I've had experiences with each one of these, and most have been bad. Let's start with the worst first.
Delta: A friend and I had some egyptian cobras and uracoan rattlesnakes shipped through delta. The package was supposed to be there by 6pm. Then that got delayed until 8pm. Then 11:30 pm. Then 2AM. After making numerous calls, and pretty much getting ready to leave the jacksonville airport without our package, really upset to say the least, because my friend had to be at work in ocala by about 7am. Anyway, the package came around 3:30 AM. This was so ridiculous, because delta sends out around 1 plane from atlanta to jacksonville every hour or two, and they were supposed to put them on a previous plane.
Fedex: Almost every single package I've got from fedex has been really late, by an average of 48 hours. In fact, I can't remember even one time when they were on time. This last shipment, they said my address was incorrect. So, I had to call them up, and it turned out they had the right address. So, I guess the local fedex office is just run by people that don't know what they're doing.
Also, fedex's customer service really sucks. I had to call them twice over a problem, and got transferred three times, and had to make two calls, and the cusomer service rep acted like it was such a waste of time dealing with me...
Airborne express has banned my address, because I had a shipment of ball pythons shipped to me from a miami wholesaler. He apparently didn't pack them well, and about 20 of them escaped into the airborne express facility. Keep in mind that airborne express does ship reptiles, if you're a certified reptile shipper through them, but when someone doesn't pack the packages well, they don't want to deal with them lol.
USPS: Probably the most unreliable. The prices seem to go up all of the time, sometimes packages are on time, other times, they're late. A lot of times, the package is damaged, even with the best of packing care. There have been a few items lost completely through them.
DHL: This company is definately making itself known in America now. This company was used to ship a lot of stuff to me from malaysia and china. In areas where they don't ship yet, they send out private contractors to deliver the items. I haven't had a whole lot of experience with them, but with the little I do, they have been great.
UPS: The old brown truck, I think is probably the most reliable. I've heard people complain about their service, but locally, I have had nothing but good experience with them. All packages are always on time, etc. So, I consider UPS the best and preferred method of shipping.
What does everyone else think?
Delta: A friend and I had some egyptian cobras and uracoan rattlesnakes shipped through delta. The package was supposed to be there by 6pm. Then that got delayed until 8pm. Then 11:30 pm. Then 2AM. After making numerous calls, and pretty much getting ready to leave the jacksonville airport without our package, really upset to say the least, because my friend had to be at work in ocala by about 7am. Anyway, the package came around 3:30 AM. This was so ridiculous, because delta sends out around 1 plane from atlanta to jacksonville every hour or two, and they were supposed to put them on a previous plane.
Fedex: Almost every single package I've got from fedex has been really late, by an average of 48 hours. In fact, I can't remember even one time when they were on time. This last shipment, they said my address was incorrect. So, I had to call them up, and it turned out they had the right address. So, I guess the local fedex office is just run by people that don't know what they're doing.
Also, fedex's customer service really sucks. I had to call them twice over a problem, and got transferred three times, and had to make two calls, and the cusomer service rep acted like it was such a waste of time dealing with me...
Airborne express has banned my address, because I had a shipment of ball pythons shipped to me from a miami wholesaler. He apparently didn't pack them well, and about 20 of them escaped into the airborne express facility. Keep in mind that airborne express does ship reptiles, if you're a certified reptile shipper through them, but when someone doesn't pack the packages well, they don't want to deal with them lol.
USPS: Probably the most unreliable. The prices seem to go up all of the time, sometimes packages are on time, other times, they're late. A lot of times, the package is damaged, even with the best of packing care. There have been a few items lost completely through them.
DHL: This company is definately making itself known in America now. This company was used to ship a lot of stuff to me from malaysia and china. In areas where they don't ship yet, they send out private contractors to deliver the items. I haven't had a whole lot of experience with them, but with the little I do, they have been great.
UPS: The old brown truck, I think is probably the most reliable. I've heard people complain about their service, but locally, I have had nothing but good experience with them. All packages are always on time, etc. So, I consider UPS the best and preferred method of shipping.
What does everyone else think?