PHOENIX PHIL
AH ambassador
Gents,
Well my trophies from last summer are supposed to be completed by the end of September and it's now time to plan on the shipping. My trophies are with Life-From Taxidermy in RSA. Life-Form has informed me they work with Safari Air Cargo Systems primarily for arranging shipments to their customers.
While at the SCI convention this year I stopped by the Coppersmith booth who as many of you know handles the logistics once the trophies hit the U.S. So I called them this week to get things rolling. Frankly while the Coppersmith rep was friendly enough, the rep would hardly let me ask questions, answering them before the question was fully asked. I found that to be a bit annoying. Well after what was a longer than needed conversation in getting my questions fully asked, I was kind of left wondering.
The Coppersmith rep strongly advised going the air shipping route and strongly against ocean shipping. The reasons against ocean shipping were that it was more complicated, a large deposit was necessary (although I don't remember who that was too) and clearing the trophies were that much more difficult. The end game was that while it was somewhat cheaper, it just wasn't worth the hassle. I found that a bit surprising as from what I've read, the only drawback with ocean shipping was the additional time required for shipping. Something I'm not concerned with, I've waited this long, what's a few more weeks?
The other thing the Coppersmith rep said was that Safari Cargo would also advise against ocean shipping and may not even want to quote it. However on SC's website they have a page that discusses ocean shipping as a good alternative to air shipping.
So questions I have...
1. Air or ocean? If the only drawback is time, that's not a concern to me.
2. From what I've read here, clearing the trophies is not that difficult and an outfit like Coppersmith is not required. If so, what do I need to clear them myself?
Well my trophies from last summer are supposed to be completed by the end of September and it's now time to plan on the shipping. My trophies are with Life-From Taxidermy in RSA. Life-Form has informed me they work with Safari Air Cargo Systems primarily for arranging shipments to their customers.
While at the SCI convention this year I stopped by the Coppersmith booth who as many of you know handles the logistics once the trophies hit the U.S. So I called them this week to get things rolling. Frankly while the Coppersmith rep was friendly enough, the rep would hardly let me ask questions, answering them before the question was fully asked. I found that to be a bit annoying. Well after what was a longer than needed conversation in getting my questions fully asked, I was kind of left wondering.
The Coppersmith rep strongly advised going the air shipping route and strongly against ocean shipping. The reasons against ocean shipping were that it was more complicated, a large deposit was necessary (although I don't remember who that was too) and clearing the trophies were that much more difficult. The end game was that while it was somewhat cheaper, it just wasn't worth the hassle. I found that a bit surprising as from what I've read, the only drawback with ocean shipping was the additional time required for shipping. Something I'm not concerned with, I've waited this long, what's a few more weeks?
The other thing the Coppersmith rep said was that Safari Cargo would also advise against ocean shipping and may not even want to quote it. However on SC's website they have a page that discusses ocean shipping as a good alternative to air shipping.
So questions I have...
1. Air or ocean? If the only drawback is time, that's not a concern to me.
2. From what I've read here, clearing the trophies is not that difficult and an outfit like Coppersmith is not required. If so, what do I need to clear them myself?