FedEx Shipping

[axe_n_gear_music]

I had mentioned in our thread about the CP strike that I had began shipping my larger packages with FedEx during the strike. Many of you emailed me for the contact info for them, and I believe several of you have now signed on with them too.

Just wanted to further update you as it has been a few weeks now since I started using their services.

The scheduled pick-ups have been excellent. The driver has my email address and if I need a pickup on any day that I didnt schedule one the night before, I just text him and he arrives at the same time as if I had previously scheduled it. You can pre-schedule an automatic pickup every day Monday to Friday if you want, (they only charge 6 dollars for the week, no matter how many times they come anyway) but I dont always have large packages every single day, so I just call for a pickup the night before if I need it, or text the driver on the morning I need the pickup. I am still using CP for very small or lettermail packages.

I have also used the FedEx dropoff service twice since I started with them, and they are fairly close to my house so it is a good option as well. They are all very friendly and very happy to help there too.

Pricing- For FedEx Ground so far has been a little less than half price of what I was paying with CP for larger packages, so it has really been worth it.

Printing shipping labels- After printing 2 or 3 of them, I got the hang of it easily. It is very similar to the old eBay/Paypal/Canada Post style, so anyone currently printing labels that way will also find this FedEx system very user-friendly.

For USA Ground or Express or International Express shipments, you just check the commercial invoice box, and when you print the label, you get the label, plus 4 copies of the packing slip for customs (include 3 with your package and keep one for your records).

Shipping Times - This is a big one. Packages to the USA with CP Expedited Parcel had been taking 10-15 business days on average to arrive. In many cases, even longer. With FedEx, I am blown away by how fast they get your package to your customer. I used to worry about rushing to the Post Office with my packages on the same day as the customer paid. Now I can take my time and have many of these orders picked up at my door, and know that they will reach their destinations so much faster anyway.

Here are a few examples from my experiences over the past two weeks:

(I am in Ontario)

Within Ont. -1 day

Saskatchewan - 2 days

Alberta- 4 days

New Brunswick -5 days

Texas - 4 days

Arizona - 4 days

California -5 days

In summary, FedEx has been great so far. They are obviously specialists in package delivery around the globe, and seem to do it extremely well.

Canada Post are specialists in mail delivery, and I'm glad to see them back to work, as I will still continue using their services for lettermail. It is my hope that utilizing both companies for my business in this way should maximize cost savings, get my customers orders to them much quicker, plus allow a little more of a laid back approach to my shipping with a little more breathing room. Hope this info helps some of you new FedEx shippers out there, as well as those of you that are still considering their services.

Cheers,

AXE

[pjcdn2005]

Thanks for the update Axe.

I've only used FedEx a few times but have always been happy with them.

The one item I sent with them during the lockout was to New Brunswick. By ground it took 6 business days and Canada Post estimated it at 8 business days. Because of the Paypal discount, FedEx cost about $7 or $8 more so it would only be worthwhile for me to use them if they gave me a discount. I remember you mentioning that they were charging you less than the online prices so if I start shipping more items that are too big for lettermail or light packet, I will  get a quote from FedEx to see if it would be better to use them regularly.

[art-in-the-making]

Thanks so much for posting this info.

I know we said we were going to look at Fedex but frankly I'm so relieved to have the post office back that am having second thoughts.

While the PO delivered our items no problem during the rotating strikes, my memory of the lockout will be a daily hour drive following school buses, recycling and garbage trucks up the most godawful road probably in the country to the Fedex "world center" or whatever they call it - the nearest drop-off point. This because you have to call for a ground pick-up the day before and they only say they will come the next day "between 8 am and 6 pm" LOL. Plus one of the times we did get a pick-up, the driver lost our "art declaration" (a paper that you don't need when you send by post).

We also had a lot of problem with the online forms and documentation found the email messaging to ourselves and customers sporadic, and found the customer support for non-express related issues (ground) to be sadly lacking or non-existent. I cringe to think how it would have gone if we hadn't already used their ground service before and had an account.

There were also a few other problems.

No doubt if we had gone the route you did and felt ready to commit to fedex from the get-go things would have been much better.

Will probably call their sales dept. once the rational mind takes over:-).

[axe_n_gear_music]

"you have to call for a ground pick-up the day before and they only say they will come the next day "between 8 am and 6 pm"

While this is standard protocol, I would suggest (as our FedEx sales rep did with us), to speak with your driver and get to know him/her. Most drivers have a pretty clear route that they travel every day. Mine is great. I texted him at 9:30 this morning, and he was here at noon, which is his regular time every day in my area on his route.

Also, I must say that I have found their customer support to be excellent. I have called them three times in the last few weeks with questions, and they answered quickly and were able to assist me fully. Try that with Canada Post, (or eBay for that matter!!, lol)

The discount is significant for average to large sized packages, enough to be cheaper than CP's discount with Venture One or with CP online with Paypal. I feel that the bottom line is, that companies like FedEx are in the biz of parcels. Canada Post is in the biz of letters and light packets, etc. No courier like FedEx or UPS or the like, can touch CP's prices on the mail stuff. If a seller sells primarily stamps for example, then no question, CP is the only way to go.

But on the larger items, I couldn't be happier with the services and prices that FedEx has provided me so far. (Touch wood)

Cheers,

AXE

[cepera05]

FedEx shipping option not available to eBay.ca sellers and UPS NEVER WORK TOO!

Hello eBay.ca Sellers,

We have been contacting eBay.ca many times to ask "Why FedEx shipping option is not available in our account? No help yet, the only two options we have are:

a) Canada Post - they have some issues! and

b) UPS WHICH IS NEVER WORK

We contacted Paypal and eBay customer support teams but they were not able to find the answer or the fix yet.

Do you have any of the above problems? or we are the only one?

Yours truly,

[dealinglarry97]

Hey Axe!

I too am thinking seriously about using fedex but right now it is mostly lettermail and litemail packets and will be shipping small packages soon along with lettermail by

Canada Post.

[axe_n_gear_music]

That's great, Larry...if you have larger packages and significant volume to qualify for their discounts, FedEx really is worth while.

By the way, not sure if you buy some of your stock on eBay and then resell the same items using the same account, but if you do, may I suggest that you open a separate eBay account for buying and one for selling? This way, no one can look up what you paid for your goods. Just a suggestion.

Cheers,

AXE

[axe_n_gear_music]

I just had another seller email me requesting more price comparisons between FedEx Ground and CP Expedited Parcel.

First, FedEx ground is usually both faster and really quite competitive within Canada & the USA when compared to CP Expedited. Still, it is important to do a quick price comparison before deciding which way to go on certain parcels. This morning, I had a load of small stuff that I was shipping via CP lettermail and Small Packet, and the two larger items I had going within Canada were virtually identical in price for shipping between FedEx Ground and CP Expedited, so as I was in a hurry, CP was the easy choice for convenience sake.

Secondly, I also had a large 4 foot tall box going to Corpus Christi, Texas this morning, and found that by the time insurance and everything was added in, FedEx Ground was 86.00, while CP Expedited USA was $60.51. So again, as I was already using CP today, and CP was 28 dollars cheaper, CP was the easy choice on this one as well. Its funny though, as similar sized boxes going by FedEx recently have saved me on average 15-25 doallrs each over CP. I guess it depends on exactly where it's going to.

So I would definately say that one should take a few minutes to do a quick price comparison before committing and hitting the "print" button on shipping labels from the various shipping companies. While I have found FedEx to be cheaper on many larger items going within North America, it seems there are always exceptions. Maybe shipping to smaller centres with FedEx is a bit more expensive? I don't know. But it does pay to shop around.

AXE

[dealinglarry97]

Hi Axe!

Is Fedex any good to have small parcels delivered by them? I am thinking about lisiting some Lionel train cars and they will be in a small sized parcel? Thanks!

[axe_n_gear_music]

Larry,

Again in order to receive volume discounts with FedEx, you have to have an account set up with them with a minimum volume commitment. And for the most part, small packages are cheaper with CP, but if you have a volume account set up with FedEx, its a good idea to get a price from both. Before I ship some of my larger items, I do a quick price check and use the cheaper of the two services. Sometimes you can save 5-15 dollars or more on each item by doing this, which can really add up. Some items that I am sure CP would be cheaper on, after doing a price check with FedEx, I find out FedEx is cheaper, and sometimes the other way around. Too bad one company couldn't be cheaper across the board, but unfortunately, this is not the case.

AXE

[boutiquestepup]

HI Axe

I have been using for myself UPS and FedEx for cross border order with my suppliers, and I found the brokerage fees to be over the top between always between $35.00 to $45.00 for $150.00 order and when I use USPS I dont pay brokerage fees.

When you send a parcel with FedEx to your customer in the US, are you customer paying brokerage fees?

[zarzuella]

Dear Axe:

[axe_n_gear_music]

Brokerage/Duty fees are the responsibility of the buyer, and clearly stating that in listings is important, which I see you already do. You do have the option when printing your label to pay for it up front if need be. The more I work with FedEx, the more I am finding that they almost always have better prices for larger items within Canada than CP.

Items to the US are the same, usually cheaper, and I weigh out the options for the larger packages going south of the border between CP and FedEx. With both companies, your customer has to pay duty/brokerage on the larger more expensive items. As FedEx is a courier, these fees are usually higher. But with an aggressive volume discount with FedEx, usually the shipping portion is cheaper than CP. You really have to weigh it out to determine the best option.

Now, International shipping, forget it- FedEx is way too expensive in most cases. 

[snoopwiz]

Fed-Ex perks include a healthy negotiated rate discount. A superb on-line tracking system. And my personal fave, they will show up at my door, 5 days a week, for the total princely sum of $6.00/weekly.  I don't think I can go to the Post Office once without incurring that kind of cost. (time, gas, etc) They have taken us to a private box at Skydome (ya, I know, Rogers Centre) for a Jays game, they have sent us bouquet of flowers twice, and, their customer service people have always been bang-on.

Downsides include, they round up weight to the next pound....20.1 lbs get charged at 21 lbs. There is a $2.50 residential surcharge (still less expensive than CP, with my discount) . $3 to $10 "rural" surcharge.

Having used them for 95% of my packages for 4 years now, and only using CP for small packet air, I can say they do a fabulous job and suit my purposes perfectly.

[art-in-the-making]

They have taken us to a private box at Skydome (ya, I know, Rogers Centre) for a Jays game, they have sent us bouquet of flowers twice, and, their customer service people have always been bang-on.

Geez this is not making me feel even a tiny bit nostalgic for the halcyon days of the lock-out, following garbage trucks and cement trucks up a 10-mile stretch of pothole-filled sorry excuse for a road to the fedex "world" depot where none of the staff has any clue what occurs to an item shipped by ground to the U.S.. :^O

I guess this gives us a preview of what a two-tier medical system would be like...

[downsizing2018]

Good day all,  for what it is worth, I signed up for Fedex before the "lockout" and have probably used it 1/2 dozen times.  I consistently check the rates, Canada Post versus Fedex, and I have found that it is usually the larger and / or heavier parcels that are less expensive with Fedex.  Most recently a parcel was too heavy and large to ship Canada post and I would have had to divide into two parcels.  Fedex will take it no worries!!