Having to receive bees UPS would be a disaster for us. UPS deliveries here are always problematic. The drivers are under such pressure to speed it up that they almost alway refuse to come back the long drive to our farm. We discover packages in the bushes half a mile from the farm days after they have been thrown there. Packages that are marked, 'call customer' often languish in a warehouse for a week without a call and are occasionally sent back to sender. We get the feeling from UPS that they would much rather concentrate on the highly profitable urban deliveries than to worry about our expensive rural business. The local postmistress, on the other hand, calls us as soon as the bees arrive so we can work out the pick up. She couldn't be more helpful (when I tell her I'm expecting bees she has been known to come in before work hours to meet the delivery truck and to give us a call if the bees have arrived). And the post office is only 5 miles away as opposed to the 30 plus miles to the UPS warehouse.