Scaring the Mail Carrier

[belewfripp]

Recently I made a rather large purchase of spiders on the inet from a couple of different dealers. This past Wednesday I was expecting a package from Spiderpatch that would be coming through US Mail. Well, our mail carrier apparently was in a rush or something and had the 'Sorry We Missed You' slip already filled out, gave a light rap on the door, and was going to put the slip on the door when my wife, who'd been watching from the living room the whole time, tells her to wait. So my wife gets to the door and is all smiles and whatnot, and the mail carrier gives her the package, which she signs for, and my wife says "Great, my box of spiders is here!" The mail lady was apparently taken aback and asked if they were alive, to which my wife replied "Oh yes, live baby tarantulas. Thanks!" and goes back into the house.


Cut to Saturday morning, I'm expecting a package from Golden Phoenix Exotica, which will also be coming US Mail, and I'm pondering the possible scenarios:

1. Mail carrier yells 'Get your damn spiders!' drops the box on the deck and runs screaming back to her car.
2. Mail carrier asks if the first package was really live spiders to which I say "Nah, my wife was just messing with you." then wait for her to breathe a sigh of relief before saying "No, THIS is the box of live spiders you're holding right there."
3. Get a knock on the door and a polite notice that the Post Office will no longer be delivering anything to me at all.

Instead, it was actually quite the opposite, a nice, loud, clear knock and a very polite and courteous delivery of the package. I think it helped that our miniature pinscher bolted out the front door and I had to baseball slide on the front lawn to catch him, since it showed that we also own "normal" pets.

In addition to Spiderpatch and Golden Phoenix I also ordered from Kelly Swift, but that came in through Airborne Express so there were no antics with the Post Office.

Adrian

 

[Bry]

LOL...A friend of mine answered the door to a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses wearing a Misfits t-shirt and a boa on his shoulders and they felt he needed special help. To make a long story short, it ended up with him running down the street after them yelling "I'm the Devil! I want your souls!"

Bry

 

[LaRiz]

Something to remember...

US Postal Service does not allow for the shipment of Arachnids. You can go to your local post office and get a list of what is not authorized. It's better to be very discreet when shipping arachnids. Most people fear stuff like this.
In turn, if you're on the recieving end of the ship, it's just as good to keep it zipped (mouth).
I don't know what the USPS could do at that point, but I'm sure something could be done.
I've been sending out alot of "geckos and frogs".

 

[Lycanthrope]

US Postal Service does not allow for the shipment of Arachnids.

is this a new development? ive shipped a few t' out, and flat out told them there were live tarantulas in the box, at which point they pulled out a huge book, read for 10 minutes, and asked a few questions. then they took the boxes and shipped them.:?

 

[RugbyDave]

Hey!

I, like LaRiz, am in PA, and i, too have been shipping out "frogs" to other people.... by "frogs" i mean T's, but who can tell in an opaque container..

it might be a PA thing?

peace and GOOD LUCK!
dave

 

[Buspirone]

I wouldn't trust my mailman....actually we have 2....for some reason they seem to take turns doing our route....One of them gets my mail here no later than 10:30am(I would be okay with him). The other doesn't show up until 3:00pm and half the mail on the block is mixed up and delivered to the wrong people. I think he smokes crack or is dyslexic or something. There's no rhyme or reason for when we have the good mailman or the lousy mailman it just happens.

 

[belewfripp]

Re: Something to remember...

Originally posted by LaRiz
US Postal Service does not allow for the shipment of Arachnids. You can go to your local post office and get a list of what is not authorized. It's better to be very discreet when shipping arachnids. Most people fear stuff like this.
In turn, if you're on the recieving end of the ship, it's just as good to keep it zipped (mouth).
I don't know what the USPS could do at that point, but I'm sure something could be done.
I've been sending out alot of "geckos and frogs".

Yeah, I had heard this elsewhere, which is why I was concerned that something untoward might occur with the arrival of the second package via USPS. My feeling is the mail carrier probably decided the 'live spider' bit was a revenge scare tactic for not making any effort to actually deliver the first package. My wife could have been standing in the kitchen not 10 feet from the front door and would have never known she'd been by had she not been watching the door like a hawk. I think this also explains why the knock was loud, clear and repeated the second time. She didn't seem frightened or curious about the second package.


Adrian

 

[belewfripp]

Originally posted by Buspirone
I wouldn't trust my mailman....actually we have 2....for some reason they seem to take turns doing our route....One of them gets my mail here no later than 10:30am(I would be okay with him). The other doesn't show up until 3:00pm and half the mail on the block is mixed up and delivered to the wrong people. I think he smokes crack or is dyslexic or something. There's no rhyme or reason for when we have the good mailman or the lousy mailman it just happens.

Maybe your mailman is Dr. Jekyl.

Adrian

 

[D-Man]

Keep it on TL

I've ordered from Goldenphoenix and the boxes have been discrete and I don't say nothing to the carrier, but she seems to look at me oddly - maybe it's just me 'cause I know what's in the package.

 

[Dessicata]

my postlady seems to be quite interested when i get packages. Theyre often crickets though, which gets a bored 'oh', but she occassionally gets to hold a box of interesting things

 

[Code Monkey]

I mentioned what was in the box exactly once and learned my lesson. The guy was relatively cool about it, but you could tell he was eyeballing every package that came there for the immediate future. I figured even if *he* was cool about it, all it would take was one misplaced word to my apartment management while he was at the office, or to a superior that might decided to crack down on the shipper, and things could get potentially ugly.

Since then if they ask, I tell them it's just perishable herp supplies.

 

[atavuss]

Re: Something to remember...

Originally posted by LaRiz

I've been sending out alot of "geckos and frogs".

I used to mark "live harmless frogs" on the boxes of inverts I shipped via U.S. Postal Service, they would hassle me about if they were native frogs, etc. now I just pack the inverts as well as I can with a heat pack or two if needed and I don't put anything other than the addresses on the box.
Ed

 

[Mojo Jojo]

@Avatuss: Well, at the post office, they seem to like to ask what you are shipping -- which might throw some people off guard at to the proper response. So I think that it is a good idea to know "what" it is that you are shipping ahead of time.

@D-man: The postman probably thinks that you like to order lots of porn. -- Golden Pheonix Exotica -- (similar to Erotica).

Jon

 

[D-Man]

LOL, ah!!!!

@D-man: The postman probably thinks that you like to order lots of porn. -- Golden Pheonix Exotica -- (similar to Erotica).

Jon [/B][/QUOTE]

Jon-

I never thought about that! I always meet her at my porch like a little kid running to the ice cream man!!!! She probably thinks that I can't wait to pop in the DVD and go for the gusto!!!! HAHAHA

Peace =D

 

[Arachnopuppy]

Re: LOL, ah!!!!

Originally posted by D-Man
@D-man: The postman probably thinks that you like to order lots of porn. -- Golden Pheonix Exotica -- (similar to Erotica).

Jon

Jon-

I never thought about that! I always meet her at my porch like a little kid running to the ice cream man!!!! She probably thinks that I can't wait to pop in the DVD and go for the gusto!!!! HAHAHA

Peace =D [/B][/QUOTE]

Hahahahahaha. That's probably what the lady in the front desk thought when she took in the box for me and delivered it to my room.

 

[LaRiz]

Re: Re: Something to remember...

Originally posted by atavuss
I used to mark "live harmless frogs" on the boxes of inverts I shipped via U.S. Postal Service, they would hassle me about if they were native frogs, etc. now I just pack the inverts as well as I can with a heat pack or two if needed and I don't put anything other than the addresses on the box.
Ed

Ed,
I used to send out alot of geckos and frogs, as well as tarantulas, so I established a good relationship with the postmaster. Though, all this stuff frightened her, she understood and accepted my packages. Once I sent out an Indian Star Tortoise (Geochelone elegans). Of course I labeled the box "live harmless turtle". It came back the next day, along with a list of restricted items. Anybody could get a copy of this if they ask their local postmaster. The very next day I shipped out another gecko. Nowadays, she asks what I'm sending so I always tell her, "geckos and/or frogs". But my box is marked "Fragile, Keep at/near Room Temp., Perishable". That's it, and I have awesome luck with USPS.
On this list of restricted items, it gave some example of what and what cannot be sent thru the USPS. You cannot send arachnids, snakes, turtles and tortoises. You CAN send frogs, tadpoles, leeches (?), lizards, and non-agricultural pest insects. There's a bunch of other stuff too.
This is not just a PA thing, this is the US Postal Service Policy. They also have a poster of what you can't send with a pic of a scorp on it. No scorps!
The postal workers don't know all the regulations and some don't really care to know, so they may need to look it up.
john

 

[belewfripp]

Well, it's nice to know that while tarantulas are not acceptable, leeches are a-ok.

Adrian

 

[invadermike]

My friend sent me T's and his dad is a postal worker, and he gets his dad to bring them to work and mail them out, haha, not everyone follows the rules, haah!!
Mike