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Information on Shipping

Here is the crux of the problem; see the latest USPS policy for live
shipments at:
http://www.usps.com/news/2001/press/pr01_liveanimal.htm
This is the latest policy but does let some openings for interpretation by
the shipping agency.
I do not want to chance some decision by a mail handler. I feel sure that
the problem encountered By Jose was due to a ground movement(took 4 days)
per this policy and it got pretty cold at night in the back of a truck
moving north.  We did go into the 30's in Pa over last weekend at night.

I shipped 7 boxes today via Airborne Express. Boxes contained from 2 to 6 pr
of fish each.
Costs ranged from $11 to $19 a box depending on box size and destination..
I used the smallest boxes for Colorado and Georgia to save costs, which
could have been maybe 3 or 4 dollars higher with the larger boxes. .  There
is no charge for pickup of 5 or more boxes but a $3 per box charge for 4 or
less the same day pickup
The above costs do NOT include a this $3 charge.

All were shipped from near Pittsburgh Pa to:
 Colorado, Montana, New York, Georgia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and
Kentucky.
All 2nd day air.
By Friday, I hope to get feedback from all the recipients. I thought the
results may be informative to all, especially knowing the conditions of
shipment and weather which I detailed below.  I'll post the results when I
get them.   It costs more but that is life.

For reference, all fish were individually bagged in a 3.5 inch sleeve with 1
to 2" water and 8 to 10 inches air.  Pairs were then placed in a second
outer poly bag, inverted to preclude entrapment in folds.  All were last fed
on Saturday night and bagged between 9 pm on Monday-and 3 am Tuesday, held
indoors in their boxes and picked up by Airborne at 3 pm Tuesday.   Water
was tank water with roughly 20% fresh RO water treated with and an addition
of "Proper PH 6.5" to prevent any ammonia problems and RO right to bring TDS
to about 200 same as my tanks.  No bag additives were used.
. Boxes were Styrofoam 1 to 2 inch thick, no heat packs (all temps expected
to be 49 to 75 degrees day and night to the best of my knowledge), and
inside sealed cardboard boxes.
Bill Shenefelt

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