about getting fedex certified

[Ladydragon]

okay, was reading through the sticky to get all the information and can't wait to get myself certified. My question however is this, I wont be shipping anything for at least two or three years. If I were to get certified lets say, summer of 08, does this certification last a lifetime or does it expire if you dont ship something within a certain time frame, like 6 months after certification is completed? thanx.

ps: if this isn't in the right area, please move it. thanx.

[Royalherper]

I too am interested in knowing about this. Someone please answer this. Pleeeeeeeease

[daniel1983]

Certified is a loosely used word when discussing shipping. All the 'certification' actually consists of is a legal waiver stating that Fedex will not be responsible for anything that happens to your shipment or as a result of your shipment.

The shipping contract doesn't expire unless Fedex says it expires....which they stipulate that they can do anytime they want without specific reasons in the contract

I don't know if Fedex will even hold an account open for longer than a year if nothing is shipped. You might have to check that out with them before even worrying about the waiver.

and why setup for shipping so far in advance? The process only takes a couple of months max. so I would not be in too much of a rush to set something up if you don't plan on shipping something until the next two or three years.

[Ladydragon]

Guess that makes sense, but thats the reason i asked the question. I just want to be ready to ship when the snakes are ready to go to new homes. So say 5 months before the clutch(s) hatch, I could get certified with enough time in case of delays or hangups in regards to "red tape"? <--- and I say this because most times if it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all

[daniel1983]

Guess that makes sense, but thats the reason i asked the question. I just want to be ready to ship when the snakes are ready to go to new homes. So say 5 months before the clutch(s) hatch, I could get certified with enough time in case of delays or hangups in regards to "red tape"? <--- and I say this because most times if it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all

Yep....5 months would be just fine.

[frankykeno]

Doris, if you think about it this way too....what if you certified now and then 2 years down the road you go to ship a snake and aren't aware that they've come up with some new certification rules or something. Better to do as Daniel says and just give it a 5 or 6 month lead time. We'll hopefully be shipping our first snakes summer/early fall of 2008 and I'm going to start the FedEx process likely in January or February of 2008. I figure that gives me plenty of time to sort out any glitches.

Course that all depends on if we actually get the snakes to breed, the eggs actually hatch and anyone actually wants to buy any of the babies.

[Ladydragon]

Doris, if you think about it this way too....what if you certified now and then 2 years down the road you go to ship a snake and aren't aware that they've come up with some new certification rules or something. Better to do as Daniel says and just give it a 5 or 6 month lead time. We'll hopefully be shipping our first snakes summer/early fall of 2008 and I'm going to start the FedEx process likely in January or February of 2008. I figure that gives me plenty of time to sort out any glitches.

oohh didn't think of that.. new rules..somebody is always making up some new rule or regulation..

Course that all depends on if we actually get the snakes to breed, the eggs actually hatch and anyone actually wants to buy any of the babies.

what?!? no mood lighting or music? how do you expect them to get it on? yeah, dont count your snake eggs before the even breed.

[Blue Apple Herps]

Doris, if you think about it this way too....what if you certified now and then 2 years down the road you go to ship a snake and aren't aware that they've come up with some new certification rules or something. Better to do as Daniel says and just give it a 5 or 6 month lead time. We'll hopefully be shipping our first snakes summer/early fall of 2008 and I'm going to start the FedEx process likely in January or February of 2008. I figure that gives me plenty of time to sort out any glitches.

I would say do it sooner rather than later. If you get someone incompetent, then it can be a real nightmare. And if there were changes made to the rules; I imagine they would make you aware of them and probably require a new contract. So I wouldn't worry about that too much.

So yeah, I would go ahead and get certified. Won't hurt anything. And as far as I know, it doesn't expire so long as the account is active.

[cgrinter]

One thing I've learned in dealing with permits and certifications...is that to never trust on being notified about changes. There was a huge change made to the import form from the US Fish and Wildlife, and they didn't bother to notify current permit holders...a lot of people showed up with the old form and were denied because of this.

Of course my problems are with the federal government, so I can imagine a private company would be much more reliable.

[Ginevive]

Fedex is being such a pain in the rear for us. We got our test package out, back and approved with relative ease. Then they informed us that we have to sign and fax-back their legal waiver.. fine. Now our rep is never in when we call/go there, and has not returned our calls this week! Argh, just a fedex-related vent.