Late shipment - Likelihood of survival?

[VesAn]

I've a b. arbopilosum at around 3.5 inches that was shipped monday the 28th, and due to a USPS mess up it still has not arrived. Called them this afternoon and they said it's "in transit". The shipper's a dealer with a good reputation/packing skills, and I understand he also included a heatpack in the package.
But anyway, at best the package'll arrive maybe tomorrow afternoon, if not, it'll be monday afternoon or later
Just how likely is it for my T to survive, guys?

 

[shogun804]

anytthing is possible, but it does not sound good, however since it is a bigger T you might have a better chance...and i refer you to this thread.
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=37613&highlight=shipping

 

[The Juice]

Was it overnight shipping? If so I don't think one Day will hurt. Every T I bought online I had it shipped priority ( It takes 3 days to get to my house) with no deaths. so unless you have freezing weather were you live I say the T should arrive healthy. Good Luck

 

[Windchaser]

Where are you at and where is the shipper from? As long as it wasn't subjected to very cold conditions, I imagine you will be OK. Besides weather, the only problem you would have is if it attempted to molt while in transit. If properly packed, it wouldn't have enough room to molt.

The heat pack is probably dead by this point. It also depends on what type of heat pack they used as to how long it has been dead. When I ship T's (in cold weather) I use 40 hour heat packs.

I guess all you can do is wait at this point.

This must be the time for the USPS to loose stuff. I ordered some P. metallica prints from Wanye and the USPS lost those on me.

 

[VesAn]

From what I've heard from the guy, my package was not the only one that was delayed for unknown reasons. The destination, Pittsburgh, is indeed very cold

I guess you guys are right, now it's just a matter of waiting.

 

[bagheera]

This must be the time for the USPS to loose stuff. I ordered some P. metallica prints from Wanye and the USPS lost those on me.

I would NEVER trust the Post Office or DHL with anything with value OR time sensitive. :8o Stick to UPS, Fedex or TNT, the latter will call the shipper to inform them that the delivery has been made! :clap:

 

[Tony]

Where are you at and where is the shipper from? As long as it wasn't subjected to very cold conditions, I imagine you will be OK. Besides weather, the only problem you would have is if it attempted to molt while in transit. If properly packed, it wouldn't have enough room to molt.

Actually I'll only add to the molting - packing point...On the drive back from carlsbad in 99 I had an adult female angustum molt in a deli cup packed with some toweling. I distinctly remember on the road looking in on her, and being horrified to see her pulling out of her skin. She actually made it just fine...!!!!
T (just my 2 cents)

 

[Windchaser]

Actually I'll only add to the molting - packing point...On the drive back from carlsbad in 99 I had an adult female angustum molt in a deli cup packed with some toweling. I distinctly remember on the road looking in on her, and being horrified to see her pulling out of her skin. She actually made it just fine...!!!!
T (just my 2 cents)

It probably depends on how much wiggle room they have. I hand delivered a Pokie (don't recall which species) that was shipped to me to Art Cerda a couple of years ago. It was packed fairly tight and it died because it got stuck in the molt.

 

[Daywalker]

I would NEVER trust the Post Office or DHL with anything with value OR time sensitive. :8o Stick to UPS, Fedex or TNT, the latter will call the shipper to inform them that the delivery has been made! :clap:

dhl is getting better . i had 4 slings shipped from ks. yesterday and got them this morning at 10:30 am in ga. :clap:
i'm not saying dhl is perfect but they are getting better . all carriers make mistakes the question is how fast they find and fix it .

 

[Elizabeth]

USPS happens to be my best delivery service here. They are superb!!! Choose a shipper based on their track record, but also by how you have experienced them.

I have had Ts significantly delayed (not by USPS), and still they made it. Nothing to do but wait and see....

 

[BlkCat]

Be sure to complain and get ur money back that u paid for the shipping!!! The more this happens, the more likely they will pay more attention.

 

[T 'n T]

Stick to T 'n T?

I would NEVER trust the Post Office or DHL with anything with value OR time sensitive. :8o Stick to UPS, Fedex or TNT, the latter will call the shipper to inform them that the delivery has been made! :clap:

Knowledgeable T keeper? Check.
Respected Arachnoboards member? Check.
Devastatingly good-looking? Check.
But a shipper? No.

 

[Jetzie]

had a similar exp..

my parcel of 4 5" Minaxs were late for 5 days.
sent on sunday but only arrived the next friday morning!

they're still well and good , no deaths

 

[Bjorn]

This is slightly off topic but I do not believe it warrents a new thread; Is it really necesary to use overnight shiping or will two day shipping suffice? I really do hate dishing out 25 bucks for shiping.

 

[Windchaser]

This is slightly off topic but I do not believe it warrents a new thread; Is it really necesary to use overnight shiping or will two day shipping suffice? I really do hate dishing out 25 bucks for shiping.

If the weather is moderate, I imagine you would be OK with two shipping. However, in the peak of winter or summer, during the extremes, you probably want to get them there as quickly as possible.

Plus, if you suspect a molt soon, you would probably want to minimize their time in the box. Though, you could simply delay shipping until after the molt.

 

[Elizabeth]

This is slightly off topic but I do not believe it warrents a new thread; Is it really necesary to use overnight shiping or will two day shipping suffice? I really do hate dishing out 25 bucks for shiping.

I don't use the overnight anymore, but I do check with the dealer re: my choice and the weather where they are, the weather here. All taken into consideration, plus that I don't order very expensive Ts, the two-day, even with awful delays that weren't supposed to happen, gets my Ts to me alive and well.

I have only bought from professional dealers, so the packing is incredibly well-done, which has to be a factor, too.

 

[Wade]

Fedex- Once deliverd a package to me to an area Radio Shack. Only found out when Raidio Shack called me, Fedex was unable to tell me what happened to the package!

UPS- Once delivered a shipment containing live turtles and tarantulas that was addressed to my work (nature center) and delivered it to a home address where I had lived FOUR YEARS PRIOR. They left it outside!!!! They did not bother to call the phone numbers on the box, apparently they were unable to find the nature center (depite having been here many times before) and used my name to search their system to find an alternate address. They can use a computer to look up outdated information, but the morons couldn't pick up a @%$&* phone??? The current residents of the house seeing a box that reads "live animals" had the box shipped back, and we had to drive to the UPS HQ which was 40 miles away to get it. I get pissed just thinking about the multi-layered incompetence on display that day.

DHL sucks. Suck, suck, suck. On THREE occasion the nature center has ordered crickets from a supplier whoused them, and they NEVER ONCE successfully completed a delivery! Once we saw them pull into the parking lot, sit for a minute, and then drive away! We' requested that they use the USPS from then on, and since then the crickets always arrive timely.

One thing about the USPS is that if there is a delay or your package is temprorarily lost (which can happen with any carrier, Fedex and UPS included) it is more likeley to spend the extra night or two in an actual building, rather than stored on a truck. Next day shipping is going to be meaningless is it spends the night on an unheated truck in sub-zero weather, while a well packed tarantula could survive days, maybe weeks, if the package is kept indoors most of the time.

The USPS has it's ups and downs, but the service offered is as good as any of the others as far as I'm concerned (I've had major problems with all the carriers at least once) and it's easily the best value for the money.

The bottom line is, pack like the package is going to be lost and abused, and don't bother telling anyone what's in it. It won't help.

Wade

 

[bagheera]

Knowledgeable T keeper? Check.
Respected Arachnoboards member? Check.
Devastatingly good-looking? Check.
But a shipper? No.

no, no, no, the OTHER TNT! Here is a link to their homepage:http://www.tnt.com/country/en_us.html

 

[VesAn]

Just an update, the package arrived today (friday, 3/4/05), with the 3 inch b. albopilosum dead. Surprisingly a tiny B. Vagans sling included as a freebie is alive!

 

[Wade]

Actually, I'm not to surprised. Generally speaking, spiderlings are more shippable than the bigger ones. They're less vunerable to injuries due to rough package handling, and seem to survive the cold better for reasons I'm not sure of. Lots of packing material in the cup seems to help.

Wade