Need some reassuring FedEx/shipping stories

I live in Minnesota and had my 2 day old baby retic shipped from Oklahoma just a week and a half ago showed up on schedule and she’s amazing.

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I've had several snakes shipped to me through FedEx. They all arrived on time, but once I looked out the window and watched the delivery guy walk up my long driveway. I saw him flipping and spinning the box (marked very clearly "LIVE HARMLESS REPTILE"). He was even tossing it up in the air and catching it. It's a dumb thing to do with any package but I was shocked that he would do it with a live animal shipment. I was pretty pissed about it. The snake was unhurt but very stressed out.

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Originally Posted by Phillydubs

Wow that’s unbelievable !! God I feel for you. Just awful.

They were aware it was a live animal ??

Could they get it back to the sender faster and maybe they can warm it up and settle and try again in a few weeks ??


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They are very aware that it's a live animal. A case manager through FedEx investigations/Trace has been assigned to the case. The seller has also been working to try to get resolution to this, but the issue is that FedEx just does not send out on Saturday for Sunday delivery. We were hoping that the snake was still in Wisconsin yesterday based on the lack of tracking updates, and if so, we were going to try to get the snake back to the shipper. But the snake was already in Memphis. This whole situation is unfortunately just textbook "what can go wrong with Thursday shipping" because now the best case scenario is four nights in a box at FedEx instead of just one. :(

I swear Memphis is the worst FedEx hub. Maze was stuck there overnight when the plane she was on 'broke'. And they didn't think to move her to a new plane until I frantically contacted the breeder and they sorted it out with SYR. She arrived safe and sound Saturday, but I was in full panic disaster mode the entire time.

Some other folks have gotten their shipments delayed over the weekend before and the animal was just fine -- sending good vibes that the same goes for your guy.

I was going to say that I hear people who will only ship Monday and Tuesday to avoid this.

Its really a shame that a huuuuge company like them lacks such needed communication to prevent this. If it was shoes or furniture it’s annoying but who cares his is an animal!!!

I hope your snake is fine! Wishing you luck!!!!!

Would they let someone who lives in Memphis pick up the package?

I hope something works in your favor for sure. Having somebody local to memphis pick it up would be ideal, and I hope everything goes okay when they arrive to you. I hate FedEx, I cursed out somebody on the phone the other day as they're so incompetent. I hate using Delta to ship venomous, and out of using it three times, two of those times I had issues. Delta you ship it and it arrives the same day for venomous.

The second time I used them I ordered two Naja siamensis(Black & White Spitting Cobra), well when it was shipped from PA the temps were okay, and should of been to me in New Orleans MSY airport that evening/night which the temps were okay here, so no heat pack was used from the shipper. The big wooden box labeled "VENOMOUS REPTILES" was lost, and nobody could find it and I kept checking the updates and never saw it leave ATL, so I had a feeling before that. So when I get to MSY to get it, nothing. The next morning(after it got down to the low 30s) they managed to find the crate, and get it shipped to me. One snake didn't make it, but the other held on, and he's my favorite snake actually and my calmest aside from my Rufous. I went after them for neglect of animal and a lot of other stuff. At the end they ended up mailing me a $500 check so I was basically paid to get a snake. This made me very sour towards them though. They are supposed to have a regulated temp room for animals and my crate with snakes wasn't in there, so one suffered and the other barely made it, boy was I hot.

The second issue is when I ordered a trio of super rare rattlesnakes that are from a tiny island. I was waiting for Delta to update the tracking to say it was arrived, and it never did, when I showed up they told me that the package was locked up and the Delta Cargo people left. I simple said that the animals were insured for $2500 and they had already paid $500 to me for neglect in handling before and if something happened then it would end up costing somebody a job. Needless to say, they got somebody there with a set of keys to get my snakes.

I'll try to avoid Delta when possible, that's why I had Cody from here get my last two venomous from the show near him and we met up. No issues that way.

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Originally Posted by Starscream

I swear Memphis is the worst FedEx hub. Maze was stuck there overnight when the plane she was on 'broke'. And they didn't think to move her to a new plane until I frantically contacted the breeder and they sorted it out with SYR. She arrived safe and sound Saturday, but I was in full panic disaster mode the entire time.

Some other folks have gotten their shipments delayed over the weekend before and the animal was just fine -- sending good vibes that the same goes for your guy.

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Memphis is FedEx's main hub, that's where everything goes to get sorted out, as it's their "Super Hub".

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Would they let someone who lives in Memphis pick up the package?

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That would be the smart thing to do, but I somehow don't think they're that smart.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Would they let someone who lives in Memphis pick up the package?

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I wish I knew someone in Memphis. :/ The representative was working to try to get them released to me from the superhub in Memphis before I really looked at the drive and realized it would be around 16 hours of driving total.

Oh man, that sucks! I'm sorry you've lost snakes to whatever should be a relatively straightforward process. It's almost like FedEx isn't used to shipping things. : sigh :

I looked up shipping label codes on SYR, and that's how I found out they routed mine to Memphis by mistake. Indianapolis is their second major hub and is where mine should have gone.

I'm confident in the breeder and how they would have packed her, so here's hoping FedEx stops being so incompetent and sends me a live animal...