fhtfire
165 posts
Jul 11, 2005
11:21 AM
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Well,
It Finally happened to me! I wanted to Help out Jay with a round of birds to get him back on his feet. The box is ready...the birds are ready. Guess what....no flight from Sacramento to Cleveland that will except birds. Of course...As of 3 weeks ago one company did..but now they do not. For the cost to ship birds..you would think that they would do it. I could mail a box the same size and weight and fill it with feathers and they would ship it...Sorry just a little frustrated. I just shipped birds to Brian in Minford....Close to Cinncinatti...THey fly birds to Cinncinatti all day long...of Course poor Jay is at the top of the state and not the bottom!
EVERYONE SIGN THAT DAMN PETITION!
rock and ROLL
Paul
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motherlodelofts
171 posts
Jul 11, 2005
11:45 AM
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Paul we are pushing a 100 plus degrees !!!!
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
61 posts
Jul 11, 2005
12:56 PM
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Paul, I know you are trying to help a fella out, but you should not be trying to ship birds regardless if the airlines and post office would let you. That is not fair to the birds. The post office has a policy that it won't ship if the destination will have a high over 85 degrees on the intended recieving date.
Because of all of the feather merchant assholes, hustlers and day old chick breeders filing claims because of losses during shipping, the airlines said they are done with it and the post office pretty much agrees. We are lucky just to have a one direct flight only policy at the moment. Hopefully that will change in the fall when the weather is better for shipping.
Brian.
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Shaun
30 posts
Jul 11, 2005
1:36 PM
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I did wonder how you lot transported your pigeons to one another, given the vast distances which could be involved. In England, all the carriers have dropped out of the market, leaving just Amtrak. So, now, the term is to "Amtrak" the birds from here to there.
David, just in case you're interested, George Mason's 20 were collected from him by Amtrak at 6 pm and delivered to me the next day around midday. Each pigeon was in its own little cardboard box, with the 20 boxes taped together. I tentatively opened each in turn, expecting the odd fatality. As I opened each box (like a kid opening Christmas presents), one pigeon after another, peered up at me as the chink of daylight greeted it. There were no problems at all. I just hope to hell, Amtrak don't pull out, in the way the other carriers have done. I did read that they set their prices high to try and put people off - indeed, they've stopped all the exotic birds, like parrots and have continued with pigeons only. However, as they're the only carriers, we cough up!
Given the size of the US (and Canada), I suppose birds could potentially be transported through a very cold climate onto somewhere very hot, or vice versa.
Good on you trying, Paul. I'm sure your efforts are appreciated. I thought one of California's attractions was its equable climate - not too hot, not too cold. Why are you lot sweating so much; are you near to Nevada?
Shaun
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
62 posts
Jul 11, 2005
3:01 PM
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Shaun, that's a real bummer on the shipping situation where you live. Granted the area is much, much smaller than what we US fanciers deal with. We have a rail system here, but I don't think it would cover as many areas as the airlines do in association with the post office.
I ship quite a few show birds during the late fall and winter and while it is called "express mail", guaranteed for a two day delivery, many of the bird shipments I send to guys back east take as long as four days to get there. I have only had one bird die during the journey, which probably had nothing to do with temperature. The catch is that if the delivery takes longer than the advertised "two days", the sender can get a full refund. Given the often not-so-timely air line service into certain areas, this leads to three and four day shipments which the post office ends up delivering for free if you seek return payment. The problem we face here is that people have abused the system to the point the USPS and airlines want no part of it. Which is probably what happened with you guys over there. I would hate to see it come to that here in the states. The ability to ship birds over a large area is one of the biggest reasons the hobby of pigeon husbandry is as large as it is today.
Brian.
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Alan Bliven
203 posts
Jul 11, 2005
5:10 PM
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I'd never trust USPS this time of year with shipping birds. I had two very expensive pairs sent in a month or so ago from CA (I'm in AZ) and one was DOA from dehydration. The others made it but were in bad shape.
But I just received 17 birds on Friday from Virginia sent Delta Air Freight. They were sent in a 16 bird box. I am in hot Tucson where we've had 100+ degree temps for 28 straight days. The shipping was 87.50. That charge is for a two bird box or the huge 16 bird box. If you are shipping a lot of birds or expensive birds it's a good deal because they are for the most part kept at room temperature and only have one connection and best of all arrive the same day and within a few hours.
Delta's Pet Desk can be reached at 1-888-736-3738. They must be pre-booked and of course you must have an airport close by. Alaska Airlines will also do it for 92.00 and Continental will also do it but they charge more. They quoted us 120.00.
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Alan
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fhtfire
166 posts
Jul 11, 2005
7:45 PM
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I finally got the problem taken care of...They will ship tomorrow....They leave West Sacramento at 11:00 and will be in S.F. at 2:pm. and on the plane at 3:00pm. I talked to the USPS and was upset...so they are shipping to Pittsburgh PA and Jay is going to pick them up there..It is a post office to Post office ship so it takes a day off of the shipping.. 2.5 hour drive from his house. The temp in PA is supposed to be a high of 84 on Thursday. They have a temp rule from West Sacramento too...it is 85. As long as the temp is not 85 at 11:00...they will be in a climate control rig to S.F....S.F is fairly cool anyway. I am shipping them in a bigger box then what the birds need. They said if the temp goes up...then they will ship out of Sacramento airport...so it will be in the air a little sooner. The lady at the West Sac hub is an animal person and really takes care of buisness....she said she would personally monitor the progress of the shipping. Anyway...taken care of.
The day I sent the birds to Brian M....it was 95 here the day I shipped...he said that they were in great shape when they arrived...it was about 80 something at his place in Ohio...
rock and ROLL
Paul
Last Edited by fhtfire on Jul 11, 2005 8:13 PM
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Bluesman
Pigeon Fancier
359 posts
Jul 12, 2005
3:17 AM
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Paul.It may work for you if everything goes according to plan.I shipped an overnite this Spring and they wound up traveling from East Coast to West Coast then back to Philadelphia then went to Ca.Took 5 days.They were all old birds and survived the ordeal but had they been young they would never have stood it.You are taking a big chance with the young birds.David
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Shaun
33 posts
Jul 12, 2005
7:19 AM
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It certainly makes my possible 4 hour trip to France with my birds, in the back of my big, bad Mercedes, with all the creature comforts, seem a piece of cake in comparison, David...
Shaun
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siddiqir
17 posts
Jul 13, 2005
8:40 AM
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I also had very bad experience with USPS postal service. I have birds delivered to me after a week from AL to NJ. Some of them died and some able to survive. I thought none of them will survive but this is amazing they can go with no food and no water for 6 days....other thing to mention that was around winter time.
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rollerpigeon1963
34 posts
Jul 13, 2005
12:10 PM
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USPS!!!
Ok all of you that want to complain on how bad the postal system is. Well I for one have had great success with birds being shipped and receiving birds. I had one bad deal with one shipment. But I figure one out of 60 events is pretty good. I have shipped birds to Puerto Rico and as far as the west coast. For the price it was worth every penny. If I would have lost a bird or two it still would have been worth it. A couple of times they came in late I never asked for my shipping back. I was happy with the shipment. We bring this on our selves! back in the early 80's I had some gamefowl sent up from North Carolina and it cost me a little over 260.00 for 5 roosters. I had to drive to columbus to pick the birds up. Two hours one way late in the evening. As of 2 months ago I had the same amount of birds shipped to me and it was a total of 120.00. And I had to drive 15 minutes to our local post office. What I'm trying to say is if it goes back to the way it use to be. Where the Post Office wont accept lives where will we be? The higher price for shipping and the traveling to the airport that accepts straight flights.
Just my 2 cents on the subject!
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MCCORMICKLOFTS
66 posts
Jul 13, 2005
1:01 PM
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Brian, I agree that we have to treasure every ounce of service that we are afforded in this hobby. I would say that nearly half of the shipments I sent out end up being late by at least one day. In the fall and winter I ship quite a few show birds around the country and many of them are late, but the birds are fine. Its the folks demanding their money back just because they are late that is smoking this whole thing up. Last year I sent a 16 box that I had to make dividers inside for two cocks. The rest were hens so they had the rest of the room to themselves. When the box arrived one of the cocks was in with the hens and the other was gone!!!! But tie straps were still being used! Gone? Stolen? Got out? Doesn't matter. I could have filed a claim, but could my claim have been the straw that broke the camel's back?
Brian.
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fhtfire
168 posts
Jul 15, 2005
5:16 PM
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IT ALL WORKED OUT....It was 103 on the day that I shipped. The birds left West Sac at 11:00 am..for San Francisco.....it was 82 at the time...I put a small water bottle that was frozen solid in each 3 bird group. That was just for the ride over to S.F.. The high for S.F. that day was 82...so I knew all they had to do was get over the hill....They arrived in Pittsburgh the next night....the high there was 84....So...Jay picked the birds up Thursday afternoon in Pittsburgh and he said they were all fine and drank some water had some grub and stretched there wings....So Jay is all set with 12 young birds....It would have been nice if he did not have to drive 2 hrs to get his birds....
rock and ROLL
Paul
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J_Star
16 posts
Jul 22, 2005
11:20 AM
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All,
I was amazed of how the USPS hub is all air conditioned. The place was very cool and the birds had to stay one more day there because I had to work until 5:00pm the next day. I got to PA at around 7:30pm and picked them up. The birds travel from post office to post office through the airplane system. Really the only hot spot is when travailing through the trucks from the Post office to the airport and from the airport to the post office. The problem with not delivering birds from CA to Cleveland is the DHL service that contracts with the USPS stopped accepting shipments of livestock in the Cleveland area. I was getting shipments from NC fine, I don’t know if still ok. I usually don’t have a problem with the shipments from the post office. It always takes three days (from shipment day to receiving day). Never had a bird die or come out ill. Usually are very thirsty and a bit hungry.
Jay
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