Would People Use A Fish Courier In The Uk?

[mattlee]

Also even if they did check half way and the water was cold what would they do? It wouldn't be practical to refill bags with warm water and again you would stress the fish.

I meant to check on the heat pack and maybe replace it. I imagine cold water would be more harmful to tropical fish than low-level light for a few minutes. Especially in winter if the heat packs havent worked properly and fish are stored overnight. Fish bags wouldnt need to opened as you can guess the temp of water by simply touching the bags, and the bags are clear so you can see the fish inside without opening.

heat packs can be bought to last different times so if packed with the appropriate packs there would be no need to check

 

[kizno1]

Also even if they did check half way and the water was cold what would they do? It wouldn't be practical to refill bags with warm water and again you would stress the fish.

I meant to check on the heat pack and maybe replace it. I imagine cold water would be more harmful to tropical fish than low-level light for a few minutes. Especially in winter if the heat packs havent worked properly and fish are stored overnight. Fish bags wouldnt need to opened as you can guess the temp of water by simply touching the bags, and the bags are clear so you can see the fish inside without opening.

And who would pay for the heat packs? They would have to open all the box up to replace it is just stressful and going from cold to warm with a heat pack with shock the fish they need to be slowly acclimatized.Why would the heat pack need to be changed anyway they last for hours.

 

[VickiandKev]

like I said I think offering that kind of service would be basically opening a can or worms! Most couriers will have a temp controlled van for transporting fish. And just opening for a second will stress the fish out thats also why you shouldn't turn the lights on when you put new fish in.

Even if the heat pack failed after a few hours the heat would be maintained in the box (if packed well enough) so opening it would lose that heat. Most trop fish can do just fine at around 18c for a short period would just slow them down and poss calm them anyway.

 

[fish courier]

wow!

what a response!thanks all of you who have raised some very vaild points which I will now try and answer.

First Iam already an experienced and DEFRA licenced courier we usually take dogs/cats/reptiles etc but have been asked on a number of occasions to carry live fish.
so far we have had no problems because:

1.We supply and activate heatpacks (at cost) and check on the fish as it is bagged/then boxed and ensure on outside of fish it has a buffer of say tissue paper or newspaper which also insulates them.

2.We can temp control in van

3 we ensure customer signed for delivery and wait for them to check before we leave drop off address.

We can offer paypal/cash on pickup or delivery
we cover all of the uk but we do not keep overnight
we limit ourseves to a maximum of 6-8 hours between pickup and dropoff to try and ensure minimum stress to the fish but this also limits what we can do in a day?

we are based near chester and so far have carried fish to every county in the uk and also back from germany as a one off.

we are aiming to charge 25 gbp per box with a weight limit of 25-30 kg and max size of approx 3ftx2ftx2ft which should be ample.
we would take extra boxes at a reduced price of say 15 gbp per box but this would be from and to same address.

We are already in talks with some of the major fish wholesalers and already courier for/or to people like
maidenhead aquatics
pool two aquatics
lisa' angels (on ebay)
tsunami aquatics

and roughly 20 or so individuals.

I will be honest and say I cant really see without more support there being a call for a dedicated van and we do not run on 'hub basis' like say TNT?
the reason is simple we are not a multinational with millions behind us!

also Id like to point out something that was raised by a couple of you
royal mail and apc do not hold DEFRA licences to transport fish/livestock if you are caught you can/will be fined for transporting your fish in this way.DEFRA in particular are very hot on this and prosecute in all cases and they and RSPCA deem it to be cruelty as the fish (and I quote a memo sent to all DEFRA licence holders recently) are not handled by certficated licence holders/are in a transit hub over night uto 48 hours with extremes of temperature/are not checked.

Whilst I realise we are not big enough to compete on price with royal mail do you really want your fish etc going from post office to first hub/then to birmingham central hub/third hub sort/then back to your local post sorting office and then onto vehicle for delivery to your home??
the same happens with APC and I know this because I have worked both in royal mail/tnt/apc/DPD/ and the now non existent amtrak.

I would be interested in transporting fishy equipment/feedstuffs and we already carry glass vivs for snakes etc so would be similar however we would only carry small ones!we use masking tape crosses and protect with sheet cardboard and bubble wrap.

Im waiting for a moderator to contact me with a view to advertising on this forum so I will not get into trouble!
in the meantime if any one has any questions please feel free to ask!

thanks
fish courier

 

[fish courier]

I have done in the past and the water was stone cold and the heat pack not activated properly, although this would have been down to the company not the courier. However all fish were fine except an African Dwarf Frog which was DOA. I think courier is much safer to use than sending fish with royalmail, however mailing usually costs about £7 whereas courier costs about £15. I would use it again if I was ordering a hard-to-obtain fish, or many fish.

So basically the issues I see are the price (which I understand probably cant be lowered) and the welfare of the fish. Perhaps if you offered a service where you checked halfway on the journey whether they were warm and coping alright?

If courier service was offered instead of/as well as royal mail on the ebay auctions etc where you can buy unusual or expensive fish, e.g show bettas, I'm sure more people would take it, however it is not offered. Perhaps if you got in contact with some of the private breeders and importers they would offer courier service as well.

hi thanks for your imput
forgive me im not 'in the know' of large importers/breeders?
could anyone help me with this?
I only know of one breeder on ebay called lisa's angels.

could people pm me with names/numbers or emaisl so I can contact ehm or could they pass on my info?

many thanks for any help

fish courier

 

[fish courier]

I can well imagine this would be difficult to run as a profitable business for a single vehicle (and perhaps multiple staff for round-the-clock transportation), as at some point cost may become more critical for the customer than the safer transportation of the fish across the UK, which a DEFRA licensed courrier may offer.

Without giving this much thought, it would possibly need a series of "hubs" throughout the country that had a collection/delivery radius of say 100 miles, which I'm guessing would mean needing ~25 hubs and at least one vehicle per hub (no doubt multiple vehicles at common import areas, presumeably along the south and south-east coast).

thankyou for your post
iam limited in either my local area or already going to area and by safe lifespan of the fish themselves and yes it would be ideal to have hubs around country but not feasible,
we already take upto 10-20 drops with fish a week and aim to increase this but it is catch 22 without support we cannot of course,
I can call on at least 5 other drivers across country to assist and to ensure fish are safe.
for example

I can cover north wales/liverpool/cheshire/staffordshire/derby/midlands with ease from home base,
I can also drive to pickup point across uk and then take within ideally 6-8 hours drive
which combined should in theory cover 99 percent of the uk perhaps not extremes like highlands/islands?

thanks
fish courier

 

[kizno1]

Do you reckon you could get down to Thetford, Norfolk? I might be selling some fish soon.

 

[nessar]

I have done in the past and the water was stone cold and the heat pack not activated properly, although this would have been down to the company not the courier. However all fish were fine except an African Dwarf Frog which was DOA. I think courier is much safer to use than sending fish with royalmail, however mailing usually costs about £7 whereas courier costs about £15. I would use it again if I was ordering a hard-to-obtain fish, or many fish.

So basically the issues I see are the price (which I understand probably cant be lowered) and the welfare of the fish. Perhaps if you offered a service where you checked halfway on the journey whether they were warm and coping alright?

If courier service was offered instead of/as well as royal mail on the ebay auctions etc where you can buy unusual or expensive fish, e.g show bettas, I'm sure more people would take it, however it is not offered. Perhaps if you got in contact with some of the private breeders and importers they would offer courier service as well.

hi thanks for your imput
forgive me im not 'in the know' of large importers/breeders?
could anyone help me with this?
I only know of one breeder on ebay called lisa's angels.

could people pm me with names/numbers or emaisl so I can contact ehm or could they pass on my info?

many thanks for any help

fish courier

Dont know the contact for them but go on ebay and type in, say, 'betta fish' and then look for people that have multiple auctions up or say they bred or imported the fish themselves, and message them you can do the same for other types of fish. There are plenty with bettas, not sure about other fish.

Also here are some sites I know of you could have a look at:

www.directtropicals.co.uk
http/www.tropicalfish4u.co.uk/
http/specialbetta.webs.com/forsale.htm
http/www.bettabred.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1
http/www.thebettalady.co.uk/


I know at least a couple arent actually selling at the moment, Ive just taken these from my bookmarks, but you could still contact them