Yes, the people shipping know not necessarily that they are fish but that the box contains live animals. When we got our fish when I worked at PetCo they were all shipped 1 - 2 day shipping (or less in winter months and with a heat pack as previously stated) and on all the boxes they have LIVE plastered on it. We hardly lost any fish in transport, maybe a few due to the stress of everything, but they were kept in a dark container so as not to stress out AS easily.