Shipping discussions

[ConcinusMan]

The reptile packaging protects the animals from the inevitable jostling, tumbling and conveyer belt madness that they WILL be subject to. And if the animal is packaged properly, it will be fine.

Which is pretty much what I said but it turned into an argument. My only point was that if you don't package properly, escapes, injuries, and even death can result. "Noob" shippers tend to put their snakes in containers that are too big. Ideally, they should fit rather tightly. It's not supposed to be roomy. If there's enough room that the snake smacks against the inside of the container when you shake it, it's too big.

I use FedEx 8X8X9 crush rated boxes for shipping my snakes. They always charge actual weight by the pound. 1 lb.1 oz is charged as a 2 lb box.

With USPS, any box with a maximum side length of 18'' goes by weight, rounded to the nearest ounce. (doesn't apply to flat rate boxes) You're not getting charged 2lbs when your package only weighs 1.1 or 1.6lbs. I think most shipping companies also have maximum dimensions before they start charging by "dimensional weight". You really get screwed if you go past that size, particularly if your package is rather light.