the shipping business has gotten so complicated...

[Magnum Man]

I have ( this week ) several shipments coming, that I'm following on line... all of these are coincidentally Fed Ex... they vary from car parts, to my wife's new e-bike, to fish, and that new to me anubias, as well as my Amazon order... I'm sure with the holiday gift giving season at crunch time, they are at peak performance, but then mother nature throws a weather wrench into the works, and it's not just your local weather, you have to consider the weather at every hub the shipper has... we had a quirky ice storm, that blew through, the other night, and caught the department of transportation off guard .. invisible ice on unprepared roads resulted in many very bad truck crashes, on the freeway... so the road was closed for half a day... I'm sure there were hundreds of holiday travelers, in this busy season, that were not happy... fortunately none of my packages were on the accordioned semi trailer, but I had 3 packages coming from 3 different locations, ( these from Amazon ) and all were held up by that particular road closing... I had a new set of wheels ( traveling in a 4 package order ) for our old convertible... 3 showed up yesterday... the driver didn't seem worried, saying "I'll see you tomorrow"... fingers crossed...

I'm not complaining, just watching my package's shipping progress, and noticing some of their destination hubs, that may seem unexpected... no fish coming this week, but, my last order had a snag at a hub along the way, and was delayed one day... my anubias is supposed to be here the day after Christmas ... I paid extra for the insulated packaging, and expedited shipping hoping it doesn't arrive frozen... but "we" are experiencing warmer than normal temperatures, but that doesn't mean clear sailing between California and here... happy holidays...

 

[Magnum Man]

ahh... delivery revision on my plants, 1st thing this morning... they were delayed for some reason in Memphis, and bumped to Monday delivery now...

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

ahh... delivery revision on my plants, 1st thing this morning... they were delayed for some reason in Memphis, and bumped to Monday delivery now...

I'm hoping these warmer than normal temperatures are going to help you.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I started shipping fish in 2003. I have not shipped a box in a while as I downsized it all. But for 21 years I have had a rule. I stop shipping after the week before Thanksgiving and do not resume until at leas t Mid-January. While weather is a partial consideration the real reason is the holiday season and the big bump in the number of packages moving around the country.

The shippers do not care what is in the boxes they are moving only that they moved. So if there is one box that must be bumped off the plane, it co;d be a box of fish or a box rocks, it doesn't matter to them which one they choose. After Christmas there are a lot of returns so I want to avoid that clog point as well.

The rest of the year is not too bad except for Valentine's Day. Flowers take priority over mostly all else for the few days around that
"holiday'."

What it boiled down to was the boxes I sent out were pretty pricey. If the shipped causes delays and the fish are DOA, the loss is mine to eat. So my solution is I do not ship as above. This applies to plants as well as to fish. Items guaranteed to be DOA I will still year round.

 

[Innesfan]

I have had a rule. I stop shipping after the week before Thanksgiving and do not resume until at leas t Mid-January. While weather is a partial consideration the real reason is the holiday season and the big bump in the number of packages moving around the country.

This holiday season, two gifts I purchased on line, both from reputable high-end vendors, have been 'lost in transit.' Both companies processed instant refunds and sent apologies, though it sent me scrambling for replacement gifts.

 

[GaryE]

When my friends were importing fish, they would try to fill the tanks at the start of December, and then stand pat until after Christmas. The number of DOAs in the 2 weeks before xmas were overwhelming. Pallets left on airport tarmacs, massive delays, pallets shunted off expected flights...

We got one shipment where all the fish on the inside of one pallet were fine, but the outward facing boxes had bags frozen solid. What happened there, to have such extremes???

It was better not to find out.

 

[gwand]

The fish I’m interested in seem to come into inventory this time of year. But I stay clear.