Uncertified shipping?

I'm just curious how many people ship without being certified? Does it really make a difference? Where do you get the stickers for "Fragile", "Temp sensitve", etc.? Do you take them to the Fed Ex near you or do you have pick ups at your door when shipping out? I'm trying to get a feel for this aspect of my business. I would feel better being certified, but if it not being certified doesn't seem to stop anybody, I'm just curious to know.

I'm certified Fed-Ex

The boxes I buy say fragile/handle with care on them and are insulated.
The Creature Company

I take the boxes to the local mail box store just before the last Fed-Ex pick up of the day at 4:30pm and drop them off.

Hope that helps

Thanks. I'm still at the "getting started" stage and I want to do things right. I'm paranoid about breaking laws and rules so I don't want to get banned from Fed Ex for shipping without jumping through their hoops. I was interested to see if it honestly makes any difference. And thanks for the link to the supplies.

its definately something you need to do. Not for your sake, the buyers sake, or the animals sake for that matter

But, for the sake of the hobby, it needs to be done.

I agree, you should get yourself certified with FedEx for the sake of the hobby.

I also think it's important to support the one shipping company that accepts reptile shipments by spending your money with them, instead of shipping through any company that says "screw you" to all of us.

I wouldn't ship unless I was cerified, simply because of my paranoia. I agree with supporting Fed Ex. UPS can bite me. For many reasons, I will never use nor knowingly order from anyone who ships via UPS.

I did just talk to someone at Fed Ex, my first phone call, and she was extremely helpful and sent a message right away to my account exec with my needs. She didn't flinch or hesitate when I told her what I needed, she was very interested! So, I hope to hear back on Monday from my account exec.

Yea!! I'm making progress.

It's really not hard to get certified. The hardest part is the initial contact and getting to a rep that can help you. Testing the box is a breeze and they're fast. I got certified in 2 weeks, the first of which was just trying to contact the correct person. The second was me packing up my test box and getting it back.

I agree with the others that it is good to support and always treat with politeness and courtesy the one company that is willing to work with us.

I mark my boxes as "Live Harmless Reptiles (Pantherophis guttatus juveniles)" and mark them as "Perishable, Avoid Temperature Extremes" and with an Up arrow. FedEx picks them up right from my work (and I mark them using my CCCorns FedEx account with labels I print right from the FedEx site). I have never had a problem with them picking up and actually the only questions I've gotten from the drivers are "You're sure they have enough air in there?" out of concern for the animals, which I thought was sweet.

The woman that I spoke to was so pleasant that I asked for her supervisor so I could pass on what a great help she was. I'm in customer service and it's pretty freakin' rare to get someone to say something good about you to your boss, even when they're happy with your service. I like to share good experiences with employers, not just the bad ones. I do it whenever I can.

I hope it goes fast, but I won't even have babies until May!

I got certified last year.
Though I've only shipped one snake I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't been certified.
OTOH I've had snakes shipped to me by people that were not. And one was UPS...I guess some don't bother going through all the hoops but I feel better making a shipment if it is legal and approved just in case something goes wrong.