Holiday peak season is the time of the year when there's a large uptick in shipments for the small parcel carriers. FedEx and UPS typically waive their service guarantee, which provides recourse if the shipments a...
Guarantees for premium services used to be a given for shippers who work with FedEx and UPS. But things have changed in 2020. What Do UPS and FedEx Guarantee for Premium Services?
Most services, with...
If your business relies on UPS & FedEx, chances are your ‘spidey’ senses are tingling. With demand (packages needing to be shipped) far exceeding supply (UPS’s and FedEx’s ability to deliver packages while honoring service guarantees), limited options, and a lack of competition, the small parcel industry is in the throes of a carrier’s market. ...
It’s a modern-day Christmas morning dilemma. You found the perfect gift online. You’re excited to see their reaction when they open it on Christmas morning. You place the order and keep your fingers crossed that it’ll be delivered on time. There’s no guarantee, but you take the chance. Then doubt starts to kick-in and you second guess your decision. “Mayb...
Amazon recently announced that Prime Day 2020 will be Prime Day(s)…as in plural. Set an alert and mark your calendar because Prime Day 2020 is Tuesday, October 13 AND Wednesday, October 14. The annual shopping holiday will grow from a one-day event to a two-day spending spree for millions of global deal seekers. ...
FedEx and UPS both recently announced new surcharges. Depending on your shipping profile, these new surcharges may impact your business. FedEx has continued the trend of applying surcharges to all International Services originating in Asia. UPS announced several new seasonal surcharges applicable to all Air Residential, Ground Residential and SurePost packages for all U.S. Origins and d...
Editor's Note: This post has been updated with new links and content.
Original Publication Date: April 14, 2016 Today we’re going to explain and provide a better understanding of service guarantees. Let’s start with an explanation of UPS and FedEx’s service guarantees. ...
Publisher's Note: This post has been updated with new links and content.
Original Publication Date: December 10, 2015 Today we’re going to take a look at the details of annual rate increases. Let’s begin with how rate increases are typically rolled out.
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Publisher's Note: This post has been updated with new links and content.
Original Publication Date: May 1, 2017 In this post, we’ll help you understand how to become a FedEx and UPS power user. Let's start at the beginning with what FedEx and UPS power users are.
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Editor's Note: This post has been updated with new links and content.
Original Publication Date: October 26, 2015 This post will explain a fee that UPS and FedEx rolled out a few years ago. As a matter of fact, what they really did was drop a bomb on drop shippers. But before we get into what that is, let’s discuss the thre...
Editor's Note: This post has been updated with new links and content.
Original Publication Date: May 21, 2015 In this post, we’ll cover declared value and declared value insurance. We're betting you're here to learn how you can cut shipping costs. Smart! You've come to the right place. If you haven't yet, set up your free ...
The global novel coronavirus pandemic has created great uncertainty all over the world. The disruptions to travel and commerce has led UPS and FedEx to suspend all service guarantees for Express, Ground and Freight for both Domestic and International shipments immediately and until further notice. This means that UPS and FedEx will no longer honor their promise to give you a refund when your ship...
Peak shipping season is here and to ensure your packages are delivered in time for the Holidays, download our Holiday Shipping Deadline Calendar below. In addition, please be aware of this year’s Peak Season surcharges. On October 1, 2019, UPS implemented the following Peak Season surcharges: ...
It's that time of year once again. UPS & FedEx are dishing out another costly general price increase to small parcel shippers effective December 29, 2019 for UPS and January 6, 2020 for FedEx. It is important to understand that the announced UPS & FedEx rate increases are only averages and the impact on your company could vary greatly. Over the past decade (2010-2020), UPS an...
The FedEx Dimensional Weight Explained
The FedEx dimensional weight can cause a lot of problems for customers. As a company that processes a tremendous amount of shipping data, we see a lot of issues with this. One of the common issues we see is being billed at dimensional weight versus actual weight. So what does that even mean? To be able to understand how carrier pricin...
FedEx Waivers Cause The Company To Lose Customers
FedEx waivers are something that people often overlook and can cause you to lose money. For those of you shipping with FedEx, I want to inform you of a recent contractual trend that's on the rise. It jeopardizes your right to late delivery re...
UPS SurePost And FedEx SmartPost Pros vs Cons
UPS SurePost and FedEx SmartPost both have their pros and cons and I'm here to talk about that today. Now, one of the biggest pros is that it is a lot more affordable to use SurePost and SmartPost than it is to ...
FedEx and UPS Carrier Exceptions Can Save You Money
Alright, today we'll be talking about the different carrier exceptions. In particular, I'm going over carrier exceptions for both FedEx and UPS. They're very similar so I'll kind of go over them all in the same bucket. First, we'll talk about pick up exceptions. Sometimes no packages were picked up and pick up is not rescheduled. Th...
UPS Customer Service Basics
The first thing you need to do is actually call UPS's billing department. Now, there's a particular number for UPS billing department. You can actually get to the billing department through the normal UPS customer service number. You press a number and they'll transfer you to the billing department. But there is a specific number in case you are...
FedEx Customer Service Avenues for Refund
To get a refund from FedEx, the first thing you do is call the FedEx Revenue Services. That's the billing department. They do have a normal FedEx customer service number that you can call. There is a billing department that you can call as well for FedEx Revenue Services. If you call the normal FedEx number, you can ask them to tra...
UPS Quantum View Keeps Your Money
So as you can imagine, UPS looks down on the parcel auditing industry. Now, why might this be, you ask? It's because auditing services, like Lojistic, returns money to the shipper or cus...
FedEx InSight: Why They Made It
Hey guys. So as you can imagine, FedEx looks down on the parcel auditing industry. Now, why might that be? Well, auditing services like what Lojistic provides put money back in the shipper's pocket. FedEx Insight would otherwise allow FedEx to keep this money. So, as you can imagine, FedEx does everything that they can to deal with this. T...
FedEx Contracts Have Changed
FedEx contracts have changed like UPS. In fact, FedEx calls it over-max fee while UPS calls it unauthorized charge fee. It's the same thing. It's for packages that are heavy and l...
FedEx Service Guarantee Basics
FedEx service guarantee agreements work similarly to those from UPS. They actually call their FedEx service guarantee clause, "The Money Ba...
UPS Contracts: Changes to Know
UPS contracts changed in 2019. I would say some of the most notable impacts have been in some of the surcharges. So, in 2018, UPS took a massive increase in their over-max fee. That's when you're shipping very large packages, whether it be long or heavy. That fee went from $300 to $650 by the end of the year. This year that fee is still in effect. This ...
FedEx business customers spending around $60,000 or more annually can expect to see a waiver of their “Money Back Guarantee” in their next FedEx Agreement revision, assuming a waiver isn’t already there. A waiver of the FedEx Money Back Guarantee eliminates a customer’s right to a refund when FedEx fails to meet their time in transit commitment (aka guarant...
These five rules apply to everything from negotiating the price you’ll pay for your next car to getting a better deal on the donuts you’re bringing into the office on Friday. When applied to negotiating your parcel carrier contracts however, following these rules may save you enough to buy a fleet of cars, or enough donuts for your whole office building....
“I’m a really bad negotiator”, said no one ever. Especially in logistics. Case in point, I was on a sales call last week and the gentleman responsible for negotiating the existing UPS and FedEx contracts for his company was VERY confident in his shrewd negotiation skills. “My new parcel rates are amazing. I just negotiated a 9% savings with my incumbent p...
It's that time of the year again! Gather ye e-commerce retailers and all happy package senders...For the holiday shipping season is upon us. But to get those presents or boxes of coal to all the little boys and girls on time, we have to ship them by these deadlines! Also, we have to be mindful that service level guarantees will be suspended according to the schedule below. UPS...
You have the achy feeling that somehow, someway, your parcel shipping is draining your company of valuable revenue. Every month you see profits melt away with ever increasing shipping invoice bills that you have no idea if they are correct or just plain filled with mistakes and lost saving opportunities. What are you missing in terms of savings and knowledge about y...
UPS Peak Surcharges Arrives in the Parcel World
*Updated with SurePost Peak Surcharge
After experimenting on several high-volume peak shippers last year, UPS announced on Monday that it is implementing Peak Surcharges on select packages tendered b...
Parcel Forum 2017 has just announced their conference line-up. Our very own parcel analytics gurus Bryan Van Suchtelen and James Matthews will be proudly representing Lojistic at the Forum this year. ...
The holiday season is upon us! That means you need to get your shipments to your customers (or family!) on time. So whether your business or personal shipments are on your mind, be sure to take note of the following Christmas delivery deadlines for UPS, FedEx, and the USPS, broken down by service level. From our family at Lojistic to yours, Happy Holidays! Shipping Deadline Dates for Gu...
$13 can buy you a lot of things. Like lunch, a movie ticket, a couple beers, or a large pizza. $13 also happens to be the amount you’re charged for an address correction fee on your shipping invoices. And if you’re a high-volume shipper, those $13 charges can add up really quick. The good news is that there are ways to prevent these charges from being incurred. And if somehow they kee...
You know that it’s coming. It happens every year without fail. No, I’m not talking about parcel rate increases (not this time, at least). Nope, this time I’m talking about April Fools’ Day. Maybe it’s just me (though I suspect not), but I am keenly aware of and anticipate April Fools’ Day. I expect to be pranked. My spider senses are on unusually high-alert, yet every year on ...
Not many shippers know that almost all UPS and FedEx service levels have time in-transit delivery guarantees. Crazy, right? Even ground services have a guarantee to be delivered within a certain time frame. If a shipment is even one minute late, you are most likely entitled to a refund. While a parcel audit will find and r...
Parcel insurance rates are on the rise, and they have been for years. In fact, in the past five years, parcel insurance rates have increased 38%. That’s a big number. And when compared to price changes of some common household items, the increase seems even bigger.
Over the past five years, the average price of a new car ...
Update: The USPS has postponed its rate increase that was scheduled for 4/26/2015, and FedEx has followed suit. FedEx has just announced the second SmartPost rate increase of 2015. Effective April 27, SmartPost rates will increase by 8.3%. The increase was brought about by a recent postage increase announcement by USPS. Shippers who have negotiated a general rate incr...
Six weeks ago FedEx announced what will likely be the single largest rate increase on record for many shippers. As predicted, UPS announced that they are following FedEx’s lead. Effective Monday, December 29, 2014, UPS will impose dimensional weight (DIM) pricing on all Ground packages.
To varying degrees, this change ...
Are you wondering how to determine shipping costs? Shipping costs are, of course, among the most important factors involved in determining the costs of your entire logistics operation. In order to make sure that you understand your costs and can plan for them in the future, you should standardize them to the extent possible. This requires a thorough, point-by-point review of the most basic operati...
Shipping comparison is one of the most important ways that you can save money on your logistics needs, but that does not mean it is easy to do an enterprise-wide shipping cost comparison. When you compare shipping costs, it is important to be methodical and ensure that you are taking all the pertinent factors into account. That being the case, you might wonder if the investment of time and effort ...
Shipping solutions can sometimes feel like more trouble than they’re worth. We know it, and so do you; but this doesn’t have to be the case for the upstart or the entrepreneur. Since the world has grown into an increasingly digital marketplace, more and more solutions to shipping woes are emerging. The legacy ...
Many businesses are hesitant to complain to the shipping giants responsible for getting their customers’ orders delivered to them on time. They may be aware of the fact that auditing their invoices for mistakes or attempting to renegotiate their carrier contract may save them some...
Whether you are a business that frequently ships parcels all across the country or an individual shipping small parcels to people in your state, you’re most likely to be using one of two major shipping forces - UPS and FedEx. They have both controlled and been a part of a long-standing oligarchy in the small parcel delivery services industry with few competitors in their way. For businesses,...
For all businesses that ships a constant amount of items, it’s important to note the changing fluctuations of the shipping world, whether it be the updates in new competitors, as we previously noted in our Amazon blog post, or the quarterly earnings calls. These changes are important because they can help to prepare for and predict certain trends within future pricing and possible action the c...
Sometimes, there can be an overwhelming amount of forms to recognize and remember, when you are shipping items. One of these forms is the FedEx commercial invoice when you ship packages internationally and will help clear the item through customs. Here, we’ll better try to understand what the commercial invoice is and some tips on how to best fill it out.Let's take a close look at ...
Given the advanced technology and automated systems, it is a common (invalid) assumption that the customer billing systems of carriers such as UPS and FedEx are infallible and afford little to no room for billing errors. Shippers subscribing to this line of thought are committing a considerable oversight. Although many components of a carrier’s billing process are automated, there are...