For JM or anyone else Fed-Ex certified

[Amanda E]

I just finished reading the huge post over on faunaclassifieds.com about becoming Fed-Ex certified.

I've come to the conclusion that I must get certified if I'm going to make any headway in my breeding efforts, other wise I'm going to have to sell my babies to petstores and I don't want to do that.

Anyway, I've never done ANY shipping of ANY sort, so this makes me nervous anyway and would like any advise not already offered on that thread over there.

I've opened an account with Fed-Ex and now I just need to do the actual certification process.

Are there any other places that sell shipping supplies (Styrofoam lined boxes) other than Superior Enterprises? The last time I looked, they only had huge boxes. Much bigger than I think I'll need.

I'm also really curious how people have gotten around the "only ship from business to business" clause. I can see that just ignoring it would probably work, but if they would find out I was shipping to residential addresses and contest it, stopping my ability to ship, I would be SOL.

Just hoping to start a new thread over here because posting over there is getting ridiculous with over 20 pages of responses.

Specifically for JM: You had posted on the other thread that you might take photos of the process and post them somewhere for others to take advantage of your experience. Have you done this? I would be very interested in seeing this if you have.

 

[Quigs]

I think Superior is a better deal, especially for quanity but here's another link.

http://www.exoticlizards.com/miscellaneous-reptile-supplies.html

I will be begining this certification (more like jumping through some BS hoops) process myself real soon. Keep in touch and let me know what happens.

Good Luck,
Quigs

 

[JM :o)]

Hello Amanda~
I got my Boxes from Scales~ the address Quigs just gave you~ but a styro lined shipping box from any distrubutor should do fine.

I've typed up a step by step process for getting the Fed_Ex cert based on that thread you read~ I know Hurley is planning to put it in January's Corn SNake News Letter~ I doubt she would want me to post it directly here when she is planning to put it in the news letter~ but if you send me an e-mail I'll hook you up with a copy of it now to get you started.

I've got pics on the hard drive here somewhere~ give me a bit and I'll see if I can find them.

Good Luck!

E-mail is:
[email protected]

 

[Quigs]

Hey JM,

How long ago were you certified? I was curious, I'll bet they were swamped with a mad rush at one point to become certified but what about now?

Are they gonna give us the cold shoulder and pretend like nothing happened?

Just curious!

Thanks

Quigs

 

[JM :o)]

I sure hope they won't give you any trouble~ I was certified in March of this year (2004)~ if your local rep gives you any trouble politly ask them to contact James Brown in Legal~ he seems to be the authority in all of this. (Avoid going up the chain of comand unless you have too though~ no one likes to feel like they are being run around)

 

[JM :o)]

Alright~ here are the pics~ they are a bit grainy~ sorry.

First I got a styro lined box~ put in a deli cup with a paper towel and a note explaining that if this were an actual shipment a live HARMLESS reptile would be in the deli cup, and pointing out that there is no live HARMLESS repile enclosed in the deli dish at this time:

I sealed the deli cup with tape, and then wrapped a couple rubberbands around it (I figured they would like to see a LOT of secuirity)

I taped the heat pack to the inside top of the box, and wrote a note on the tape explaining that it is a 40 hour heat pack which would be activated if an actual reptile were being shipped.

I filled the box with shredded paper so the deli cup was secure, then I put a note on top of the paper explaining that I did not punch any air holes in the box on purpose to maintain temps in the box

Then I sealed up the box, put into a larger box (to protect the shipping box as I asked them to send it back to me so I could actually USE the box later) and sent it to the testing facility.

Call the testing facility and ask for the account number for package testing~ they will pay for shipping the box to them, and return shipping back to you!

Hope that helps~ Good luck!

 

[Quigs]

Nicely done, JM!

Have they ever questioned a package from you since you got the waiver?

Quigs

 

[JM :o)]

No~ but I'm not a very prolific shipper~ just a few boxes. Reminds me though~ call your local rep when you get ready to ship your first box~ mine sent me a "Volume discount" contract (even though I told her I ship very rarely) so I get 36% off when I print my own shipping label on-line and use my mastercard to pay for it.

Good Luck!

 

[Taceas]

All very interesting! And here to think I've been using Fedex without them knowing what I ship....well, except for the driver. =P

Can't wait for the newsletter so I'll be "legal". I always felt bad about sneaking packages.

 

[Amanda E]

Thanks so much for the info. I really appreciate it. Makes my life so much simpler.