UPS rescheduled overnight delivery

[Lavey29]

If a late plane does not qualify as unforeseen circumstances I am not sure what does.

And the reason their customer service is so incompetent is a late plane? I've tried to report their bad service to management and they do absolutely nothing to remedy the situation. Some years down the road AI robots and self driving trucks will replace all these UPS clowns and perhaps service will improve but I doubt the business will survive that long. They are in a financial death spiral now it appears and it is directly related to their business model and the way they treat their customers. Quite a few reef vendors I know absolutely refuse to ship UPS and for good reason as this thread shows.

 

[Reef5]

I really don’t want to dwell on UPS any further, but I will just say this—when airlines experience delays that aren’t weather-related, they are required to provide meals and accommodations. If weather is the cause, well, good luck. I fly often and have been in both situations. If this delay had been weather-related, I’d be more understanding, but if it was simply a result of cost-cutting, then it’s frustrating to see them prioritizing profit over fulfilling their contractual obligations. That said, I’m not an expert, and I’m sure there are people who would defend UPS’s business model. We could debate this for pages, but right now, I want to focus on the positives.

Two of the fish—a flame angelfish and a majestic angelfish, both captive-raised—arrived in really bad shape, almost lifeless in their bags. I remembered reading a post where Jay Hemdal suggested providing ample oxygen to fish in critical condition, and someone else in this thread mentioned placing weak fish in an acclimation box. So, I set up an acclimation box and added an extra airstone. To my relief, both fish, which were initially floating lifelessly, are now at least balancing on their own.

Dr. Reef reached out to let me know that, given the circumstances, he’s extending the live guarantee from three days to seven. He absolutely didn’t have to do that, but it’s a really generous gesture that I deeply appreciate. Of course, I’m hoping all the fish make it, but it’s reassuring to have Dr. Reef’s support. I really hope that in a week, I can report back that every single one of these fish pulled through despite everything they went through.

To minimize stress, I turned off the tank lights for the day and won’t feed until tomorrow. I’ll start with LRS, Mysis, and live black worms. I also added Protect from Tropic Marin, which is supposed to help with acclimation. I’m a big fan of Tropic Marin products, though I’m not sure how much of a difference this will make—but at the very least, it shouldn’t hurt (except maybe my wallet if it turns out to be useless!).

Thank you again, everyone.

 

[mook1178]

I really don’t want to dwell on UPS any further, but I will just say this—when airlines experience delays that aren’t weather-related, they are required to provide meals and accommodations. If weather is the cause, well, good luck. I fly often and have been in both situations. If this delay had been weather-related, I’d be more understanding, but if it was simply a result of cost-cutting, then it’s frustrating to see them prioritizing profit over fulfilling their contractual obligations. That said, I’m not an expert, and I’m sure there are people who would defend UPS’s business model. We could debate this for pages, but right now, I want to focus on the positives.

Bro...your package was not the only one on the plane. What do you really expect them to do? Go through the whole plane and find the live animals and feed them? Put fish in a holding aquarium over night? You think delaying a plane full of packages with shipping times is a cost cutting measure? Do you know for a fact it was not weather delayed? Was it clear skies from whatever airport they took off from to the landing airport? Did you actually look that up?

I am not really trying to defend UPS, but what exactly do you think they should have done with all the packages on a delayed plane?

 

[Reef5]

Bro...your package was not the only one on the plane. What do you really expect them to do? Go through the whole plane and find the live animals and feed them? Put fish in a holding aquarium over night? You think delaying a plane full of packages with shipping times is a cost cutting measure? Do you know for a fact it was not weather delayed? Was it clear skies from whatever airport they took off from to the landing airport? Did you actually look that up?

I am not really trying to defend UPS, but what exactly do you think they should have done with all the packages on a delayed plane?

I mentioned that I don’t want to dwell on the UPS situation , but I’ll assume your post/question is in good faith. My frustration wasn’t about unrealistic expectations—I wasn’t asking for miracles, just hoping that if a package marked for delivery before 12 PM gets delayed due to a late flight, they might at least put it on the next truck (maybe the one doing the before 8 PM deliveries?) or even call to offer me some options. Dr. Reef had advised me not to contact them since he was checking with his rep, so I followed that advice.

I don’t work for UPS or FedEx, so maybe I was expecting too much. If that came across as unreasonable, then I get why you felt the need to reply in defense of UPS. I even asked Dr. Reef if I could pay extra for a more expedited service, even though my order qualified for free shipping, and he assured me that the standard overnight should have been fine.

You might be right, and if I came across as entitled, that wasn’t my intent. But for me, this wasn’t just a package with a pair of expensive jeans—these are my pets, and I care about them deeply.

 

[Aaron Stone]

I mentioned that I don’t want to dwell on the UPS situation , but I’ll assume your post/question is in good faith. My frustration wasn’t about unrealistic expectations—I wasn’t asking for miracles, just hoping that if a package marked for delivery before 12 PM gets delayed due to a late flight, they might at least put it on the next truck (maybe the one doing the before 8 PM deliveries?) or even call to offer me some options. Dr. Reef had advised me not to contact them since he was checking with his rep, so I followed that advice.

I don’t work for UPS or FedEx, so maybe I was expecting too much. If that came across as unreasonable, then I get why you felt the need to reply in defense of UPS. I even asked Dr. Reef if I could pay extra for a more expedited service, even though my order qualified for free shipping, and he assured me that the standard overnight should have been fine.

You might be right, and if I came across as entitled, that wasn’t my intent. But for me, this wasn’t just a package with a pair of expensive jeans—these are my pets, and I care about them deeply.

I think we can all empathize with your frustration and loss. I am glad to hear that you were able to revive the two that were struggling.

 

[DCR]

I can also empathize with the loss - it is heart breaking to see fish arrive struggling to breathe or already dead, but I have experienced similar packaging problems with Dr Reef even when they were delivered on time the next day. I know many people on this site rave about him and his customer service is first rate, but I just experienced too many small leaking bags and DOA's. I think it was easily 30-40% DOA on probably about 8-12 fish that I purchased on two separate orders and many of them should not have been difficult to ship. I have gone to other suppliers.

 

[Lavey29]

On a side note my LFS was transporting a bunch of fish from his wholesaler and a cow fish with those 2 front horns punched holes in the plastic bag. Bone dry as I saw it arrive at the shop but that determined fish was still alive in the dry bag and survived the rush splash into the holding tank. What a cool looking fish too.

 

[Flame2hawk]

This may be small consolation but, in my experience, most fish will survive an extra day. When I’ve had delayed shipments, it’s usually the LPS corals and some inverts that seem to take it the worst. If the fish has enough water and air in the bag, it should be fine. Dr Reef usually packages well enough to make it longer.

I’d check with Dr Reef but, unless they advise otherwise, you should consider changing your acclimation protocol. I would find out their salinity, and either match your tank to it or mix up a bucket of water that matches it. Then I’d float the bag to temperature acclimate and, as soon as you open the bag, scoop the fish out and move it to the new water. Drip acclimation is not your friend here. The bag water will have a lot of ammonia but CO2 build up will lower the ph, which makes the ammonia less toxic. As soon as you open the bag and expose it to air, the ph starts to rise and the ammonia toxicity goes with it - so you want to get the fish out asap.

Some shippers include an ammonia neutralizer in their water. I believe Marine Collectors does. Others, like Ocean Devotion, recommend the procedure I describe above for all arrivals. I don’t recall what Dr Reef does so it’s worth checking.

Since I buy all fish on line, stopped using drip acclimation years ago. Much better survival rate matching salinity, floating for temp and using my hand to scoop them out and into QT tank. Had some casualties over the years using drip and close to none since moved away from it. I’m a believer in getting them out of ammonia and into clean water asap.

 

[Tamberav]

Hope your fish make it. I had my biota order delayed and stuck for a day and the fish came in pale and needed some time to adjust but pulled through just fine.

 

[Tamberav]

Pretty sure Dr reef says not to drip. Biota too.

Dripping delayed shipped fish is absolutely asking to kill them.

A methylene blue dip is really helpful for delayed fish.

 

[TacticalBacon]

I have been reading a lot of these horror stories.
I recently ordered via online. First time ever.

I have made it a priority to order from places closer to me. I’m in Tenn so I have a lot of options but I am avoiding anything in the Mountain or Pacific time zones and particularly picky trying to pick as close to eastern as possible when I look at Central time zones.

My packaged was dropped off at 3:30 and delivered by 9:30am. I was thankful.

Thank you for sharing your experience and I have Dr Reef on my list when I can order more fish.

And thank you to all of the others who have shared their terrible experiences. It has helped me understand the risks and to hopefully be able to minimize issues.

 

[The Dude Abides]

In my line of work I fly material in overnight practically everyday. Both UPS and FedEx have markedly gotten worse since Covid. We hardly blink an eye anymore when an overnight package fails to be delivered. Trying to recover an overnight package that fails to deliver is a nightmare. I believe as more and more people order online UPS and FedEx are getting overwhelmed. I have an order in with Dr. Reef right now. Knowing what I know I was more than happy to pay the extra $20.00 for shipping insurance.

 

[blazn]

I have been reading a lot of these horror stories.
I recently ordered via online. First time ever.

I have made it a priority to order from places closer to me. I’m in Tenn so I have a lot of options but I am avoiding anything in the Mountain or Pacific time zones and particularly picky trying to pick as close to eastern as possible when I look at Central time zones.

My packaged was dropped off at 3:30 and delivered by 9:30am. I was thankful.

Thank you for sharing your experience and I have Dr Reef on my list when I can order more fish.

And thank you to all of the others who have shared their terrible experiences. It has helped me understand the risks and to hopefully be able to minimize issues.

Dr. Reef is based in Tulsa, so not too far from Tenn. and pretty centrally located for deliveries within the U.S.

 

[TacticalBacon]

Dr. Reef is based in Tulsa, so not too far from Tenn. and pretty centrally located for deliveries within the U.S.

TBH, I am from Muskogee and when I saw Dr. Reef is from Tulsa, I was curious and then after all the reviews and comments, I was sold.

Sadly, I have to move in a few months, so I am not stocking anything in my tank till post move.

Plan is to downsize into a 20g AIO with my current stock (will have a few weeks to get it up and running before the move)

Then I am going to redo my 43g Cube and start a build thread.

Being in Tenn, I am 2 hours from Central, so I figure Tulsa is as far west and North as I would go and then Cleveland OH is as Far due North.

I did get my first online order from SBB and they are in NJ, so thats as far NE.

Just gotta figure out the southern point.