live fish darted around. Need less to say he was put back into a tank and lived the rest of his life (3 years) in luxury! I felt bad for the little guy! Fish are tough!!! The main factors in shipping fish deaths are the way they are handled by the shipping companies. Healthy fish can live for days (or weeks!) If properly packed and purged before hand. I use Fed-x almost exclusivly unless the buyer has an account with Airborne or UPS. I hate the snail mail and Delta isn't much better, sometimes it can take them two day also! Ken

[JeffreyRichard]

Mike ... you should do a thread on pack discus ... you did a super job when you sent fish to me last month.

[Serpae]

Step by step instructions.

Anyone wanting to do an experiment on sending fish to me in Australia is quite welcome......... :fish: :fish: :fish:

do you guys want me to take photos of my next shipment out?????


i can have my girlfriend take the pictures of me step by step and show people how i bag discus is that something you would like to see?????


please let me know and i will gladly do this :) :D ;D :D :)

Michael Heppner

[hunterbeav]

Good job Mike I think that's a great idea. I know the fish I got from you last month were packed super. I got 3 adults 5 1/2 inchers and 4 red spoted diamonds at 3 1/2 inches they all made it in top notch shape. Water temp was still 80 deg and not one leak. Thanks Mike, looking forward to getting those Red Melons and Golden SS's from you. Maybe we could do pic's on you packing my shipment, and I'll take pics of unpacking them and the condition they arrive in. Sort of a complete picture-a-torial of there journey from OR. to Oh. What do you think. Jim & Diane :)

[Serpae]

Cool, that sounds like a great idea.

jim,

that sounds great to me i will do that I have huge order coming in, in 1 and 1/2 weeks from now. i think that would be pretty cool cause ive never seen what it looks like when i ship out a box and what it looks like when someone else opens it. thats a great idea again jim.

Michael Heppner

[hunterbeav]

Cool beans Mike :)

I'd like to see that...especially the packing part... ;)
david

[Carol_Roberts]

Yes, I like step by step posts with lots of pictures ;D

[Wolf]

Sounds great! Hurry up ;D I"m moving in 14 days so if you can get the pics up I would appreciate it. It'll be a 14 hour drive and I've never packed fish before.

[mench]

Himmmmm shipping stories,well what do ya think Cary,we had a bit of bad luck Huh??? I think the only shipping I haven;t had a problem with that is so far,is airport to airport.I have had good and bad luck with reg mail...Fedex,and Airborne ex.
Lately the Airborne guy is doing a real good job.I have the same guy and he says when ever he gets a order that says live fish,that is where he goes first,no matter where it is on his route...So far he has been to my house first thing in the morning.
As for when they are in transit,well I have watched the handlers at different airports and no matter what or how they are packed it seems that the ones I have watched they all seem to see how far they can throw the boxes...I have watched them just throw the Live fish,this side up boxes every which way into the containers and on the ramps going into the planes.So maybe the shippers do a great job packing and the delivery guys are ok,but if the handlers at the airports are having a bad day you could get a broken box or two.

Mench

[Paulio]

It would be a novel to list the shipping troubles I have had to deal with. I will say that the only way I have never had a problem is airport to airport via SouthWest airline. Probably just luck but thats my story and Im sticking to it.


Paul