# Cost of shipping queens



## MangoBee (Jul 13, 2014)

Rossman shipped their queens really well. The box had holes all around it with "LIVE QUEENS" written all over it. The queens were in their wooden queen cages which were glued to the box. They came via UPS overnight (delivery guaranteed by 10:30 a.m.). I couldn't have been happier with how they shipped them.


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

USPS has these flat rate boxes available for Priority Express 2 day delivery. They can easily fit 10 queen cages in the small one and it only cost $6.00 to ship anywhere in the lower 48. 

I myself paid $20.00 to have 10 shipped to me from MS this spring and they came in an envelop that really didn't give them air space. I'm going to be shipping queens this coming year as well and plan to use the USPS method above.


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## MangoBee (Jul 13, 2014)

The USPS screwed up my queen shipment a couple of weeks back; they shipped accidentally by truck rather than by air. My queens arrived dead, and the USPS didn't cover my loss. You might want to give your buyers an option of Fed Ex or UPS in addition to the USPS.


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## Waggle (Mar 7, 2013)

The USPS also dropped the ball on my queen shipment. It was clearly written on the package to hold at the local post office and CALL me for pickup, however, they delivered them to my mailbox where they fried in the sun before I got to them.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

You can make _*sure *_that the USPS holds your queen package at your local post office by having the street address read "GENERAL DELIVERY", instead of your actual street address. 



> Get your mail even if you’re on the road, new to town, or between permanent addresses. Mail addressed to you at General Delivery will be held at the area’s main Post Office™ for up to 30 days. All you have to do is pick it up.General Delivery is a great choice if you don’t have a permanent address. People can send you mail by using the town name and ZIP Code™, like this...
> 
> JOHN DOE
> GENERAL DELIVERY
> ...


Obviously, you should make sure the shipper also puts your phone number on the package.


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## Mimzy (Sep 17, 2013)

I had a queen shipped to me USPS and he put the address of the post office closest to me as the address so they could not ship to my house. It also had my phone on the box to Call ***-**** and my name when it arrived. Worked like a charm. It was in one of their $2 boxes- the cage was glued to the inside- with holes punched in the box. Marked LIVE BEES!


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

"Cost Effective" is what gets them there alive. I ship them Express mail. I recommend that people call their post office and let them know they are coming. Also you should specify if you want to sign for them (which if you are home makes them bring them to the door but if you are not, of if your postal workers are like mine and never ring the doorbell means they will take them back to the post office and you will be chasing them a while...) or not sign for them or hold them for pickup...


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## Deepsouth (Feb 21, 2012)

Priority mail flat rate boxes has been great for me. I have stickers made saying Live queen bees KEEP OUT SUN. Out of all the queens I shipped this year only one was dead on arrival.

And customers love when i tell them $6 for shipping up to 20 queens.


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## Davidnewbeeboxbuilder (Oct 6, 2012)

I wonder why people charge so much to ship


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## WilliamsHoneyBees (Feb 17, 2010)

I ship almost everything in express flat rate envelopes. I have shoved 22 or 24 in that single envelope and had no problems at all due to over heating or lack of airflow. Just be sure to punch a bunch of holes around the edges. Anything more then 20 goes in battery boxes. Flat rate express is around $20 and is next day to most places. Priority is around $6 and can take 2 days. I prefer and recommend customers pay the $20 and the queens aren't sitting in a hot warehouse/trailer/truck more then needed. "Most of the time" I drop queens off around 3 p.m. at the post office and they are delivered next morning using express mail. As a queen producer and seeing the other side of the process I will NEVER purchase queens and have them shipped priority. The extra money is well worth the investment knowing that the queen you are receiving has been under the least amount of stress required.


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

Dan, when I go to your webpage I cant navigate anywhere in the products section. It just says Nucs, sold out. Do you sell queens? G


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## WilliamsHoneyBees (Feb 17, 2010)

I only use the website for selling nucs. PM me or e-mail me for queen prices and availability. Thanks!


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## tarheit (Mar 26, 2003)

I've had good luck with both Express and Priority mail. (and UPS Next day air, but it's pretty expensive). I let the customer decide as it's not an insignificant price difference.

I use the VCR sized box with several 1" holes covered with mesh drywall tape as a screen. (Learned that from a package I received from Joe Latshaw years ago). Works well and I haven't had any real problems.

In many cases Express and Priority get delivered in the same amount of time. It's not uncommon for them to delay Express mail with 'live' animals due to other items with dry ice (CO2), or because FedEx handles certain routs and won't handle live shipments. USPS will not guarantee the 1-2 day delivery time with Express mail either. They have an exception clause that they won't refund postage for lives until the 4th day.

I've had dead shipments with every method but it seems to be more with random individual handling and occasionally a particular destination (Once USPS couldn't deliver to a particular town in West Virginia by Express mail in anything less than 7 days even with multiple attempts) Normally I only have a couple a year that are a problem.

USPS did provide me with a list of destinations I couldn't ship Express (and occasionally Priority) to due to them only having a FexEx route to the location.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

I've shipped with USPS for years, both Priority and Express. They've messed up too many shipments and lost queens for a week or more. How is it they can lose an Express shipment to a destination I could drive to in 3 hours. Tracking doesn't work. After a test shipment to the U of Georgia last August, I'll be using UPS from now on.


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## ChuckReburn (Dec 17, 2013)

USPS has done us well for queen deliveries (of course there's a bottle of honey and a note left in the mail box for our carrier a few days ahead of time). Local carrier makes sure the branch knows they are coming and even gave us her cell phone. They hold at the local branch and call every 30 minutes to an hour for us to pick up (I think they make someone there nervous). 

I've had package deliveries screwed up by every known service - I suspect the issues are more with the individuals than the companies.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I have no easy way to get to UPS but I can easily get to a USPS. I've been shipping them Express. At least when they are late I can get my postage back and usually they get there sooner, which is the biggest help getting them there in good shape. I have a "Live Queen Bees" stamp and I stamp both sides of an Express envelope with four on each side in various orientations. I punch holes around the outside edges with a paper punch. I put at least one or two small holes in the center, carefully with the tip of a very pointed knife. I put the JZBZ cages in the envelope.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Our USPS gal is terrible. She doesn't wave, doesn't even attempt to deliver a package that needs a signature, just leaves a note in the mail box saying she tried. I know this because I've been home and watched he just drive off. She also has put the queens I've had shipped to my house directly in my mailbox even when it is labeled not to.

Just have to be on top of it when they are being delivered. She is pretty consistant on the time of day she gets to the house though.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Yea, I live in a house with ten people. Someone is always home, but they won't even bother to know, they just leave a note that the package is at the post office (which now has very restricted hours)... the old house that was pretty consistent. The post office at the new house is better, but still it's hard for me to get to the post office with their hours...


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## Mr. Buzzy Bee (May 22, 2013)

http://www.tealightboxes.com/Queen_Bee_Shipping_Box_p/qbsb.htm

I have used theses boxes for a couple of orders of queens. Have has great success with them only two queens were found dead upon arrival.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Mr. Buzzy Bee said:


> http://www.tealightboxes.com/Queen_Bee_Shipping_Box_p/qbsb.htm
> 
> I have used theses boxes for a couple of orders of queens. Have has great success with them only two queens were found dead upon arrival.


$6 each? 

The flat rate boxes are free from the post office, no?


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## tarheit (Mar 26, 2003)

Koehnen and Sons (and others) make similar boxes and are cheaper. While they are intended as battery boxes they can be used to ship queens with attendants as well.
See http://www.koehnen.com/#!products/ccib
Prices start at 4.50 for small quantities. Their small box holes more queens than the one from tealightboxes.


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## mconley (May 30, 2015)

Sorry to drag up ion old thread here, hopefully some folks are still watching it. I see a lot of people talking about using UPS to ship, when I went to them they freaked. Said they couldn't ship, had to check with supervisors, had all sorts of hoops, one lady left the office and walked away.

We got this at Fed ex as well, were told we had to "register"? 
USPS local office does great so far, but of course we cannot control the other end and would like to have options, and at one office they told us we couldn't ship "multiple" animals, meaning the queen couldn't have attendants.

It has been a nightmare besides the small local office. Anyone have policies or procedures they had to go through or recommend for shipping? I cannot even imagine trying to ship a package, people will run out of the building like we brought in a bomb.


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