Thickness of the envelope and weight matter. The automatic sorting machines have limitations. When an envelope is odd size, shape, too thick, too heavy, inflexible, etc. the machines either jam up, or kick the envelope out to be hand sorted. When the letter is hand sorted at the plant, it will later be hand sorted by the delivery driver at the destination. All that takes time and results in missort errors, thus requiring higher prices.
Yes, they still worry about contents, but these are standard questions the clerk at the counter asks over and over all day. You develope a routine…
Better to save up your sheds, pack them together in a thick envelope sent as a package first class. You will get tracking, better handling, no bending in the machines etc. I have seen envelopes shredded by the machines…
The USPS delivers an enormous amount of material, daily.
The drivers go to every household and business address in America, daily.
While we all remember that one time they got it wrong, the fraction is actually tiny compared to the volume. And no one delivers mail for a better price. Witness that no one does. And it’s almost impossible to do it profitably, not helped when the government tells them what they can charge and then raids them for cash for off the books budget money. The USPS does all of it with $0.00 tax dollars. Literally no other service in the world does that…
Retired USPS rural carrier.
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I was originally wondering… If I were to purchase the full panel test (of 9 morphs) at the end of March, and RGI added a new morph test between the time I paid and the time they received the shed, would they test only for the original 9 morphs for which I paid, or would they test for all new genetics (hypo, in this case)? To be clear, I only paid for 9 tests, so I’d be satisfied if they skipped the Hypo test. After all, I didn’t pay for Hypo. Fair is fair. And if they wait two weeks before submitting a large batch of sheds for testing, they may have tests available for Desert Ghost as well. I wonder if I’ll receive that test too.
Guess I’ll wait and report back.
UPDATE: Apparently, you’ll only receive testing for the genes listed at the time of purchase, even if they add new gene tests BEFORE they receive your sheds in the mail. 
Oh, well. I only needed to prove out the 50% Het Lavender Albino. That was a success, so I can’t complain.
Regardless, here’s what the full panel results will look like. Each gene should say either “negative,” “heterozygous,” or “homozygous.”
Regards,
Chris
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Thanks for sharing the update! The logistics of how a new test gets added to the actual testing panel and perhaps separately to the results reporting system is interesting to me. I wonder if there is any chance yours actually was tested for hypo and the reporting system just couldn’t handle the new results.
I listened to today’s new RGI podcast and unfortunately it sounds like they are still expecting a few more weeks before the next testing batch is sent out. I had hoped demand for the new hypo test would have been high enough to fill a new batch quickly. The good news is there is still time to order and mail and make the next batch. Get those sheds in so they can build a batch and send my received sheds’ batch out! Seriously, I’m considering testing some adult females I’m keeping regardless of results just so I can tweak pairings and maybe tip the next batch into going sooner.
And when the dessert ghost test launches I have to believe pent up demand will surely be high enough for a batch or even two as quickly as the post office can get them delivered.
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So it looks like running the full panel does not include the sex determination? I wasn’t overly concerned about it, but seems like it would be nice to throw in.
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The trait panel is only applicable to ball pythons. Sex determinations, at least for now, is only applicable to colubrids and viperids. As such, it would be kind of pointless to include the sex tests in the panel.
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Hmm, guess they gotta fix their page then, says ball pythons under sex determination. Oh well, like i said, didnt really need it, just thought itd be nice if you paid for the full panel. Tha ks for the reply.
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Ben mentioned that they have a ball python sex determination test when he was on reptile gumbo the other day. They may have just added it, or be in the process of adding it.
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I got this ball python sex determination test result quite a while back. I purchased it as a stand alone test. Can’t tell you exactly when as there is a bug in the order system were it shows an older date if you had previously gone in to start and not complete an order. Wondering if the sex determination test is run in a different way that doesn’t lend it to being part of the panel based on the technical way panel tests are run.
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Interesting, have not caught up to the most recent couple of these. Guess I am behind the times and operating off old info LOL
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I know! The waiting is killer, both for new tests and results. Hopefully once desert ghost comes out the order volume will be enough that all test results will be quicker. Wondering if volume discounts would be possible and could keep batches going out weekly. Maybe the fixed costs prevent trying to use pricing to increase volume.
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@rlremington I know it’s not the same thing, but when sending out baseball cards to be professionally graded, they do give bulk discounts. However, those bulk orders generally take longer to process. On the other hand, they also offer a range of expedited grading services. For an extra price, often $15-300 depending on speed, they’ll fast track your baseball card. That may work here. The extra fees could cover the added expenses of additional genetic tests, so it should work…in theory. There will always be impatient people who are willing to spend the cash for fast results. (I say impatient, but I don’t mean that as a character flaw. I understand that there are numerous scenarios where it’s advantageous to pay more now for a faster result, especially when trying to sell animals in a highly competitive market such as this one.)
Just a thought / suggestion for RGI.
Regards,
Chris
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Interesting idea. Suppose a batch costs $1,000 to run (I have no actual idea, just pulling a big round number). At the current testing prices they need full batches to be profitable after all the pre-batch prep and MM cut for IT services.
Maybe they could show a dynamic “batch now” sponsorship banner as an item available for purchase? If a full batch is 300 sheds (again, my uneducated guess) and 200 have been received the cost to sponsor the current batch would be $333. Basically the Batch Now sponsor would be covering the cost of the remainder (1/3 in this example) of the batch so the batch could be sent in immediately rather than waiting for a full batch before sending to the mass tester. If your shed is in received status and you need quicker results you might buy that sponsorship just to get results quicker. Everyone in received status waiting for that batch would be grateful but the banner glory would only last until someone sponsors the next batch that would start out at $1,000 and go down to $0 as the next batch fills. Might be an interesting dynamic of cheap sponsorship at end of batches.
Visibility into how full the current batch is might also drive sales as people rush to get sheds in on a soon to fill batch.
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I didn’t think a few week wait would be that bad. But I’m sitting here waiting and waiting and anxiously checking to see if my shed has even made it there yet… lol.
There’s going to be a big difference in my breeding plans if I’ve got a banana Wookie het clown, vs just a banana Wookie. Fingers crossed.
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I feel you. I waited about six weeks for the result for my banana pied 66% het clown female, now confirmed het clown. It didn’t change my pairing plans (she was going to my black pewter DG 50% het amur male anyway for DG pied double hets) but now I also have the opportunity to get a better idea of whether he’s proved out or not, whereas before, I could have not ended up with cryptons because of bad odds, because she wasn’t het, OR because he wasn’t het. Now my chances are narrowed knowing that she is. and I’ll be hoping for a crypton 
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I’ve been pairing two possible het desert ghost males to more and more females all season while weighing the risk benefit of them not being hets against possibly producing het dg combo females a year earlier and considering if I’m waiting too late to pair. In one case I switched a female from another male to a pos het dg combo male 2 weeks before she ovulated. Thinking I’ll pull the trigger on two more females this week that haven’t ovulated yet. Stressful but awesome we have the potential to sort it all out (including possible multiple paternity) with testing soon. Really looking forward to the next RGI update. I think Benson mentioned getting some of his development results Friday. 
. But even IF a dg test is available the following week realistically looking at 2 or 3 more weeks for results minimum and the season is for sure winding down.
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This may have been mentioned already, but is there a stage between “shed status:received” and the final report?
I wasn’t sure if anything changes before the report is generated or not.
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Nope it will stay as “shed status: received” until you get the results.
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Unfortunate. I was hoping there would be another level so it could curb my anticipation. Guess the wait will continue!
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