Fedex Certification

[Rorschach]

Hey ya'll,

I just called Fedex because they left a tag on my door and I was not aware I was to be receiving anything. Of course it was for the neighbor, but while I was on the phone I figured what the heck and inquired about getting certified to ship live animals and the rep I spoke with told me Fedex no longer ships live animals and were told to refer inquiries to ipata.com

I am so confused, anyone who can help would be awesome! And yes I viewed and bookmarked the how to get certified thread.

[JLC]

I wouldn't take just one random person's word for it. You had called for an entirely different reason and talked to someone appropriate to handle that reason. It may have simply been easier for them to say, "Oh, we don't do that anymore" and get you off the phone than to actually track down someone who would know what you were talking about. I'll bet if you go through the proper channels for certification, you'll find that it's still perfectly fine.

It's not uncommon at all for the average member of a huge corp like that to have no idea what their actual policies are regarding specific issues.

[Rorschach]

The first person I talked to was customer service, then asked to speak to a ' rep '. Was then transferred to a different person whom had me hold while they spoke to a supervisor. Upon returning they stated blah blah blah we don't ship anything live except coral and something else, I don't remember. Then referred me to that site.

I tried a few times and guess I will have to try again.

[JLC]

It's also possible than an entire office is just as ignorant as one individual might be. Here's a suggestion...ask around of breeders in your area that ship FedEx and see if you can get the name/number of one of their reps.

[Jonas@Balls2TheWall]

I am being certified at the moment. I already received my test package back and I passed, now I'm just waiting on the legal forms. When I first called they told me the same thing but I told them that I had previously spoken to someone regarding this and they wanted me to send a package in but I had lost their number. The person told me please hold and transferred me to the correct department. I agree that some employees don't know about the process to become certified but If you insist and sound like you know what your talking about, they will ask a manager/supervisor and transfer you to the correct dept.

[Rorschach]

I don't know why they have to make this such a game

[rabernet]

Ask for someone in FedEx Sales after you register for your own account on their site.

If you still have problems, PM me and I'll put you in touch with my rep and he can direct you to your sales rep.

They do indeed ship live animals, but only after the Live Animal Control Desk authorizes you in the TAO Bulletin Board to ship live harless reptiles (don't know what TAO stands for, but they do). Once you're listed on their Bulletin Board, any FedEx employee can look you up to see that you are authorized to ship.

Just in case, I keep all my paperwork from FedEx (Legal Waiver, Test Package Pass, etc) in my glove compartment so I can easily grab them if I have any problems when dropping off a package at my local hub (although there are enough local breeders, that my hub is quite used to us dropping off animals).

[Definitions]

what is a test package ? Sorry new to this whole thing.

[axeman569]

I just got my certification on Friday. Took about a month. Can't wait to start posting ads now.

[rabernet]

what is a test package ? Sorry new to this whole thing.

A test package is just that. You prepare a box for shipping exactly how you would prepare one for shipping a snake, only you don't include the snake.

So - I send in a 12 x 9 x 6 insulated box with a closed snake bag inside the box, and since I use polyfill to pack my boxes, I used that as well.

Seal it up, and then put it into another box and ship it to FedEx for testing. They'll do drop tests, crush tests, and then open the box to determine if the packaging is adequate for safely shipping a reptile.

They'll then e-mail you and your sales rep to let you know if your test box passed or failed.