I'm sure this has already been discussed a few thousand times on this forum, but I can't find any discussions that give an all around comparison of all of the different options. Firstly, is is cheaper to just get Fedex certified and handle everything yourself or is it really cheaper to use one of the reptile shipping companies? What are all of the pros and cons of becoming Fedex certified and doing everything yourself versus using a reptile shipping company?

There seems to be 3 primary reptile shipping companies that breeders commonly use, all of whom claim offer discounted Fedex rates - Reptiles2You, ShipYourReptiles and Reptiles Express... If there are any others you guys would recommend be sure to let me know. Otherwise, which of those 3 companies would you guys recommend most? Can you give me the pros and cons of using each company? I'm also very curious about what these companies role's are in the shipping process and why they do what they do. Are they just generating their revenue by requiring that you purchase their shipping supplies or are there fees involved with using them as well?