Has anyone else had FedEx mark live animals delivered hours before they actually arrived?

Marketplace Support
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FedEx Live-Animal Shipping Issue — Breeders, Keep an Eye on Your Delivery Scans

Just wanted to put this out there for other breeders and keepers who regularly have live animals shipped through FedEx, especially those of us who don’t live close to a FedEx hub and rely on residential delivery.

I had multiple live reptile shipments where FedEx tracking showed the packages as “delivered,” but they were not actually at my address. The packages eventually showed up at the correct address, but it was hours after they had already been scanned as delivered.

Thankfully, all of the animals arrived alive and healthy, and I’m grateful for that. But anyone who ships or receives snakes knows how stressful it is when a box containing a live animal suddenly says “delivered” and there is no box anywhere.

I’m also not located near a FedEx hub, so having live animals held for hub pickup isn’t a practical option for me like it is for some breeders. I have to rely on the final residential-delivery portion of the shipment. That’s why an accurate delivery scan matters so much. When tracking says a live animal has been delivered, I need to know that the box has actually reached my property.

I wasn’t looking for a payday or trying to claim animals that arrived healthy were damaged. My problem was the premature delivery scans and how the situation was handled afterward. If a live animal is marked delivered, I should reasonably be able to expect that animal is actually at the delivery location—not spend the next several hours trying to figure out where the box is.

I tried resolving the issue directly with FedEx through multiple contacts and escalations. In my experience, the response never adequately addressed the main question:

Why were live-animal shipments being marked delivered hours before they were physically delivered?

I’m sharing this mainly as a heads-up to other breeders:

Screenshot your tracking. Save your delivery notifications. Have cameras running if possible. And if a live-animal shipment says delivered but isn’t there, start documenting everything immediately.

For breeders who aren’t near a FedEx hub and don’t have a realistic alternative to residential delivery, I’m especially interested in hearing your experiences.

Has anyone else had FedEx mark a snake/reptile shipment as delivered and then have the package physically show up hours later? How long after the delivery scan did yours actually arrive?

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I’ve never had that happen myself…
But I would also contact the company you’re shipping through as well.

It may not help if one person escalates when they don’t have the relationship that MorphMarket, reptiles2you, redline and such have. They all most likely have a better access to proper channels as opposed to the AI bots and lower phone reps that we do.

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I did contact the shipper/seller immediately, and they were helpful. I just don’t feel this should be put back on them when they did their part and shipped the animal properly.

These were live-animal shipments that were supposed to arrive in the morning. FedEx marked them as delivered when they were not at my address, and they didn’t physically arrive until approximately 5 hours later, in the afternoon.

Thankfully, all the animals arrived alive and healthy. My issue isn’t with the breeders/sellers, and I don’t believe they should have to take responsibility for a problem that occurred during FedEx’s delivery process.

I understand that companies like the shipping services may have better FedEx contacts and escalation channels, and that’s definitely something worth pursuing. But ultimately I’d like FedEx to address why a live-animal shipment can be marked delivered when it hasn’t actually been delivered.

That’s also why I’m asking other breeders about their experiences. If this is happening to other people, especially those of us who aren’t close enough to a FedEx hub for hub pickup to be practical, I think it’s something the reptile community should be aware of.

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I’ve never had this happen with a live animal shipment but here is my understanding of it.

There is an issue in whoever delivers packages… in order for a package to be marked as “delivered” they have to physically scan the label on the package. It’s likely being scanned too early… I’m pre-caffienated and irritable so I have more words to say about that work ethic, but I’ll leave that out lol.

As @armiyana said you need to get ahold of the reptile shipping company you use about this issue, they will look into it and help you. Going directly to FedEx may get you somewhere but its unlikely.

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Going directly to FedEx directly will get you NOWHERE. Or yeah maybe a rabbit hole….and frustration, high blood pressure, irritation, need I go on……..

Definitely. This is the good part of paying a shipping liaison. If there is a shipping issue it’s the responsibility of the shipping liaison to solve the issue. Not your responsibility…..