SerpenCo Special Notices
08/05/2000
SOME LATEST INFO ON SHIPPING
Apparently Delta will not be able to be relied on for shipping live animals for the duration of the summer. Of course, this is the time we need them the most with all of the babies hatching out. So where ever possible, I am recommending shipping via USAir. They will not accept packages when the temps are real high, but this is reasonable since we will not ship when temps are expected to get to 95+ degrees anyway. So if you have an outstanding order, you may want to check your local airport to see if they are service by USAir.
Recently I posted a couple of polls with the intention of finding out which options people will consider to be liveable considering the problems with shipping via the airlines. I was surprised so many people would be willing to accept shipments without any guarantee of live delivery. About one third of the people voting voted that way. The last question asked approached the possibility of my charging an insurance fee to cover live delivery, with all of the responsibility falling on my shoulders for a 10 percent surcharge, splitting the loss equally among the customer and myself for a 5 percent surcharge, or just not being interested in this option at all. The greater majority suppored the 10 percent option. Not that I'm all that keen on going into the herp insurance business, but the options are real slim pickins folks.
I did a bit of investigation concerning shipping live harmless snakes via the US Postal Service. As best I have been able to determine so far, the regulations of the USPS are based on United States Codes that are laws passed by Congress to regulate the way the USPS does business. Nowhere in those codes is there any mention of a restriction on shipping live nonvenomous snakes. None. It is in something called the Domestic Mail Manual that such and interpretation of the law is made. The question that remains to be answered has to do with determining if the Domestic Mail Manual actually being federal law or just a set of layman interpretations of federal law. If they are interpretations and guidelines, then they might not be enforceable by law. But until this is determined, the local post office personnel will not knowingly accept live snakes for shipping.
I have gotten the mailing address of the postmaster general in Washington D.C. and am intending to write him a letter concerning this matter. Anyone interested in the possible outcome might want to consider writing a letter of their own expressing their views. Such points as the harmless nature of small nonvenomous snakes might be addressed, as well as how the Internet has created opportunities for a lot of small business dealing in nonvenomous reptiles to blossom. This, of course, would mean more business for the USPS if they were a bit more reasonable about the nature of the animals they would allow to be shipped.
If you are interested, you can contact the postmaster general at this address:
Office of Postmaster General
ceo William J. Henderson
475 L'Enfant Plaza SW
Room 10022
Washington, D.C. 20260-0010
The Lavender corns, as a group, decided to breed later than most of the rest of my cultivars, so my big plan to be able to ship out a bunch of them right off the bat at the beginning of the season has fallen flat on it's face. A few clutches have hatched, but most of them are about to hatch over the next week or two. So I am going to start trying to line up shipments as quickly as I can. We do have the big show in Daytona Beach in the middle of August to contend with, so that will probably cut into the time I have available to pack up shipments. Depending on how many Lavenders hatch, shed and feed right away, some of the later orders for them may be delayed until closer to the end of August.
I have also opened an account with FedEx and reopened my account with Airborne Express. Now I know they do not officially accept live snakes, but in order to do what I need to do, I am going to have to bend around the rules a bit. One obvious problem with shipping through either one of these carriers is that they certainly will not guarantee live delivery of the cargo. I'm not sure if this is the best method to handle this problem, and I certainly do not want to do so, but it looks like I'm going to have to go into the herp insurance business. This may be temporary if anyone can come up with something better.
I am going to offer optional live delivery insurance for any packages shipped via the door-to-door carriers. This is strictly between my customers and myself and no one should contact the carriers for any reason concerning the package. This will be all my responsibility. Of course, I am kind of sticking my neck out here, so I need to protect myself somewhat by charging a small fee for this guarantee. This fee itself caused me a headache, because I want it to be reasonable yet able to cover any losses I may experience shipping this way. I figured that shipping via USAir is going to cost around $37 or so and most people wind up paying my $10 box charge. So we're talking about $47 right off the bat, plus you have to run to the airport to pick up the package when it arrives, which for some people is a real hardship.
So instead of a lot of hocus pocus with itemized costs and percentages of value, I'm going to charge a flat $50 for door to door shipping. That includes the actual cost of the shipment, box charge, and my fee for underwriting the responsibility for the shipment. This is about as fair as I can come up with, but I am certainly willing to listen to suggestions that I may not have thought of.
So basically my shipping options are going to be USAir or door-to-door via the carrier of my choosing. USAir will be C.O.D. when you pick up the package at the airport and the $10 box charge will still apply for orders under $300. For door-to-door service, I will have to prepay that, so this expense will have to be paid by the customer before the order will be shipped.
06/30/2000
SOME LATEST INFO ON SHIPPING
First off, Delta has imposed an embargo on shipping live animals from June 1 thru August 31. Basically they are refusing live animal shipments from anyone whom is not a known shipper and specifically
a known breeder or other commercial handler of animals. This doesn't affect us, since we have been shipping with them sinc 1985. However, the other part of the equation is more problematical. They claim
that any airport along the flight path from the source to the destination can refuse delivery of a live animal package if the forecast high for the day will reach 85 or above. Now, as anyone whom works with reptiles
probably knows, 85 degrees is not outside of the comfort range of most reptiles. So this low ceiling has been artificially set, perhaps more applicable to warm blooded animals than cold blooded. But getting this
point across to the people in Delta that make the rules has proven difficult so far.
So what does this mean to you? Simply that it might require some tap dancing on our part to get packages out the door. We may have to ship very early in the morning or very late at night. We may also have
no other choice but to ship via DASH service to make sure the package gets to it's destination within the temperature window we are shooting for. Please bear with us, as we are doing the best we can to keep
this situation from becoming very ugly.
On the positive side, USAir has dropped their $10 fuel surcharge. A response to an email I have sent them has also indicated that they do NOT have a similar live animal embargo in effect. With all of the above
in consideration, I am now recommending that USAir be used for shipments whenever it is possible to do so. Please check with your airport of choice to see if we have this option available. In the past we have
had customers choose an airline that doesn't service their airport. This wasn't any real big deal since we would just walk next door and ask the other airline (Tallahassee airport only has Delta and USAir) if they
serviced the airport needed. Normally one or the other would work. This option will not be possible any longer. Delta requires the flights to be booked in advance, so if USAir does not fly to your airport, we're just
out of luck for shipping that day.
04/18/2000
CORRECTION ON SHIPPING FUEL SURCHARGE INFO
Apparently the fuel surcharge is being implemented only by USAir and NOT by Delta, so standard shipping charges apply until I hear otherwise. The information I was supplied by USAir stating
that ALL airlines have a surcharge in effect was in error. Sorry about any confusion this may have caused.
04/14/2000
AIRLINES NOW CHARGING A $10 FUEL SURCHARGE PER SHIPMENT
Well, I've been expecting this would happen. Gasoline prices were just too high for everyone and their brother to ignore it for long. I just sent a package out yesterday via USAir and when it got
to it's destination, the person picking it up was a bit surprised that the C.O.D. charge was $47. (Actually, USAir wanted to charge her $90, but that's another story!) Word is that all of the airlines are now charging a fuel surcharge for each package shipped. I'm going to be calling
Delta to find out about it, but i'm assuming they will be charging it as well. I need to know specifically about the DASH shipments, since those are prepaid and I need to know if I'm going to be
paying more when I write out my check to them. Of course, I will have to pass this added expense on to the customer. The C.O.D. shipments will still be the actual cost of shipping, paid when
the package is picked up at the airport.
With any luck, this will just be temporary, but I don't think I've ever seen a fuel surcharge rescinded. They first started showing up during he big gasoline crunch (late '70s or early '80s?) on things
like the electric bills and I don't believe they EVER went away when the problem cleared up. So I would say we should expect this to be a permanent increase in the cost of shipping.
02/21/2000
CHANGE IN POLICY CONCERNING CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS
This might be a sore spot with some people. I know it has been with me in the past. Whenever I order some merchandise, I really don't want my credit card charged until the items are actually
shipped to me. And that's the way I've been trying to handle orders placed with me and paid for by a credit card. It just seemed the right way to do it.
But enough is enough. The number of times I've been given credit card numbers that are either invalid or are declined by the bank when I run them through the machine is ridiculous. What makes it
so bad is that I have to wait until the night before we ship, and that sometimes can be late at night when we actually have the time to run the charges on the machine. So here we are, with the boxes
ready to go out, invoice and airbill filled out, and the credit card is no good. And, of course, someone is going to be expecting their box to show up at the airport. Believe me, I hate making phone
calls at 11 pm at night ALMOST as much as I hate receiving them. But there is little choice in the matter. Either the credit card problem gets resolved, or the box doesn't get shipped.
So, effective IMMEDIATELY, all orders placed with a credit card will be charged as soon as the order is accepted. I don't like doing it this way, but I'm just tired of the aggravation of trying to
get bad charge card numbers resolved late at night in a panic situation.
Of course, this brings up another problem. The bank charges me for every charge I make through them. So that means if someone cancels an order and puts me in the position of having to
issue a credit to their charge card, this will be money out of my pocket. Accordingly, any order cancelled paid for with a credit card will be charged 20 percent of the total, as if a deposit had
been placed on the animals ordered. If the order is CHANGED so that there is a refund due, 20 percent of the difference will be charged as well.
I don't like being hardnosed about this, but I pay a LOT of money to provide the convenience of accepting credit cards. I don't charge anyone a surcharge for this convenience and just look on it
as a cost of doing business. I certainly hope that everyone will recognize that I'm only trying to do my best here, and sometimes I have to make decisions that might not be popular with everyone.
Thank you for your understanding.
01/24/2000
SPECIAL Y2K SALE ON LAVENDER CORNS - $50!!
After doing a preliminary projection on the number of corn snakes I am expecting to produce this year, I have decided to take a step to help reduce the numbers as soon and as quickly as possible.
I am expecting a TON of Lavender corn snakes this year and figure I can make them very affordable for anyone interested in obtaining this relatively new cultivar.
So, for a limited time only, and on a first come, first served basis, until the orders reach the level of projected hatchlings, I am offering Y2K hatchling Lavender corns for $50 each. These are expected
to be available beginning the first week of August. This sale will be in effect until 50 pairs are presold or July 1, 2000, whichever occurs first.
Now there is a string attached! (Isn't there always?) You must prepay the animals. No deposits accepted. No lists of 'call me when they are hatching.' Just presold and paid for only. As such, the prepayment
will be considered as a deposit and is non-refundable unless the animals are not produced. All will be fed at least one pink mouse, unassisted, before being shipped. All other expenses related to shipping
and a box charge still apply, as indicated on my Fine Print page at http://www.SerpenCo.com/terms.html.
For your convenience, you can order them on my secured server order form from my main page at http://www.SerpenCo.com/. Just be sure to make mention of the special Y2K Lavender Corn
Snake Sale in the comments box.
BTW, regardless of what rumors some people are spreading, these are the REAL DEAL! Check out my web site at http://www.CornSnakes.com to read about the history of the Lavender Corn.
If the results of this special sale are encouraging, I may very well open up this offer for some other selected corn snake cultivars as well.
Thank you for your business
08/04/99
HALF-PRICE SALE ON PROBLEM FEEDERS
I've got lots of babies hatching out and, of course, there are always going to be some that will not take pinky mice
right off the bat. I'm stretched kind of thin with all of the animals to take care of around here, so I am offering most of the varieties of corns I produce at a substantial discount if you are willing to work with them. Basically, I offer a baby corn a live pinky mouse every 5 to 7 says. If it refuses the meal three times in a row, it is placed on a 'problem feeder' rack to be dealt with later. These problem feeders are then offered split brain pinks, frozen/thawed pinks, lizard scented pinks, green anoles, or tease fed either pinkies or lizards.
Obviously, this can be very time consuming and I certainly cannot spread myself thin enough to be able to deal with them all plus the babies that are willing feeders. Most of the normal colored animals will be released to help reduce the workload.
If anyone is interested in taking advantage of this offer, please contact me for availability. The sooner they can be sent to you, the better off it will be for all involved.
04/10/99
A TOUGH DECISION - BUT NECESSARY
I've been having a particularly tough time this year finding reliable help. Things are looking a little better since
I have hired three new people starting next week, but I'm reading the writing on the wall. I just can't continue
on like I am with the number of animals I am working with. I have made a particularly difficult decision to surplus
ALL of my gray-banded kings. This is probably a really stupid thing to do now, considering that they have mostly
all been hibernated and are ready to breed shortly. However, I counted noses on the eligible females of all my
breeding stock and came up with 320. I have used a rule of thumb of 10 offspring per female that has proven
relatively accurate, so we are looking at over 3,000 babies this year. Of course, this is completely out of hand.
Since my first love is the corn snake, I have decided to concentrate my efforts with them. But the curse of being
successful with selective breeding, is that I will have a higher and higher proportion of animals I consider as
'keepers' every year. Even if I limit myself to the very top 10 percent of offspring this year, we are looking at
300 keepers!
Hopefully tonight or tomorrow (4/11/99) I'll have a web page ready that will show photos of all of my gray bands
that will be available. I believe there are 3 that I did not take photos of because they were opaque.
I am not interested in just selling off the females, leaving me with only males. So don't even ask. I believe I have 17 males
and 16 females available. Maybe a half dozen of those are youngsters.
All will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. Since I am doing this to reduce headcount, I obviously am not interested
in any trades.
12/15/98
LATEST INFO ON SHIPPING METHODS AND RATES - PART II
I have finally gotten a response from Airborne Express concerning their policy change. According to the representative I spoke
to the other day, Airborne will not accept ANY liability for live animal shipments. Period. If it gets lost or run over by one of their
own trucks, or is stolen in transit, you are just out of luck. The woman I spoke to said the magic phrase three times in the 5 minutes
our conversation took place: "Airborne Express would just as soon not have these kinds of shipments."
Accordingly, I have dropped my account with them.
I have had some good experiences shipping via USAir, so I am including them in my shipping options.
That leaves me with the following options:
- Delta Dash - guaranteed live delivery - same day delivery - pick up at
airport - $55 prepaid.
- Delta 2nd Day Priority - guaranteed live delivery - second day delivery
- pick up at airport - about $38 C.O.D.
- USAir 2nd Day - guaranteed live delivery - second day
delivery - pickup at airport - about $35 C.O.D..
- Any order under $200 incurs a $10 box charge as well.
Unfortunately, no good alternatives exist to keep you from having to run to the airport to pick up the package.
With the Christmas season full upon us, I am postponing shipments after 12/17/98 until after the first week of January.
11/14/98
LATEST INFO ON SHIPPING METHODS AND RATES
Airborne has never responded to my request for clarification of their ruling on shipping live animals, so I am
compelled to assume the worst. My gut reaction is to just say the hell with them and not use them at all, but
I realize that for some people, it just is not at all convenient to get to an airport. So, after much thought, I have
narrowed down the shipping options to the following three levels:
- Delta Dash - guaranteed live delivery - same day delivery - pick up at
airport - $55 prepaid.
- Delta 2nd Day Priority - guaranteed live delivery - second day delivery
- pick up at airport - about $38 C.O.D.
- Airborne Express 2nd Day - NO guaranteed live delivery - second day
delivery - delivered to your door - $30.
- Any order under $200 incurs a $10 box charge as well.
PLEASE bear in mind that a literal interpretation of Airborne Express's new policy is that even if they completely
lose the package or run it over with a truck, they are not being held liable for loss or damages. Anyone requesting
shipment via Airborne Express will need to be aware that they are taking the entire risk of loss. I will try my best to
persuade you to go with Delta Airlines, because I think that, at the current time, that is the best way to assure that your
animals arrive safe and sound. Airborne Express has become VERY unreliable lately and at least half of the packages
we have shipped recently have not shown up within the promised time frame. That's one reason that I stopped offering
their next day service because they seemed consistently unable to make that deadline.
Also, please bear in mind that Christmas season is quickly approaching. All methods of shipping any package will become
problematic starting around the 10th of December and continuing until the first week or so of January. We generally
discontinue shipments during this time period, but will make exceptions if the need arises.
10/24/98
AIRBORNE EXPRESS IS PLUCKING AT MY NERVES!
I got a call from the local representative of Airborne Express on Thursday (10/22) and he told me that Airborne
has changed their policy about handling live animals. For future shipments, I am supposed to do the following:
"d. Shipper must provide a letter absolving Airborne Express of all liability for loss, damage, or delay of
such shipments."
Now, I can understand that they do not want to accept liability for the manner in which someone packs a box of
live animals. I have seen animals crammed into a very small package (possible because of their policy of charging
dimensionalized weights) and no one should be surprised at some of the animals suffering because of it. If the
package gets to it's destination in a reasonable amount of time, any losses SHOULD be the responsibility of the person
packing the box. However, if they are claiming complete immunity to responsibility for live shipments under any
circumstances, including negligence, unreasonable delays in delivery, or lost packages, then I have a real problem
with that position.
The only real problem I've had with Airborne was when one of their drivers misdelivered a package I sent. It was late in August,
and the package was delivered to the wrong address. Apparently it was left on the porch of someone not at home (of course,
since they weren't expecting a package) and was left in full sunlight. The person supposed to have gotten this package called
me to inquire about it and I did some checking to find out that Airborne had it marked as being delivered. They decided to look
around the neighborhood and luckily did find the package down the street, but it was too late for the animals inside. I filed a claim
with Airborne and they did cover the loses, as they should.
But if their new policy absolves them of any responsibility in future circumstances like the one mentioned above, they I'm afraid
I must object.
So, until I find that Airborne's policy is not as bad as I think it is, it looks like I'm going to have to go back to Delta Air Cargo
as my primary shipper. I am sorry, because I know many people don't care for a trip to the airport to pick up a package, but at
this time, I don't have many other choices. If someone insists on delivery to their door, and are willing to accept the risk of loss of the
animals, then I will, of course, send the package via Airborne Express. But under their current policy, I cannot accept the risk of
accepting the loss due to their negligence.
If anyone has any other suggestions, I would appreciate hearing about it. I had thought of charging a surcharge on each and every
package. Something like "the shipping charges are $45, the box charge is $10, and if you want it insured for live delivery, there is
an additional 10 percent charge." But I don't really want to get into the insurance business. But if enough people think this is
a reasonable way to solve the problem, then I'll reconsider.
08/26/98
SHIPPING EXPENSES MAY BE INCREASING!
In the past I have been able to offer overnight delivery to your door using Airborne Express and have
kept the price to a flat $30 no matter what size the order was. Unfortunately, Airborne Express has
indicated that they will begin to dimensionalize the boxes I ship, so a box that weighs 4 pounds will be
dimensionalized as being 17 pounds. This will pretty much double my cost for shipping a box to you.
I am looking into alternatives, but honestly the options are few. The dimensionalizing is supposed to take
place on October 1, so I will need to make some decisions and put a policy into effect by that time. One
likely victim of this change will be the orders for a single inexpensive snake, as shipping will surely be
far too expensive for this to be reasonable for someone to pay.
My goal is to try to balance the cost of shipping with the safety of the animals shipped. Smaller boxes would
be cheaper, but we have found that larger boxes are much more safer for the animals. But maybe at certain
times of the year and with only one or two animals involved, this could be an option. I'm trying to keep the
shipping charge simple and don't want to have to use a complicated formula to figure out what someone owes.
Please bear with me as I try to work this out. If anyone has any suggestions, I would certainly be glad to hear
them.
07/07/98
SPECIAL PRE-HATCHING SALE NOW IN PROGRESS!
GENUINE LAVENDER CORNS FOR $200 EACH!
OFFER GOOD UNTIL JULY 31, 1998.
Despite the propaganda you may have heard, these are the original article.
We hatched out the original Lavender corn back in 1985 that came from a
wild caught female. This original animal looked chocolate brown as a baby,
but as it grew up, it became a beautiful lavender gray coloration with deep
ruby red eyes. Individuals carrying this Lavender gene were sold to several
people, particularly in the Maryland and Pennsylvania area, that were
successful in reproducing this genetic trait and propagating the line.
These were variously referred to as 'Mochas', 'Chocolates', 'Cocoas', and
'Lavenders'.
Adults can vary from a steel gray with lavender overtones to an almost
purplish color with an orange wash to the ground color. We have been
outcrossing this line for years and are the only breeder that can offer a
wide diversity of blood lines. Of course, no one can offer you unrelated
bloodlines, but why buy from someone who may have only a pair or two of
directly related animals, with nothing better to offer you than directly
inbred siblings? And at twice the price?
This is your chance to get the genuine article from the original source of
this exciting new genetic line of corn snakes.
Current projects in progress with this line include Lavender Motleys,
Lavender Blood Reds, Lavender Blizzards, and Hypo Lavenders. These will
become available in a few years, but the potential is wide open for
combination genes.
Orders will be filled on a first come, first served basis.
07/05/98
With the flood of baby snakes soon to be upon me, I have decided to make a special
offering to people prowling my web page. Every year I always get a percentage of snakes
that do not go right onto pinky mice and need to have some special care, like scenting, braining
pinks, teasing, force-feeding, or lizard meals to get them started. This is a burden that may
be large enough that I lose some animals simply because there isn't enough of me or my
helpers to go around to take care of them all. So, to reduce this burden and give any of you
interested an opportunity to get some animals at a much cheaper rate, I am offering non-feeding
specimens of most of what I have on my list at 50 percent off of listed price.
This offer will only be available as long as supplies last and as available. There are NO GUARANTEES
offered on these animals and you will incur some risk. The sooner you get them, the better your chances
will be of getting them started. I generally offer a baby snake a pinky mouse twice before marking them as
problem feeders and put them in the rack for special care. I STRONGLY recommend that if you do not have
experience getting finicky baby snakes to eat, that you do not consider these animals. It will not be a bargain
for you if you lose most or all of them due to lack of experience.
