On all of our products, fish, coral, or
live rock, you will be paying the domestic freight
directly to the airline when you pick up your shipment.
In general, air freight has a minimum charge
and once the weight is over 100 pounds, it's
charged by the pound. Per pound rates do not
start until you are over one hundred pounds
as a rule. So, for lower weights,
such as a single box of fish, live rock,
or corals, which weigh around 50 pounds,
the minimum flat rate is charged.
When you order one box, you pay the minimum
whether it's 44 lbs. or 65 lbs. (it will
be the same charge) ... a per pound rate
only applies to shipments of 75-100 pounds.
For instance, to ship two boxes, it's often not
much more than for one box. Coast to coast air
freight shipping runs about $100 for a box,
and maybe $120 for two boxes. If you are
closer to west coast, it may be only $60-75
for a single box, and $100 for two.
To estimate shipping for fish, you can usually
figure that three boxes are approximately
equal to two boxes of coral or live rock - 100 lbs.
When you are ordering three or more boxes of live rock,
figure about $1 per pound for the domestic
air freight shipping part of it.
Note ... if your live rock shipment gets in late at night,
it will be fine if you get it the next day and it will
not affect it (know that a bunch from the same shipment
is likely sitting on warehouse floors in L.A. still
waiting to be sold.) BUT, for FISH or CORALS, you
NEED to get them no matter how late it is, as long as
your cargo station is open ... most are open until
midnight. Fish or corals should not sit overnight ...
they need to get in new clean water with circulation ASAP!
Fish need to be acclimated of course, and corals
dipped at the very least, and always quarantine
both if at all possible.
There seems to be a relationship between when a
shipment arrives and if you took off work, doing so makes
cargo move slower somehow, and so we strongly
recommend you do not do so. It will not hurt live
rock to pick up late at night, and put it in
water the next day (but bring it in to keep it
warm if in the winter). You are still getting
it faster than 90% or more of the stores out there.
However, with fish or corals, you have to be ready to go,
even if it comes in late that evening.
They can't sit overnight like live rock can.
Most flights out of LAX leave in the a.m.
and get to you in the afternoon or early evening,
so the average after work pickup works great.