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[MaryHM]

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but would be open to companies that trans-ship livestock to the local airport.

My best advice to you is DON'T TRANSSHIP!! I understand that you are new to this, so possibly you don't understand the difference between transship and shipping in animals from in-house suppliers. Let me clarify for you, because there is a HUGE difference.

Transship: You are buying animals directly from the country of origin. They usually stop in Los Angeles for a quick water change in the bag and are then shipped directly to you. Animals are spending up to 50 hours or more in the bags- not good. If you are unfamiliar with the special handling necessary when dealing with transshipped animals, you will incur extremely high mortalities. Even if you do understand how to properly handle them, you are still risking extremely high mortalities.

Shipping in from an in-house wholesaler: A company in Los Angeles or other major port of entry imports the animals from overseas, tanks them, and then ships out to you. Usually a much healthier animal with lower risk of mortality.

Make sure you know which one you're doing. Transship has the illusion of "cheaper" prices, but the mortalities ususually more than make up for any "savings".

[marillion]

Well, after 7 months, the new saltwater section at the LFS I work at is finally happening, with myself in charge. I would like some advice and information from those who run shops on wholesalers of livestock and dry goods.

I want to carry better merchandise so my customers can have better tanks. For example, my LFS currently carries Tetra and Red Sea test kits, Seaclone skimmers, and Seachem additives. I'd like to upgrade these to Salifert test kits, ESV additives, and Aqua-C skimmers, just to name a few.

As far as livestock, the tank space is being increased from 6 tanks to around 25, and the quality of livestock from the current two wholesalers leaves something to be desired. I'm in the Central New York area, but would be open to companies that trans-ship livestock to the local airport.

Any suggestions as to new wholesalers and general business tips would certainly be welcome.

My main mantras in running this will be education of the customers I have, and patience.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Peace,

Chip

[bgdiving]

Marillian, finding quality wholesale will not do you any good if you don't pay them. Because your going to be constantly searching for new ones.
Chip you've told me several times you plan to pay for the corals I shipped to you last July. We evan agreed on a payment plan you set up to help you out and I sent you a reminder and you just skipped it. Your going to have a hard time having quality products if you keep stiffing people!

[MaryHM]

Please discuss private matters such as these via email. Thank you!

[Rover]

I'm glad this topic came up. I am in the process of "upgrading" a couple of LFS's as well. It seems that with all of the experience we have on the board, us newbies shouldn't have to learn from our mistakes. The main forum provides an excellent avenue for people to learn from other's mistakes in the hobby. I wish it were possible to do the same for industry guys as well. Especially with all the complaints about bad LFS's. The code of silence can be difficult to break. I understand the reasoning behind the "no names" policy, but I wish there was a way around it. If any one wants to email or PM me it would be greatly apreciated.

Glenn

[Kalkbreath]

I will have to say, that my {short}experience has been the opposit with regaurd to transhipping and direct from the islands......we have so far had better health from direct orders?
_________________
NCPA

[jake levi]

My experience with transhipping was the first few shipments were fine, after that anything goes as far as the shipper is concerned.

[JeremyR]

I've had tranships from certain locations go well when I had gotten them on the redeye from boston, but if there are any airline delays you are totally screwed.. and it's NOT something I would do if you don't have nonstop redeyes from LA. Even so, orderer beware.. you WILL get an order of 90% DOA sometime, and that will cure you of wanting to tranship for awhile. I don't do it anymore. Unless you are a very large store(s), or are looking to wholesale to other stores.. I would not do it.

[Oldguy]

Mary,
I agree with you no transshipping to a point.
We transship alot of our stock and with the price saving including livestock loss we tank things at less than what most wholesalers are asking. I can say that only 2 times did we have a big loss and both were from wholesalers.
For the average LFS I think wholesale is the way to go.