• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
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    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Restricted Shipping Days

John E Dove

John E Dove

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I am wondering if anyone eles restricts the days the ship on and if it hurts their business?
We have learned that our nearest Fed X drop off point is 100 miles away and the drivers will only do a pickup if they happen to have a delivery on our road. Because of this we will be limiting our shipping to one day a week, Tuesdays.
Anyone else have this problem?

John E Dove
 
I don't have that kind of a problem, thankfully my UPS store is only like 10-15 minutes into the village so I can drop off just about anytime I want. But from a purchaser stand point I have dealt with people who only ship on one day and it has not bothered me at all. I don't know if that helps you at all.
 
I only ship on Monday-Wednesday. I just have that restriction so that an extra day is allowed during shipping just in case of a delay in delivery, so they won't get stuck in transit over a weekend.
It's a milder restriction, but it's not caused me any problem so far.

When you say the closest FedEx drop off point is 100 miles away, are you referring to FedEx staffed locations or any drop off point period?
You're probably aware of it already, but I wanted to mention that there are businesses everywhere that act as drop off locations but are not operated by FedEx.
I started using one of these places myself so I didn't have to stay up all day waiting on the FedEx truck to come.
 
Clay Davenport said:
I only ship on Monday-Wednesday. I just have that restriction so that an extra day is allowed during shipping just in case of a delay in delivery, so they won't get stuck in transit over a weekend.
It's a milder restriction, but it's not caused me any problem so far.

When you say the closest FedEx drop off point is 100 miles away, are you referring to FedEx staffed locations or any drop off point period?
You're probably aware of it already, but I wanted to mention that there are businesses everywhere that act as drop off locations but are not operated by FedEx.
I started using one of these places myself so I didn't have to stay up all day waiting on the FedEx truck to come.
Click to expand...

:iagree: , I am the same way, only shipping Monday - Wednesday. It is not worth the risks shipping close to weekends.

I ship with DHL most of the time, they will pick my packages up anytime I request it. However, I drop mine off right before 6pm to reduce stress to the animals.
 
Mr. Davenport,
In answer to your query on the drop off point: Yes according to the Fed Ex driver I must drive to Pueblo Colorado to the nearest drop off point. From here to the city limit of Pueblo is almost exactly 100 miles.
There is a UPS office roughly 30 miles from my location and they would even do pick ups but of course they do not like handling snakes and being a rural area they know what I would be most likely to be shipping not to mention the fact I would not feel right trying to slip one past them or having to outright lie to them.

Mr. Hill,
DHL is an even worse option for us out here on the high plains desert due to their restricted days of delivery. They only come this way 2 or 3 days a week.
I was forced to request suppliers to ship via another method when a package of rodents was shipped for a Thursday delivery, as per that companies norm, and because DHL does not come down here on Thursday or Friday my shipment sat in their storage facility until the following Monday. To Rodent Pro’s credit they did replace the shipment of rotten rodents without question and no longer ship to me via DHL for my once a year order.
Good shipping prices but poor service to some of the more rural areas of the country. I really wish they had not purchased Airborne Express.


I also agree on the not risking animals getting stuck in a hub somewhere over the weekends so had planned on restricting shipping to Mondays - Wednesdays anyway. I guess all this will do is just tighten that down a little more.
 
I understand with you being so rural. In that case, I doubt that the majority of customers will have a problem with you only shipping one day per week. Just make this clear to them before they send you any money and they have no room to say anything.
If I were in your shoes I wouldn't drive there twice in a week either.
As a matter of fact when I was still selling the roaches on a large scale I finally restricted my shipping to one day per week only just because I was getting tired of going to the post office on a daily basis. If I happened to be going to town anyway mid week I'd pack any outstanding orders and ship them early, but I stopped making special trips just for the time involved.

Just to be absolutely sure, you might want to run a check on drop off points. It only takes a second.
Go to this page http://www.fedex.com/Dropoff/start?locale=en_US
Put your zip code in the space and on the right side check only "FedEx Authorized ShipCenter". Then hit the find locations button.
It's worth checking just in case the driver was only referring to FedEx staffed locations.
 
Thank you very much for that link Mr. Davenport. On the surface it would seem that the driver misinformed me. Using the zip code look up it appears that there may be a pick up/drop off point 70 miles closer. I will have to inquire in person at the bank indicated as a drop off point to be sure they can do overnight deliveries. If it turns out that they are a reliable drop off for overnight deliveries I will be able to offer shipping 3 days a week since my wife drives past there every morning on her way to work and works only a mile or so away.

Of course I will do a test run through them first before ever risking a live animal.

We have also already included a section on shipping etc on the website my wife is building for us, though until recently we have not begun to even try to narrow down exact dates. Unless I am mistaken, she included UPS along with Fed Ex as a possible shipper. Luckily our site is not up so everything is still fluid at this point.

It is wonderful to be able to draw on the wisdom, experience and knowledge of the members of Fauna to iron out these things before problems arise.

Thank you again for directing me to that look up link.
John E Dove
 
Hopefully the bank does handle express shipments, that will help you out a lot.
On the page where the locations were listed, the far right column lists the services available at each location. It should say Express, Ground, and any other services which the location offers.
FedEx treats express and ground separately, so I guess it is possible that a very rural location might only handle ground shipments.

Another tip. Once you have your own FedEx account, you can schedule shipments online through their site. Doing this provides a 10% discount to the shipping charges. You can still drop it off, you just won't have it labeled or pay for shipping at the bank.
I do it this way myself since dropping it off not only saves me from having to wait at home on the truck, but it also saves the $4 per package pick up fee.
With shipping charges increasing every year, every dollar you can get knocked off helps.
At the current rate it's going within 5 years it will be cheaper to ship Delta.
 
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