snail friendly couriers.

[shaydeesnail]

Hello,
I've stopped selling snails for the winter now, especially as my last two sales went horribly wrong.
I sold two snails each to an Ebay buyer as well as erc on this forum, one of the packages got completely crushed and destroyed, I have absolutely no idea how Royal Mail managed it, they must have thrown something extremely heavy on top. Erc's parcel ended up being sent to the Ireland mail center (!?) I several weeks later I recieved an envelope filled with some of the packaging I sent them in and a letter explaining that they had killed the snails.
I'm reluctant to sell snails through the post at all now but I have lots needing homes in spring.

I was hoping someone might know of any couriers that accept small inverts for a reasonable price. I'm happy to charge more for delivery but it has to be low enough for buyers to afford it.

[Cashell]

Oh shoot, I'm sorry to hear this. Didn't these people read the fragile print on the box at all?! Unfortunately I don't know of any European postage companies, but if you manage to find another good one I hope things will go through successfully!

[wreckoning]

that is so sad what are you shipping in? I plan on shipping my critters in these www.ebay.com/itm/Exo-Terra-Reptile-Faunarium-All-Purpose-Terrarium-Mini-PT2250-/190904614035?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c72cd3c93 , I hope it will afford more protection than what you have experienced

[shaydeesnail]

Thanks guys, I was originally shipping them in a small moss/coir packed tub, in a larger tub full of bubble wrap, also wrapped in bubble wrap and then wrapped in a mail bag.
I did think of those faunariums, I'm a bit worried that the cost (£5 each) as well as additional weight increasing the postal cost will discourage people. If I can't find a suitable courier it's definitely something I will consider. I'd rather not sell at all than have another baby die

[morningcoffee]

I have no personal experience of them, but you could look at Reptilecourier.com .

Sorry to hear about your bad experiences with Royal Mail, that's such a shame

[pearthesnail]

Sorry to hear about your experience with them It must have been horrible to lose 2 snails that way I had a similar experience with Royal Mail when i ordered Pear when she was a baby, the package had been stuffed though the letterbox even though it clearly said 'Fragile' on and was too big to fit and it was very mangled and crushed. Poor Pear was very scared and had a dint in her shell from it- its now a tiny scar on the end of the shell. Theres just no care with Royal Mail from what ive experienced

[crucify]

From what I've heard, don't write fragile, and don't write what's inside the box. Say harmless live invertebrate at most, and use styrofoam. People really don't care about other people's parcels and things can get nasty when someone discovers there's a creature they don't like inside of it. If you can't find a good courier, styrofoam boxes inside of the package seem like the best option.

[Deleted]

I used DHL ok they were a bit dearer but my GAL I sent through DHL got to it's destination fine. Hope this helps

[shaydeesnail]

Thank you for the suggestions! I'm going to add reptilecouriers and DHL to my list and do some more research!

[Deleted]

Your welcome, hope your snails gets from A to B safely