HELP!!!bp's lost in the mail what are the chances??

And I think the OP meant that the seller said it was going to be fedex, but in the end actually used USPS?

Who the heck did you buy them from?

The problem is, IF it is a carrier error, you are going to get no relief from USPS because the seller should not have shipped them that way.

I would call the Post Office and make it clear you had no idea they shipped via USPS, tell them there are live animals in the box, and see what they can do.

I see this ending badly...

Dave

USPS doesn't provide in transit tracking like FedEx and UPS do - they show billed and delivered - and that's it. The fact that the OP lists being able to track where the package is, leads me to believe it was shipped FedEx or UPS.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Ahem...give me back my brain!!!!!

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Yeah but I was slightly delayed answering to someone's PM :rolleyes:

If you use express mail you can do in transit tracking through USPS

I had this happen to me once. Turned out the shipper wrote an incorrect street number on the box. It was almost a week before I was able to pick up my snakes from the carrier. They were okay but I wouln't ever buy from that person again.

I'm really sorry--USPS isn't the most reliable service to use, particularly lately. I assume he sent it USPS overnight express, since you have a tracking number. If he labeled it as live animals, he probably listed them as lizards, or just 'reptiles' and told them it was lizards.

I hope that he used a heat pack--you may want to ask him. I would start NOW in asking the seller what he will do to refund you if the animals do not make it, since he used a shipping service that you did not approve (and one that is in fact, illegal, because it is illegal to ship animals without properly labeling the box with the species and number--and USPS would not accept a package with proper labeling, as they do not ship snakes).

If the animals arrive DOA, photograph them using a time/date stamp.

I suggest reporting this incident on Fauna's BOI, regardless of whether they make it or not. Someone shipping snakes via USPS is bad news--not just for the sake of the animals, but for the entire reptile industry and hobby. The last thing we need right now is more bad publicity from people sending snakes in improperly marked packaging.

I wish you luck--if they're in a properly insulated box, and they are sitting mainly indoors, they will probably be all right, so long as they do make it to you within a couple of days. Be ready for some special care--they will need to be warmed and rehydrated right away.

If they poked an air hole in the box and it went through the styrofoam, that does not bode well for shipping in cold weather.

Dave

I just looked this up:

Harmful Matter—General
Except as provided in this document, any article, composition, or material is nonmailable if it can kill or injure another or injure the mail or other property. Harmful matter includes, but is not limited to:

...

b. All poisonous animals except scorpions mailed for medical research purposes or for the manufacture of antivenom; all poisonous insects; all poisonous reptiles; and all types of snakes turtles, and spiders.

ok once again to clarify. the shipper told me that he ships reptiles all the time and uses fed ex solely w/ no problems. and that shipping was 60 but only to add 50 for an even 1800. I didn't know they were shipped usps untill the tracking number did not work for fed ex or ups. i even checked the number like 3 times before i even tried usps and it worked there. I figured nothing i could do at that point but hope they got here fine and they didn't :please:yet def. not worth all this headache though. I bout the pair off a post on the kingsnake classifieds. as far as confiscation goes i mean if they took the package i'd assume they would know they took it atleast vs keep telling me that it should just show up tom. and something could have happened to the scan tag or ppl are just forgeting to scan it. pretty much a worded way of saying idk it's lost.