You can now apply Live Animal designations and surcharges directly to your USPS shipments within ShipStation. This feature ensures that your live shipments receive the correct "Special Handling" designation from the USPS, ensuring they are placed in room-temperature facilities rather than standard cargo areas during transit.
A new Restricted Content drop-down list is now under Shipment Options. Supported services are USPS Priority Mail and USPS Priority Mail Express.
There are three important reasons why it is important to properly enable the shipping and handling of Live Animals.
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Animal Safety: Selecting the correct designation ensures your shipment is identified for temperature-controlled holding and proper operational safety.
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Rate Accuracy: Avoid post-shipment adjustments by including mandatory USPS surcharges at the time of label creation.
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Compliance: These selections are passed directly to the USPS API to ensure your shipping label includes the necessary Special Handling-Transportation (STC) codes
The USPS allows the shipment of certain live animals under strict guidelines to ensure the safety of the animals, postal workers, and other mail.
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Use Accurate Weight Dimensions: Please enter the accurate weight and dimensions of all packages containing live animals to prevent delays and ensure the well-being of the animals being shipped.
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Why is this important? The USPS flags shipments with incorrect or insufficient postage. A flagged package may be delayed, possibly causing the recipient to be presented with a bill that must be paid to receive the shipment.
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Follow Packaging Requirements: USPS Publication 52 contains packaging requirements for when you ship live animals.
These animals can be shipped through USPS under specific conditions. For detailed guidelines, please refer to Section 526: Mailable Live Animals.
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Live bees
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Live, day-old poultry
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Live adult birds
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Live scorpions (only under limited circumstances)
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Other small, harmless, cold-blooded animals
Starting January 19, 2025, the USPS will introduce a "Live Animal and Perishable Handling Fee" for shipments that include live animals or perishable goods. This additional fee will cover costs associated with handling and transporting these items.
The following services are available for shipping live animals and include the fees mentioned:
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Priority Mail Express®: $7.50 per label
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Priority Mail®: $15.00 per label
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USPS Ground Advantage™: $7.50 per label
Surcharges for Day-Old Poultry: A Live Animal Transportation fee of $0.20 per pound is charged when Day Old Poultry (newly hatched chicks) with Priority Mail Express and Priority Mail when shipping to Zones 5–9.
