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Valuable lesson

Hi All,

Schloaty and I did a trade and mailed a Nepenthes to each other via Priority Mail on Monday, Dec. 20th. We both received the other's box on the same day...Monday Dec. 27th. Both arrived DOA from cold damage.
Neither of us have aminosity towards each other for this, but the lesson to be learned is...don't mail plants the week of Christmas. Priority is supposed to be 2-3 days, but enough people lollygag at this time of the year(I still have stuff to mail out to family, lol), to where it apparantly overwhelmed the USPS.
My Holiday advice for this year.

Cheers,

Joe
 
Ugh.. Good advice. Every year I have customers wanting plants for the holidays. Most packages made it with only an extra day in shipping. Some took longer. Fortunately they were to areas that don't experience freezing temperatures. At least I haven't heard of any damaged shipments .. yet
smile_k_ani_32.gif


Tony
 
The Griffin speaks the truth. I am trying to rescue the plant, but it is most certainly toast. I cut off all the cold-dammaged bits, and there's almost nothing left.

Priority my behind.
 
Priority is really excellent service for the money.. Usually.

A combination of factors lead to lots of problems. Last minute holiday shipping and the storms in many parts of the country that caused airport shutdowns. I heard even FedEx was running 2-3days for 'overnight'!

Unfortunate about the plants. Hopefully they were propagated material that can be repropagated. A box of plants from Sri Lanka got stuck at JFK from the holiday and weather mess. It arrived today..little left to save.
 
So sorry to hear that Joe and Dave:(
 
Well, the one I sent to Joe... I have another of (tobaica), and it seems to grow rather quickly,so hopefully in a few months I'll be able to cut it.  Depends on how green my thumb is, I suppose.

That stinks about your plants, too Tony.

Yeah, you're right about the "usually good service for the money." Just not at Christmas.
 
I've also had good experience with Priority Mail, but not during the holidays. Some folks on another gardening forum who trade a lot say that if you pay the extra 45 cents or so for "Delivery Confirmation" that it gets treated a little better.

Anyone try using those "HotHands" packets when shipping plants in the winter?
 
I traded NepenthesGracilis the Bongso cutting and shipped it last monday and it took until friday until he recieved the plants... luckly the plant made it in good shape, just make sure you put in bold lettering DO NOT FREEZE, it seems to help if they notice the plants...
The box of cuttings he sent me in exchange made it on time, he sent it Monday, it came today! Thanks for the plants!
 
Hey, that got there quick! Glad they cmae unfrozen, are you pleased with them?
 
  • #10
Sorry to hear that Joe and schloaty.
I'm currently waiting for temperatures to get decent enough so I can order a whole load of lowland neps to fill my terrarium.
smile.gif
 
  • #11
We had close to zero temps that week. Today, however, the high is supposed to be a near record or record, possibly 65 F!
Those heat packs work great. I don't do enough trading to invest in them, though.

Cheers,

Joe
 
  • #12
Schloaty, if you knew what was in that box of plants Tony was referring to, it would make your hair curl!
smile_h_32.gif
Real shame but it was probably the Christmas mess, we've sent plants to U.S. before in Jan and Feb even without problems.
 
  • #13
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Schloaty, if you knew what was in that box of plants Tony was referring to, it would make your hair curl! Real shame but it was probably the Christmas mess, we've sent plants to U.S. before in Jan and Feb even without problems.

Don't tell me, I don't want to know....Ignorance is bliss....
 
  • #14
Wow, i was lucky then, i had plants mailed to me the tuesday before christmas, and they arrived the day before, with no damage. I wish everyone could have that luck (the no damage part at least).
 
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