Hats off to Reefcleaners.org

Im not a Psychiatrist, my dad is lol

I agree with you about John, he's great. he responds to e-mails almost instantaniously.

Its just that when shipping live stock from 75F to 40 degree temperature you can't use newspaper as insulation.

I really don't care about the money, i would've been more than happy to pay for the styrofoam box or whatever he needed for the insulation.

I mean in total he got about $350 form me and the other memebers of my reef club. Its just common sense.

 

I agree it is kind of chancy using the newspaper in winter time but the last few orders I've gotten have been when it's 30-40 degrees here as well and everything has made it though with the exception of the emerald crabs on that one order. A lot of it also depends on the carrier I believe also, the problem with USPS is they dont care what time they get the package to you so it just comes to you whenever the mail is set to run, say your mail person doesn't run your route until 3pm but they got the package at 5am and it's been sitting outside on a loading dock or in a truck, doesnt really matter what it's boxed in stuff is going to start dying.

 

Thanks for the kind words guys, just found the thread. We have debated going styro for awhile now but haven't for a few reasons:

The cost must be ultimately borne by the consumer. Styro boxes are pretty expensive, and that cost would be added to our shipping charges. Group buys could not be separated, because the size and cost of the styro would go up. (This is why the other guys don't do it). This cost alone would far outweigh our losses.

But we do have a duty to care for our livestock, and we have reasons to stick with our current method.

Most importantly, our bags breathe, styro doesn't. (We are also not constrained by styro sizes, so we can give the animals larger bags and more room in many cases). This is important for algae, and snails making a long trip via Priority Mail. Also, our heat packs work better this way. Oxygen makes them hot, exposure to oxygen keeps them working properly. While good results can be had if you tape the heat pack in the styro, there is a threat from overheating in our location, where it is usually warm. We had this problem last January, and noticed an increase in Alive Arrival since then when we switched back to layered insulation helps vent the heat. Additionally, the majority of our livestock can handle conditions that are outside normal tropical ranges. We get cold fronts in Florida too, and it may be down into the 50's for a week or so. Maybe even the upper 40s like it was tonight. Yet still there was plenty of life out and about at low tide, in water in the low 50s.

If you have any claims, please contact me and I will right them ASAP. So far from that group buy we have only 1 reported loss. The total order contained more than 1000 lives shipped, with confirmations of healthy arrival from all but one of the buyers.

In the end, we want to make you happy.

We will ship a package any way you want, as long as you are willing to pay the box charges, and allow us the time to get the supplies. If you are shipping with Priority Mail, we can't cover styro shipments with an Alive Arrival Guarantee, but will fully honor Express Mail shipments this way.


All the Best,
John Maloney
www.reefcleaners.org