Kim Flottum, the editor of Bee Culture, sent this to subscribers
to his "catch the buzz" e-mail mailing list today.  I have no
verification of any of this, but I assume that Kim has checked facts.
The full message can be read at:

    http://bee.airoot.com/beeculture/buzz/index.html

        "This message came to us from Tom and Suki Glenn,
        of Glenn Apiaries, from Fallbrook, CA.

        As of August 27, 2001,  the Post Office is going to use
        FedEX to be the carrier  of  all air mail.  This means no
        live insects, birds, or reptiles can be shipped with the
        post office.  It affects First class, Priority, and Express mail...

        The Post Office does not have an alternate carrier lined up.
        After a hundred years of the bee industry depending on the
        post office, it seems unfair to drop us like this without warning..."

I doubt that the USPS will reverse itself.  It makes sense for them to
outsource their air transport.  I doubt that even a formal protest from
every beekeeper in the US would make much difference.

If you did not know, Fed-X, UPS, and Airborne all refuse to carry bees.
This limits the bee breeders' choices to Roadway and other trucking
companies, or a smaller (unknown to me) air-cargo delivery service.

For years, some groups of US beekeepers have combined their
orders for packages and queens, and financed the travels of
an adventuresome road warrior, who would pick up the orders
and deliver them to a common pick-up site.  The approach works
well, in that bees spent less time in transit, and are transported by
people who know how to care for bees.

So, it looks like we need to cobble together a bee delivery system to
meet the bee breeders at least half way.  We have 8 months to form
buying groups, work out logistics and deal with administrivia issues.
Not a lot of time for such a complex project.

Here's a basic outline of the "Phony Express".  It likely needs all sorts
of critique and improvement, but someone has to put the ball into play.
(I've worked the day shift here at the idea factory for decades, so I am
used to having my lousy ideas improved by rough-and-tumble consensus.)

1)  Each bee breeder clearly ships enough bees to send "a truckload"
     in each compass direction.  The problem is that a full truckload would
     likely be more than one group's orders.  (Same goes for "D-Containers"
     which is the technical term for the large airfreight containers that are
     shaped to fit the fuselage of an airplane.)

2)  Under the law, truckers can only drive for so many hours before they
     must stop and take a break.

3)  If these breaks can be scheduled to allow the offloading of packages
     onto smaller beekeeper-owned vehicles, the drive has been shortened
     for the motley collection of pickup trucks, vans, and (my personal
     favorite), Volvo wagons that would be used for the "short haul" portion
     of the delivery.  (Has anyone done the obvious, and bought a Hum-Vee
     yet, or am I the only one who has noticed the highly beekeeping-appropriate
     "Hummer" logo on the radiator grille of those beasties?)

4)  A crucial element to the success of such an effort would be places
     near major highways where small trucks could await the arrival of
     large trucks, and offloading of large trucks could take place.
     While one might utilize a rest stop or a truck stop for this purpose, I
     doubt that one would get away with this more than once.  One must
     also be considerate of the trucker, who will need to be able to rest and
     eat a decent meal while someone who is authorized by the shipper can
     oversee the offloading, check off orders filled, and "guard" the truck.

Regardless of the details, I think we can assume that door-to-door
shipments are going to become more expensive than the bees themselves.

We better work out a "Plan B".  "Plan A" appears to be toast.

        jim

        farmageddon   (an hour away from the Troutville weigh
                                   station on Interstate 81 in Virginia)