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FedEx FedSchmex

18 comments on FedEx FedSchmex

FedEx FedSchmex

: FedEx is now charging fees if you need a signature from the recipient to guarantee that the company delivers the thing you entrust to their care (and I’ve seen things stolen by their not-reliable staff). Getaloadathis:

Introducing FedExÆ Delivery Signature Options

New signature options enhance delivery flexibility and give you peace of mind.

Indirect Signature Required. FedEx will obtain a signature 1) from any person at the delivery address or 2) from someone at a neighboring address or 3) the recipient can leave a signed FedEx door tag authorizing release of the package without anyone present. Available for residential deliveries only. Fee: $1.50.*

Direct Signature Required. FedEx will obtain a signature from any person at the delivery address and will reattempt delivery if no one is available to sign for the package. Available for both residential and nonresidential deliveries. Fee: $2.*

Adult Signature Required. FedEx will obtain a signature from any person at the delivery address who is at least 21 years old and who has government-issued photo identification as proof of age, and we will reattempt delivery if no one is available to sign for the package. Available for both residential and nonresidential deliveries. Fee: $2.75.*

I was always amazed that UPS and USPS charge for insurance to guarantee the delivery of the thing you’re paying them to deliver. Now you have to pay FedEx just to get the assurance they gave you that they’d done their job. FedEx is turning into the Post Office.

18 responses to “FedEx FedSchmex”

  1. Robert Avatar
    Robert

    In fairness to the post office and UPS, human systems are fallible. Packages will be lost or destroyed in any system devised by man. That leaves a cost to be distributed: who should pay for the lost packages?
    If the shipper should pay, then everyone pays via increased fees to cover the losses. (And additionally, the shipper has only marginal incentive to lower the loss rate.) If the shipper instead decides to localize the decision to the individual consumer – providing a choice of paying a little extra for insurance, or taking the small but nonzero risk of losing the package and getting nothing back, then the cost is absorbed primarily by non-insurers, i.e., by the risk-tolerant.
    This is a decision about tradeoffs, not a moral judgement about what services a business should provide. I think the insurance solution provides the best set of tradeoffs; the risk-tolerant probably OUGHT to be the people who absorb the cost.

  2. Humphrey Bogus Avatar
    Humphrey Bogus

    FYI, this only applies to FedEx Express shipments delivered to residential addresses. Commercial deliveries are unchanged. This has long been the policy of FedEx Ground (payment for signature).
    http://www.fedex.com/us/update1.html

  3. joy Avatar
    joy

    Jeff, my day job has a little something to do with e-commerce and I will say that the residential delivery customers frequently request for packages to just be left at the door or on the porch without signature…
    As long as fed ex can track the item to final destination, I’m all for without signature.

  4. Han Solo Avatar
    Han Solo

    FYI… In fairness to UPS. They only charge for OVER $100 of insurance.
    They give you the first $100 of insurance for your item for free, which is actually not bad and something you do NOT get with the post office.

  5. Zeb Trout Avatar
    Zeb Trout

    Clueless Schmueless…this deserves an Instalanche? Hardly. Fame, however fleeting, comes cheap on the internet these days.
    If by “turning into the Post Office”, you mean that FedEx is now capable of delivering millions of separate pieces of print correspondence and parcels (thats what we call them) six days a week with astonishing regularity and reliability for a few cents per piece, then you really are sadly and pathetically misinformed.
    If, on the other hand, your snide comment is simply to broadly malign the efforts of the army of faithful USPS who are responsible for delivering your mail then, really, where is the joy in that?
    Do a little research, please. Do you have even a hint of the complexity and multiple layers of technology that are required to effectively deliver your mail? Clearly the answer is no.
    Do you whine about the different grades of gasoline at the gas station? Are you pained to see several different kinds of ice cream in your grocer’s freezer?
    I couldn’t care less what you think about FedEx’s new fees and services, but as a USPS employee I find it laffable that a lawyer would be taking shots at the perceived inequities or inefficiencies of the US Postal Service. I mean, come on…a LAWYER deriding someone ELSE’s occupation?

  6. Jay Kominek Avatar
    Jay Kominek

    I’d assume that the cost increase is not to pay for the service, but rather, to pay for having to go back to the address and extra few times until someone who can sign is there. Note that the cost of collecting the signature increases as the set of acceptable signatories (and thus the probability of a successful first delivery attempt) decreases.
    Insurance always seemed pretty reasonable to me. Shit happens. Packages could still be lost/destroyed even if the carrier is perfect. (Traffic accidents, mail bombs going off before delivery, non-employee theft, etc.)

  7. furtigan Avatar
    furtigan

    I think you’re looking at this the wrong way — you’re paying for FedEx to get PROOF that it was delivered.
    I routinely send certified letters with a return receipt requested because I’m dealing with companies prone to saying “we never got the letter” or “do you know who signed for it?”
    I need the paper trail, not because I doubt that the USPS is delivering things, but because the recipients are liars. Making that paper trail for me is a hassle, and a couple of bucks seems fair.

  8. Crid Avatar
    Crid

    UPS has you sign on these 1967-Star Trek-type clipboards, with low-rez LCD screens. What I’m saying is, postmodern delivery signatures are digitized in something less that 5 kilobytes. Such signatures can be returned to the package’s city of origin for pennies by the million. For this we pay $1.50?

  9. Matt Avatar
    Matt

    It’s not the cost of tracking the digital signature and flinging it across the country. It’s the cost of the delivery person’s time to track down someone to sign for the package, and to return multiple times if necessary to get that done. Compare this with no signature required, in which case the guy can just leave it at the address (assuming safety, etc). The signature is clearly more expensive to get. There’s also the possibility of fraud, the cost of defending against which is probably built into the cost as well.

  10. p.lukasiak Avatar
    p.lukasiak

    I recently purchased three rugs online, all of them for delivery to my new address. They were shipped via Fedex.
    Two of them were delivered to the correct address. For some reason, FEDEX decided to make an “address exception” and sent the third rug to my old address — which I had sold. According to Fedex, a workman at my old address signed for the rug….but its not at that house. And I’m still waiting for an explanation from Fedex…
    Lesson: AVOID FEDEX AT ALL COSTS.
    (re: insurance for USPS and UPS — that is really only necessary when your package is valued over a certain amount. If an uninsured package is not delivered, or damaged in transit, USPS and UPS both will reimburse you for that package, but there are limits.)

  11. Billy Beck Avatar
    Billy Beck

    “Zeb Trout” — “If, on the other hand, your snide comment is simply to broadly malign the efforts of the army of faithful USPS who are responsible for delivering your mail then, really, where is the joy in that?”
    Jarvis and Reynolds can speak for themselves, but I’ll be happy to point out that nobody is *forcing* anyone to pay for FedEx or UPS, unlike USPS.
    Goddamned leeching slug. Fuck you. Get a real job or drop dead.

  12. LarrytheLawyer Avatar
    LarrytheLawyer

    Some PostalClerk wrote:
    I mean, come on…a LAWYER deriding someone ELSE’s occupation?
    Well, they don’t call it going POSTAL for nothing! I suggest that you grab your nearest uzzie and go POSTAL with the barister. That way we eliminate a lawyer, and you can be true to your profession at the same time.
    Larry

  13. Craig Avatar
    Craig

    FedEx offers a service. They tell you upfront what they charge. What’s the problem? They don’t use force; they simply make you an offer. You can choose to use their service or not. What’s the problem?
    30 years ago if you wanted something delivered overnight it was either impossible or cost-prohibitive for the average person. Today FedEx exists with its mirad of copycats making overnight delivery available to the masses. What’s the problem?
    Give me a break.
    Craig

  14. big dirigible Avatar
    big dirigible

    You don’t want the signature, whether you have to pay for it or not. The sig is for the protection of FedEx, not you. If FedEx leaves it on the addressee’s doorstep and some ne’er-do-well absconds with it, it’s FedEx’s responsibility, because they can’t demonstrate that they delivered it.
    FedEx insures inexpensive stuff. The customer should buy the insurance for the expensive stuff. It has nothing to do with sigs or delivery problems – you want coverage in case the truck catches fire, or rolls into a river, or if privateers from UPS steal the FedEx deliveries, or whatever.

  15. Fastwayman Avatar
    Fastwayman

    There is a new service in town … check it out at http://www.fastway.ca … Proof of delivery is free, insurance of $1,000 is free, delivery attemted twice is free, no fuel surcharges, same day deliveries without surcharges,all at very competative prices … what is not to like, check them out

  16. submandave Avatar
    submandave

    Jeff, your indignation is based upon false assumptions and a misunderstanding of the services offered.
    It has always been FedEx Express proceedure to obtain a delivery signature unless the sender explicitly signs that it’s OK to leave the package without a signature. This has not changed. What these new options offer, however, are ways the customer may choose to deal with the differences between home and business deliveries. While the shipper can pretty much count on someone being available to take receipt of a package at a business, this is not the case at a residence. Previously, the shipper had to decide if he’d rather leave the customer’s order on the door step (not a good choice in many neighborhoods) or inconvenience the customer by having to call FedEx and schedule a pick-up. Now they have additional options, being able to leave the package with a neighbor, automatically retry delivery or even ensuring an adult shipment (wine, porno, etc.) is responsibly delivered to an adult. This not only improves the customer experience but also may legally enable some online and mail order purchases currently restricted or prohibited.
    Geez, Jeff, I always thought you were a big advocate for consumer choice and new ways to make internet commerce work. Try to be a bit more careful in understanding what topic before you decide to slam it.

  17. DensityDuck Avatar
    DensityDuck

    >Goddamned leeching slug. Fuck you. Get a real
    >job or drop dead.
    WHOA, you really SHOWED HIM! Feel better now that you got your rocks off?
    Hey, guess what, the Post Office is a fart in a thunderstorm compared to the entirety of the Federal Budget. There’s a lot more to get upset about than delivering the mail, when you have massive amounts of tax money going to old people as a reward for being old, and to poor people as a reward for being poor.
    Like the man said, why are you taking cheap shots at the Post Office?

  18. KISS1939 Avatar
    KISS1939

    “when you have massive amounts of tax money going to old people as a reward for being old” …. excuse me DensityDuck, reward for being old!!! If you are not one of us, then you must be one of the ones that (most) of us old timers worked our butts off to make this a better place for!!!! talk about taking cheap shots (although he did deserve your wrath for his un-necessary filthy tirade ….