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How to File UPS Claims for Service Failures

Deepa Shankar — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 07:37:22 +0000

Despite a massive fleet, state-of-the-art tracking systems, and delivery procedures, your customers’ parcels shipped through United Parcel Service (UPS) can be delayed, lost, or damaged in transit.

Behemoths such as UPS strive to provide an impeccable service every time. This is what leads them to provide a money-back guarantee for most services under their Service Guarantee.

Shippers who have faced service failures and billing errors at the hands of UPS can request a refund on their shipping costs. But before submitting UPS claims, here’s something to understand UPS’ Service Guarantee even better, so that we can get better at claiming UPS refunds.

Understanding UPS’ Service Guarantee and Refund Options

UPS’ Service Guarantee exists for orders that are delivered later than the scheduled delivery time/ date, then UPS owes the shipper a refund on the shipping cost. In simple terms, it is a ‘delivery will arrive on time or free’ guarantee made by UPS.

Service Guarantee (previously Guaranteed Service Refunds or GSR) is part of the shipping contract that stipulates that UPS will refund 100% of shipping charges if parcel delivery is delayed by even 60 seconds except in exceptional circumstances (natural disasters, weather delays, etc).

UPS offers Service Guarantee for most of its services, including UPS Ground, UPS Next Day Air, UPS 2nd Day Air, UPS 3 Day Select, and UPS Freight.

Apart from the Service Guarantee, UPS also offers a provision to file refund claims for issues such as lost or damaged shipments and billing errors that result in overcharges.

Now that we’re familiar with the basics of Service Guarantee and UPS refunds for service failures and billing errors, it’s time to explore things further.

Things to keep in mind before filing UPS refund claims

Filing claims through UPS and getting refunds might look really straightforward but there can be occurrences where your refund claim may get rejected (not quality for a refund).

For instance,

Not all UPS services (UPS SurePost, etc) are eligible for the Service Guarantee. Check if the shipment service you’ve opted for is eligible under Service Guarantee
Your agreement with the carrier can prevent you from claiming credits. Make sure you haven’t signed a Service Guarantee waiver and given up your right to claim refunds
The delivery issue has happened outside of UPS’s control (weather-related delays, customs issues, etc.)
The shipment is sent around the holidays when there are peak season exclusions (UPS temporarily turns off Service Guarantee due to high shipping volume that strains their performance).

If you’ve ticked all these boxes and are sure that your shipment qualifies for a UPS refund, then let’s move on to how you can submit claims via UPS.

How to File UPS Claims for Service Failures

Filing refund claims is a step-by-step process that can be really easy if you’re familiar with the basics:

1.Prepare required information

Have all the necessary information ready that streamlines the start of this process. This includes gathering the following details such as tracking number, date of shipment, shipment weight, details of the package content, value of the goods (if filing for loss or damage), invoices or proof of the product’s value, etc,.

2. Initiate the claim

Once you have all the required information, you can proceed with the to file a claim.

Go to the UPS site and choose “File a Claim” under the “Support Resources” section. You can also find one under the “Quick Links” tab in the homepage
Log into your UPS account to file a claim (you can also file claims as a guest)
Fill out the details requested such as tracking number, your status (shipper, receiver, third-party, etc)
Select the reason for the claim — late delivery, lost package, etc
Upload any documentation or other evidence to support your claim (photos, payment receipts, product descriptions, etc)
Submit your claim

Or, you can also contact the number of UPS claims support at 1-800-PICK-UPS (1-800-742-5877) and say “Refund.”. Plus direct numbers are available for more load-specific claims.

3. Monitor your claim

After submitting, you can monitor the status of your claim in your UPS account under the Claims History section. UPS typically takes up to 10 business days to process claims and at this point, they may request additional information if necessary.

4. Receive your compensation

If your claim is approved, UPS will compensate you for the service failure by refunding the shipping costs.

While this looks relatively simple, however, it is not always the case. The process for manually filing UPS claims is a hassle to claim refunds, especially for businesses that ship frequently.

What Makes Manually Filing UPS Claims a Hassle

The problem with manually filing UPS claims is simply the conditions that come along in the Service Guarantee that make it intentionally hard to get successful refunds.

The Service Guarantee is filled with fine-print clauses that you have to strictly meet or else your claims can get rejected.

First and foremost, check if you have signed a Service Guarantee waiver. This straightaway prevents you from claiming UPS refunds and is also not an efficient move.
Wait 24 hours from the expected delivery time to claim refunds for lost packages. There are chances for your package to be delivered to you. However, you can straightaway submit refunds for late deliveries (for select services).
Refund requests must be submitted within 15 calendar days of the scheduled delivery date or the date listed in the tracking details or your proof of delivery, whichever is later.
In the case of lost packages (after ruling out incidents of misplaced packages in your garage with your neighbor or porch pirates) you have less than 60 days from the delivery date to file a claim.
While manually filing refund claims, you have to make sure to enter the correct information such as the recipient’s name, address, date of shipment, package weight, tracking number, etc. Which can be tiresome and time-consuming.
The claim process itself can sometimes take up to 10 days to be completed.
The Service Guarantee does not apply to all services and destinations that UPS undertakes. Check for the validity of your claim!
You need to submit all shipping documentation including labels according to “UPS’s Guide to Labeling”.
In case of international shipments, you have to submit documentation required by the country of origin or destination to support your case.
If the parcel involves a Saturday delivery route label, that must be included as well.
The parcel must be tendered to UPS before the stipulated collection time. Check the timestamps to ensure that.
If the parcel requires additional handling, you are not eligible for a refund.

That’s not all! Your UPS claim can still be rejected with finer-print terms and conditions.

The process of manually submitting UPS claims is doable IF you only ship a parcel or two a month.

But if your volume is something i.e just remotely more than that, you need A SOLUTION THAT CAN ACTUALLY SCALE!

It is not that carriers such as UPS do not have all the documentation for them to make the process efficient. They intentionally don’t make the claim process easy so it puts people off from claiming the refund money they are rightfully eligible for.

How to Successfully File UPS Claims

Many business owners do not realize that unclaimed UPS refunds are just money left on the table. This money runs to the tune of over 3 billion dollars annually. But what should matter more to you is this: Experts say that you can bring your shipping budget down by up to 20% if you claim every single refund you are eligible for.

Market leaders have their own processes in place to automate the refund process. But what does every other business do?

Most SMBs do not have the bandwidth or money to invest in an in-house team to handle refunds. This is where LateShipment.com has your solution.

If you were probably not aware of this before, we have an automated parcel audit and shipping refunds tool.

All you need to do is integrate this tool into your existing shipping operations while you focus on your core business functions.

How LateShipment.com Can Help You Claim UPS Refunds [and Save up to 20% of Your Shipping Costs]

LateShipment.com exists to help businesses like yours hold your shipping carrier accountable and ensure that you do not lose money that is rightfully yours.

Our parcel audit and shipping refunds solution automatically audits your shipping invoices and identifies 50+ carrier errors from UPS such as lost or damaged packages, incorrect surcharges, etc to ensure maximum refund recovery.

Also, by monitoring and claiming refunds regularly on your claims dashboard, you can ensure better performance from your shipping carrier and result in more successful last-mile deliveries.

Not just UPS, LateShipment.com also helps you file claims and recover refunds from all major carriers such as DHL, FedEx, Purolator, and Canada Post… to name a few.

The value we add to businesses is most evident when experienced first-hand.

Talk to our product experts today to get started with this incredibly simple way of recovering refunds for late deliveries, lost and damaged parcels, and more. Make UPS pay what is rightfully yours.

Frequently Asked Questions about UPS Refund Claims

1. Can I get a refund if UPS is late?

Yes, UPS promises on-time delivery for various service types including late, damaged, lost and 50 other. If your package is late by even 60 seconds you are eligible for a complete refund.

2. How long does it take to get a refund from UPS?

The UPS claim process might take an average of 10-15 days depending on the service error.

3. How do I file a claim with UPS?

Check out for manual claims here. To have an automated claim process Sign Up with LateShipment.com and automatically file refundclaims for eligible packages.

4. Why didn’t I get a refund for my UPS late package?

There are multiple reasons why you might not have received a refund for a late UPS package, that includes:

Force majeure: The package gets delayed due to events beyond UPS’s control, such as weather or customs.
Service type: The type of service used may not have been guaranteed, such as UPS SurePost.
Shipping agreement: The shipping agreement (you signing a refund waiver) may have prevented you from claiming a refund, etc.

5. How can I make filing UPS refund claims easy?

Manually filing refund claims is always a hassle. To make things easy, it is best to make use of an automated parcel audit solution such as LateShipment.com that files claims on your behalf and also goes to the extent of depositing the refund money directly into your account.

The post How to File UPS Claims for Service Failures appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

DHL Vs. FedEx Vs. UPS: Shipping Carriers Compared

Joelah James — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 07:40:09 +0000

Choosing the carrier from the list of companies is obviously a tedious process. Each carrier has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, it is important to understand what they are and how well they suit your business needs.

To help you get better informed while making that decision, here’s an in-depth comparison of the three private giants, DHL, FedEx, and UPS — who have been in business for decades and have transported billions of parcels.

Although competing in the same line of business, DHL, FedEx, and UPS have a lot of things unique, particularly in line with their services, pricing, etc. By understanding these distinctive features, you can pick an option that aligns with your business’ shipping goals.

DHL Vs. FedEx Vs. UPS: An Overview

DHL

As of today, DHL is the world’s leading logistics company, with close to 600,000 employees and a reach of over 200 countries. In 2023, DHL generated a revenue of € 81,8 billion, equivalent to $103.86 billion.

DHL has four primary divisions, namely

DHL Express for fast and expedited shipments
DHL Global Forwarding for cargo shipments worldwide
DHL Supply Chain for a support system for both local and international business
DHL Ecommerce for standard residential delivery

Apart from being the largest, DHL is also known as the pioneer of low-carbon logistics, who come with the most extensive solutions to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. DHL has 36,000+

Electric delivery vehicles in its fleet and hopes to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

FedEx

Starting with 186 deliveries on its launch, FedEx now makes more than 14 million deliveries in a single day.

Similar to DHL, FedEx also operates in over 220 countries and territories. Additionally, FedEx boasts a vast network of convenient locations worldwide, including FedEx Office, FedEx Ship Centers, and authorized drop-off points — making it possible to pick up, drop off, or ship at more than 50,000 FedEx locations.

FedEx is also known for its efforts to give back to the community via charitable giving, investing in communities and helping businesses reach new markets, sustainable choices on deliveries, facilities, and packaging, etc.

UPS

UPS is the oldest of the three behemoths, starting services in 1907 and growing to more than 500,000
employees, services across 200+ countries & territories, 22M+ daily delivered packages, and a revenue of $91B (in 2023).

Similar to DHL and FedEx, UPS also stands to deliver social impact and address environmental challenges while delivering customers’ packages, and charitable giving via UPSers’ volunteerism. Thereby sharing commitment towards being a good steward of the planet and communities.

DHL, FedEx, or UPS: What Works Best for Your Business

While DHL, FedEx, and UPS work in the same niche, businesses that choose their services often come from varied domains that require these carriers to improvise with their catering.

To see which of the three carriers works best for your business, it is important to know your goals first — fast shipping, cheaper options, international reach, range of services, access to technology, and efficient customer service. And that will be classification criteria to evaluate carrier performances and decide who works best for your business.

Services offered by DHL, FedEx, and UPS

DHL operates a gamut of services to cater to the shipping needs of its customers – Some of its domestic non-freight service types are DHL SameDay Sprintline, DHL Express 9:00 Domestic, DHL Express 10:30 Domestic, DHL Express 12:00 Domestic, DHL Express 18:00 Domestic, and DHL Express Easy. Its international non-freight offerings include DHL Sameday Jetline, DHL Sameday Sprintline, DHL Express 9:00, DHL Express 10:30, DHL Express 12:00, DHL Express Worldwide, DHL Express Envelope, DHL Express Easy, and DHL Globalmail Business.

FedEx offers the following service types for non-freight shipments within the US – FedEx SameDay, FedEx SameDay City, FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight, FedEx 2Day A.M., FedEx 2Day, FedEx Express Saver, FedEx Ground, FedEx Home Delivery, and FedEx SmartPost. For non-freight international parcels – FedEx International Next Flight, FedEx International First, FedEx International Priority, FedEx International Economy, FedEx International MailService, FedEx International Priority DirectDistribution, FedEx International Economy DirectDistribution, and FedEx International Ground. FedEx has recently launched Network 2.0, an initiative combining Ground and Express networks to streamline operations and offer customers a simplified delivery experience.

UPS offers non-freight shipping service types for both domestic and international shipments – Within the US: UPS Express Critical – Domestic, UPS Ground, UPS Next Day Air Early, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Next Day Air Saver, UPS 2nd Day Air A.M., UPS 2nd Day Air, and UPS 3 Day Select. International – UPS Express Critical – International, UPS Worldwide Express Plus, UPS Worldwide Express Shipping, UPS Worldwide Saver, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Worldwide Expedited, UPS 2nd Day Air, and UPS Standard.

Distinctive features from DHL, FedEx, and UPS

DHL, FedEx, and UPS – each of them has its unique pros and cons:

FedEx is strong with overnight shipping, expedited 2-day, and 3-day deliveries, and offers advanced tracking and shipping solutions
UPS is strong in the ground shipment game and offers comprehensive supply chain management services
DHL has the broadest global presence among the three and is the most vocal about its environmental commitments

DHL, FedEx, or UPS: What to Choose

All three behemoths have their distinct advantages and disadvantages and it is quite unfair to pick the best one out of them.

Ultimately, the choice between the three carriers comes down to your specific business needs. A good ploy would be to use multiple carriers for different requirements so that you get the best out of each of them.

Apart from all these aspects, an important factor i.e. always overlooked while choosing a carrier is their delivery performance. Especially during times of high volume such as the holiday season or the pandemic period, shipping carriers have been known to have struggled to deliver on time amidst supply chain limitations.

Therefore, irrespective of shipping with DHL, FedEx, or UPS, start automatically auditing your parcel invoices with a tool like LateShipment.com to instantly save up to 20% of your shipping costs.

Recover refunds for 50+ carrier service failures like Late Deliveries, Lost Shipments, and Billing Errors
Gain delivery performance metrics to know where you’re seeing profits and review areas where you’re not
Compare cross-carrier spending to identify those that require reevaluation.
Not just DHL, UPS, and FedEx — supports all major global shipping carriers

The post DHL Vs. FedEx Vs. UPS: Shipping Carriers Compared appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Meet Carbon Surcharge: The newest addition to your shipping invoices

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 05:31:31 +0000

Major carriers all around the world increase the rates of their services at an average of 4 – 6% YoY.

While carriers transfer this burden of inflation to shippers via increased merchants, most merchants do not do the same to their customers but instead absorb shipping costs as a marketing technique to attract customers.

Returning to rate increases, carriers often cite reasons such as inflation around fuel surcharges and worker demand (particularly around the holiday season), and with the shipper on the onus of these increased rates, shipping is becoming costlier yearly!

If you’re an e-commerce merchant looking to cut down on shipping costs that are eating into your profits, this article is for you. Because not just the usual reasons, but there are instances where unexpected actions can create a domino effect that affects the entire supply chain and causes an increase in shipping rates (remember the surge that happened because of COVID-19?).

One such reason has taken shape in the last year and that is the rate increase in ‘Carbon surcharge’, which while looking trivial, has a role to play in making your shipping bills expensive.

Introducing Carbon Surcharge

Before meeting the carbon surcharge, it is important to understand where it comes from: Carbon taxes.

Multiple industries throughout the globe contribute significantly to emissions, and the shipping industry is no exception. But as the world is increasingly becoming aware of the environmental impacts of carbon emissions, they are indeed taking steps to reduce their carbon footprints.

One of the latest measures introduced to address this issue is the Carbon Tax, one levied on fossil fuel purchases, which is intended to encourage Canadians to reduce their consumption of polluting fuels.

In Canada, the carbon tax, also referred to as the price on carbon, first came into effect at $20 per tonne in October 2019. It has gone up since then, and reached $80 per tonne on April 1, 2024, up $15, from its previous cost of $65 per tonne.

While the carbon tax is set to impact every Canadian, it is set to impact shippers like you even more as carriers such as Canpar, have found a way to levy and increase the rate of ‘carbon surcharge’ for packages shipped through them.

In Canpar’s press release, they highlight that this surcharge affects multiple aspects of the economy and impacts costs across their entire network ranging from transportation costs to energy costs for heating, to equipment purchases and maintenance and hence, the rate increase.

Additionally, they mention that it has become necessary for them to apply a Carbon Surcharge of 2.5% effective from September 1st, 2023, for all shipments handled by them.

How is the Carbon Surcharge Calculated?

The Carbon Surcharge is typically calculated based on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions produced during the shipping process. Factors influencing the surcharge include:

Distance Traveled: Longer shipping distances generally result in higher CO2 emissions.
Mode of Transport: Different transportation methods have varying emission levels. For instance, air freight has a higher carbon footprint compared to sea or rail freight.
Weight and Volume: Heavier and bulkier shipments require more energy to transport, leading to higher emissions and, consequently, a higher surcharge.

Shipping companies may use carbon calculators or partner with environmental organizations to accurately assess and apply the surcharge.

What Does The Increase In Carbon Surcharge Mean For Businesses?

While Canpar has announced an increase in its carbon surcharge, citing financial and operational considerations, this move brings in specific challenges and opportunities for businesses that ship parcels with Canpar.

Increased Shipping Costs

For the elephant in the room, i,e, the most immediate impact of the increased carbon surcharge is the rise in shipping costs. If you’re a shipper that relies on Canpar for your logistics, you will see an uptick in their operational expenses that may affect your profit margins and force you to reevaluate your pricing strategies to accommodate the additional costs.

Additionally, you will need to adjust their budgets to account for the higher costs associated with the increased surcharge. This might require reallocating resources from other areas or finding ways to optimize operations to absorb this additional expense.

Supply Chain Optimization

The increase in the carbon surcharge by Canpar also encourages you to take a closer look at your supply chain and logistics operations.

For instance, you can:

Find the most efficient routes to reduce travel distance and time can help mitigate the impact of higher surcharges.
Combine shipments to reduce the number of trips can lead to reduced surcharge’s impact
Explore different shipping methods that may have lower carbon footprints compared to those with a higher surcharge, as a strategic move.

How Businesses Can Lower Their Shipping Costs And Make Profits

Carriers can afford to increase their surcharges and transfer the burden of inflation on you. But in most cases, you cannot afford to do that. Given that customers are picky with shipping costs and often go to the extent of expecting free shipping from the businesses they shop with, you are set to face the brunt of it.

So, what can do if you’re looking to cut down costs and reduce the impact of these surcharges? Of course, you can always settle with the option of reallocating budgets and optimizing supply chain routes. But what if I told you that there are even better options?

And that is to audit your shipping invoice, check for incorrect surcharges and overcharges, and claim full refunds for them. You can do this manually, exhausting all your time and resources or make use of an automated solution like LateShipment.com that eases your job.

How LateShipment.com’s automated shipping audit and refunds work

LateShipment.com automatically audits your invoices end-to-end (every invoice goes through a rigorous 160 data-point check, validating each charge against your shipping transactions, payment terms, and waivers) to identify service failures and billing discrepancies eligible for refunds.

The best part is that our automated systems promptly submit refund claims, in compliance with the carrier’s terms and conditions, securing all eligible refund credits, and ensuring that no surcharge is left out.

Also, our systems come with a surcharge spend analytics that helps you Understand surcharge patterns and their impact on shipping costs to keep you better positioned while negotiating parcel contract rates that work in your favor.

There’s a lot more you can do with LateShipment.com. Make sure you check it and ensure that you can try to cut down your shipping costs by as much as 20%.

Conclusion

Surcharges like the carbon surcharge represent a pivotal shift in the shipping industry. They are here to stay, increase, and take new forms as time passes. Of course, they reflect a growing environmental commitment and promote sustainability. But from the perspective of shipping carriers, the carbon tax is just an additional expenditure they’d like to pass on to shippers like you.

Again, there’s no blaming carriers for increasing surcharges to meet their ends, they work on your behalf after all. But that doesn’t mean you simply keep paying shipping carriers more than you ought to. Keep your invoices in check, claim refunds wherever you can, and ultimately ensure better performances from them for the costs that you pay.

The post Meet Carbon Surcharge: The newest addition to your shipping invoices appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

A Guide to FedEx and UPS Delivery Signature Options

Sashank Ravindranath — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 13:10:49 +0000

In the world of shipping and logistics, ensuring your packages reach their destination safely and securely is crucial and carriers ensure their full-on commitment to it.

One aspect of this process is the carrier getting a confirmation of receipt upon successfully delivering a package to its intended recipient or an authorized individual at the delivery address through a signature. This signature helps carriers ensure security and accountability throughout the delivery process.

Before diving into the specifics of FedEx and UPS signature options, let’s first understand what they entail:

Understanding Delivery Signature Options

Both FedEx and UPS offer various signature options to accommodate the diverse needs of businesses and customers. These delivery signature options allow senders to choose the level of security and verification required for their shipments, depending on the nature of the package and recipient preferences.

Why shippers need to choose delivery signature options

Shipping out packages comes with a lot of risk up until the delivery is made. Hence, shippers need to ensure secure and reliable delivery of packages while meeting regulatory requirements. This is where delivery signature options come in to help shippers maintain accountability and compliance.

Requiring delivery verification, especially for high-value shipments ensures that the package has arrived safely without falling into the wrong hands such as porch pirates among other reasons, and thereby offers you peace of mind.

As a shipper, it’s essential to consider factors such as the value of the shipment, recipient availability, and the level of security required when selecting a delivery signature option.

In this blog, we’ll explore the different delivery signature options provided by FedEx and UPS, helping you determine which one is best suited for your shipping requirements.

FedEx Delivery Signature Options

FedEx provides three options when shippers require a signature upon delivery. Each option accommodates different shipment requirements.

1. FedEx Adult Signature Required

Costs around $8.15 in 2024
Specifically designed for shipments containing age-restricted items, particularly at least 21 years old at the delivery address.
A government-issued photo identification is required
When there is no eligible recipient at the delivery location, FedEx may re-attempt the delivery
Firearms are one type of shipment where an adult signature is required

2. FedEx Direct Signature Required

Costs around $6.75 in 2024
Designed for shipments that are to be delivered at a location instead of a specific individual
Any person physically available at the location can sign for the delivery
When there is no eligible recipient at the delivery location, FedEx may re-attempt the delivery
Automatically applies to all packages equal to or greater than $500. However, the direct signature required fee will not apply to these packages

3. FedEx Indirect Signature Required

Costs around $6.75 in 2024
This allows FedEx to collect a signature even from some nearby the location such as neighbors, front office, or building managers
Even if there’s no eligible recipient at the delivery location, FedEx can still make the delivery without re-attempting, given that the recipient has authorized

Just like FedEx, UPS too has its own set of Delivery Signature Options or Confirmation Services that are served as a value-added service because they’re slightly more safer than just a regular ‘delivered’ parcel tracking notification.

UPS Delivery Signature Options

1. UPS Delivery Confirmation

Costs around $6.75 in 2024
Includes a delivery date, the name of the recipient, and if the package is being returned, the reason for the return is mentioned

2. UPS Signature Required

Costs around $6.75 in 2024
A physical recipient is not required at the location as UPS accepts any electronic acknowledgment of receipt from the individual to deliver the package

3. UPS Adult Signature Required

Costs around $8.15 in 2024
Specifically designed for shipments containing age-restricted items, particularly at least 21 years old at the delivery address.
A government-issued photo identification is required
An additional voice authorization or ‘Proof of Delivery’ option is available, where UPS may call the person physically available at the delivery location for an additional $5.00

Final Word

Be it FedEx or UPS, delivery signature options don’t come cheap. Also, these rates increase during peak season times and have a consistent YoY increase. Of course, paying an additional $7 will give you the peace of mind of your package reaching its destination safely and securely but you can also cut these costs in several ways:

Make full utilization of these options: For instance, let’s say you’ve ordered some wine for your boss’ retirement party and it requires an adult signature. In such cases, ensure that either you or an adult is at the delivery location to collect the package instead of re-delivery attempts.
Limit further re-delivery attempts: When you’re out of town but have a series of packages that require direct signatures, you can redirect your shipments to a FedEx location for 5-10 days.
Negotiate with your carrier: if you’re a high-volume shipper or have a long-standing relationship with the carrier, you can also negotiate a contract with your shipping carrier that includes favorable terms and pricing for delivery signature options.

Also, wrongly added delivery signature costs are a common sighting in your shipping invoices. In such cases, you can audit your invoices and file refund claims for such additional charges.

In conclusion, both carriers offer a range of delivery signature options to accommodate diverse shipment requirements. Make sure you select the right option for your needs and ensure the costs that come along with them aren’t straining your wallet.

The post A Guide to FedEx and UPS Delivery Signature Options appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

FedEx & UPS Rate Increase for 2024

Rohan Rinaldo Felix — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 12:25:53 +0000

Introduction To The Rate Increase By Fedex And Ups In 2024

Counterparts, rivals, competitors — call them what you want. Shipping behemoths FedEx and UPS follow almost identical practices when it comes to services or rate increases by an average of 5.9% YoY. The rates have been identically increasing for 7 years in a row but somehow, they still have the potential to impact e-commerce businesses, particularly SMBs, who operate on a limited bandwidth.

If you’re a part of an SMB business, being aware of this spike by shipping carriers can help you plan out your shipping strategy in advance and put you ahead in your last-mile game. To save you time, we’ve charted out the data for you!

Make sure to read till the end for ways to save on shipping in 2024 and reduce the impact of FedEx & UPS’ General Rate Increase on your business.

Why Are FedEx and UPS Rates Increasing YoY?

A question on the minds of all regular shippers at some point — why do these behemoths, who dominate the U.S. carrier market, with a combined market share of around 70% by revenue keep increasing the rate of their services YoY and burdening several growing e-commerce businesses?

The answer is a no-brainer and it is not just one particular reason but several factors that lead FedEx and UPS to increase the rates of their services each year.

Inflation – The supply chain and logistics is a very uncertain space that constantly needs fixes and improvements in order to run smoothly and efficiently. A major hindrance to the smooth running of the supply chain is the ever-rising inflation that impacts labor costs, fuel prices, cost of materials and equipment used in shipping operations, leading to higher overall expenses for shipping carriers. To cover these costs and maintain profitability, FedEx and UPS have no choice but to directly pass on these increased costs to customers.
Increase in demand – While the growth rate has slowed down since the pandemic, e-commerce is still growing. This means, the number of packages being sent out for delivery is on the rise — leading to an increase in demand for infrastructure and resources and thereby impacting costs.
Strategic investments = There are also frequent investments being done in technology innovations such as fleet maintenance and other areas. Not to forget, as competing businesses, they are prone to focus on profitability and shareholder value and anticipate potential economic fluctuations.

Also, it is important to note that while the average YoY increase is around 5.9%, the actual impact on individual shipments can vary based on service type, destination, and other factors. A breakdown of each carrier’s rate increases will give us a better understanding. Let’s start with the increased rates of FedEx in 2024.

FedEx Rate Increase Details for 2024

Amidst all these rate increases, shippers who opt for FedEx can be slightly relieved due to the fact that the General Rate Increase (GRI) for 2024 is at an average of 5.9%, which is 1% lower than last year’s rate increase.

However, for most shippers, the increase will be more than just 5.9%. For instance, additional handling on oversized packages will increase by about 20%. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how rate increases impact your spending with FedEx. While it’s impossible to take a deep dive on every rate increase, we have managed to cover some key takeaways for all shippers.

Domestic Express services will see an average increase of 6.25%, with packages shipped through FedEx 2 Day, will see an increase of 6.83%, followed by 2 Day AM at 6.65% and 6.39%. FedEx First Overnight sees lowest increase at 5.46%
Domestic Ground services as always have different classifications based on different zones and weights, where without surprise — packages shipped to longer distances (zones 5-8) or are heavier (11 pounds or more) see the highest increase at an average of more than 6%.
FedEx Home Delivery packages are almost similar to Ground packages but will see an additional $5.55 residential surcharge and a rate increase of 6.36%.
Another often overlooked part of the GRI is the minimum charges that you’ll be paying for the shipment regardless of the weight, distance, and other factors. These minimums ensure profitability for the carriers, especially for smaller packages or shipments to remote areas. Faster shipments such as FedEx Priority Overnight will see an increase of 7.88%, followed by Standard Overnight at 7.50%.

The following FedEx Express and FedEx Ground surcharges will also take effect on January 2024:

Effective January 1, 2024, FedEx will be increasing customs clearance service fees on imports.
Effective January 15, 2024, FedEx will assess the Additional Handling Surcharge and Oversize Charge per eligible package for international multi-piece shipments, instead of per shipment. The affected surcharges are the Additional Handling Surcharge (Dimensions, Weight, Packaging, Freight, and Non-Stackable) and the Oversize Charge.

UPS Rate Increase Details for 2024

UPS has followed suit with FedEx almost similarly across the table, starting with dropping the GRI from 6.9% last year.

Similar to FedEx, UPS has kept the shorter Zones (2-4) lower than the 5.9% increase, while shipping options such as 2nd Day Air and 3 Day Select rates in Zones 5-8 have an increase rate of nearly 8%.
On the other hand, when it comes to rate increases based on weight, lighter packages (falling below the 1-10 lbs mark) have a maximum increase of 6.65%
For minimum charges, faster shipping options such as Next Day Air and Next Day Air Saver see the highest increase at 7.91% and 7.51% respectively.

The following UPS surcharges have also been effective since December 26, 2023:

UPS also introduced an increase in rates for specific Value-Added services and other charges like additional handling rates for both weight and dimension-based packages. For instance, in Zone 2 the Additional Weight Handling rate will go from $29.00 to $34.50, and the Dimensions (Length, Width, Length+Girth) will increase from $18.50 to $22.00 (a rise of 16% in each case).
Additional Handling fees will also be imposed on international shipments weighing 55 pounds or more. UPS has also stated that when a commercial fee is submitted in connection with a shipment, a fee of up to $5.00 per shipment will be applied to the shipper if the commercial invoice is not provided in digital form using UPS Paperless Invoice services before the processing of the commercial invoice by UPS.

How E-commerce Businesses Can Prepare for the Rate Increase

It is without a doubt that the service rate hikes by FedEx and UPS will definitely impact the spending threshold of all businesses that ship. However, it’s no time to panic! There are definite ways to help mitigate the impact and even turn this tide into an opportunity to reduce shipping costs.

1. Strategies for Mitigating the Impact on Shipping Costs

Make use of multiple shipping carriers: If you’re a regular shipper with a mid to high shipping volume, don’t just use a single carrier for your shipping needs. Explore alternative carriers and regional shipping providers for competitive rates and service options.
Negotiate Volume Discounts: Shipping through multiple carriers also creates a bargaining opportunity to negotiate lower rates or better terms with your existing carriers and cut down costs.
Offer Free Shipping with Minimum Order Thresholds: Encourage customers to ship more by offering free shipping for purchases exceeding a specific amount or multiple products.
Implement a Flat-Rate Shipping Model: For certain product categories or domestic shipments, consider a flat-rate shipping charge to simplify and potentially control costs.
Consolidate Shipments: Combine multiple orders into a single shipment whenever possible. This reduces the number of parcels, lowering shipping expenses.
Explore Cost-Effective Shipping Options: Investigate alternative shipping methods, such as regional carriers or third-party logistics providers (3PLs). These options may offer competitive rates and service quality.
Understand Dimensional (DIM) Weight Pricing: Familiarize yourself with dimensional weight pricing, which factors in package size. Adjust your packaging and shipping strategies accordingly to avoid unnecessary charges.

2. Considerations for renegotiating shipping contracts

Evaluate Current Contracts: Carefully review your existing contracts with FedEx and UPS. Identify areas where you can negotiate for improved rates, discounts, and service levels.
Gather Data and Analysis: Before entering negotiations, prepare data on your shipping volume, service usage, etc to strengthen your bargaining position.
Contract Flexibility: Seek flexibility in your contracts to adapt to changing needs. Consider shorter contract terms and options to adjust rates as market conditions evolve.

3. Optimizing shipping practices to minimize expenses

Invest in Shipping Software: Explore shipping software solutions that provide real-time rate comparisons, print labels, and manage orders.
Leverage Automation: Automate repetitive tasks, such as order processing to not only save time but to minimize labor costs, streamline processes, and reduce manual errors.
Real-Time Tracking: Implement real-time tracking and monitoring of shipments to identify potential issues early and proactively resolve them, thereby reducing the risk of costly delays or returns.
Utilize Fulfillment Centers: Strategically locate fulfillment centers closer to major customer bases to reduce shipping distances and potentially qualify for lower zone rates.
Offer Pick-up Options: Allow customers to pick up their orders at local stores or designated locations to eliminate shipping costs.

How LateShipment.com can help in Navigating the Rate Increase

Check your contract with your shipping carrier, be it FedEx or UPS, and ensure that you haven’t signed any money-back guarantee waiver — as there are a lot more pitfalls than benefits in signing them.

For instance, you may overpay shipping bills by up to 20% by not claiming refunds from shipping carriers for service failures and billing errors.

The Money Back Guarantee policy of shipping carriers promises 100% refunds on shipping charges if a parcel is delayed even by 60 seconds. You can claim refunds for carrier service failures and billing errors.

However, manually claiming refunds from carriers can be both exhaustive and expensive, making it extremely challenging to recover refunds for valid claims before their eligibility window expires.

On the other hand, LateShipment.com automates the process of auditing your shipping invoices regularly and claims refunds for 50+ carrier errors that include late deliveries, incorrect surcharges, lost or damaged packages, and more. By regularly claiming refunds and holding your carrier accountable for your service failures, you can ensure better quality service from them, and save up to 20% on shipping expenses.

That’s not all! LateShipment.com also helps you analyze your carrier’s performance and getting insights on performance lapses such as delays or lost parcels. This will put you in control of shipping rates and help you negotiate for better rates.

You can also take note of our data-rich shipping reports and conclude which carrier works best for which type of delivery/destination/cost/customer/product.

Conclusion

The logistics landscape is dynamic, and the 2024 FedEx and UPS rate increases are just one wave in its constant flow. By proactively planning, making informed decisions, and embracing a culture of continuous optimization, businesses can navigate these changes with confidence, turning every tide into a springboard for growth and success.

Remember, the key lies in flexibility, strategic foresight, and a commitment to delivering exceptional value to your customers. So, raise your sails, adjust your course, and confidently sail towards a prosperous future in the ever-evolving world of shipping.

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Shipping Insurance Guide for E-commerce Businesses

Sashank Ravindranath — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 09:13:15 +0000

As an e-commerce business owner, you’re no stranger to the intricate world of shipping and logistics. You work tirelessly to ensure that your products are carefully packaged, promptly shipped, and arrive safely in the hands of your customers.

But in the unpredictable realm of shipping, accidents and mishaps can happen anytime and to anyone, potentially hurting your relationships with your customers. That’s where shipping insurance steps in to save the day.

If you’re an e-commerce merchant worried about the probability of such issues and their impact, you can try your hand at getting shipping insurance to help you cover such costs.

A Look into Shipping Insurance

Imagine making a successful sale to one of your high-value customers and getting a notification from them, a few days later, that the package has been damaged.

All of you can think about how you need to recover from this. Even if you reimburse the entire cost to ensure your customer won’t be disappointed, you still have to be worried about the financial loss that you’re set to face.

But if you had shipping insurance, you wouldn’t have to worry.

Shipping insurance would reimburse you for the value of the lost package, so you could replace it for your customer and still make a profit.

Shipping insurance is like a safety net for e-commerce businesses. It protects your shipments from financial losses in the event of lost, damaged, stolen packages, or even natural disasters.

While that’s to scratch the surface, while talking in-depth, package insurance is a much-needed aspect of shippers. Here’s how.

The Importance of Shipping Insurance

E-commerce businesses should insure their packages for several crucial reasons:

1. It offers protection against loss and damage

We’ll start with the most basic reason — insurance stands to protect your shipments against common errors such as loss and damage.

A well known fact is that shipping is a complex process, and packages can be lost or damaged during transit. Stats say that 11-15% of packages get lost or damaged in the U.S. in a year. Your customers’ packages can end up being one of them too.

With proper protection in the form of insurance, losses and damages will only be considered as isolated shipping incidents instead of having the potential to cause any actual harm to your business.

2. It is easy to get yet an invaluable asset for your business

Since insurance is added per package, it is actually easy as paying an additional fee to your shipping costs and can be done with minimal to low paperwork. Despite being easy to get, shipping insurance must not be considered trivial, as it has multiple pros for your business.

With insurance, your business has a backup both against damages as well as losses they bring. On the customer front, compensating them when faced with issues helps in restoring both lost customer satisfaction and brand reputation.

3. It offers steady peace of mind

In your business’ daily operations, the last thing you want to worry about is the potential for significant loss due to damage or shortage.

Investing in shipping insurance based on your thorough understanding of carrier and third-party options as well as the importance of documentation will help you get the most out of your insurance plan, giving you peace of mind in your shipping procedures.

4. It offers a sense of financial security

The cost of a lost or damaged shipment can be really high, especially for high-value items or fragile products.

$500K is the estimated loss for e-commerce businesses from lost and damaged packages in a year. (Source: National Retail Federation)

Worry not! Shipping insurance provides financial security by covering the declared value of the shipment, preventing your business from bearing the full cost.

With shipping insurance providing financial protection, you can practically ensure that your business doesn’t suffer financial losses when such incidents occur.

5. It mitigates unforeseen risks

Now getting to the part for what shipping insurance actually stands for.

No matter how equipped your businesses are, there are always unforeseen events such as theft, natural disasters, or accidents in the post-purchase phase that have the potential to hurt your business.

By having insured your packages, you can ensure that your business doesn’t suffer significant financial losses due to circumstances beyond your control. This way there is complete preparation — even against threats you don’t see coming.

In short, with guaranteed protection from financial losses and reputational damage, shipping insurance is an investment that is not to be missed out on for e-commerce businesses.

Now that you have better clarity on what shipping insurance brings to the table, let’s move on to different insurance options for you to choose from.

What Are the Different Types of Shipping Insurance

If you’re planning to get started with shipping insurance, there are two primary options for you:

Carrier Insurance: Many shipping carriers, such as FedEx, UPS, and USPS, offer insurance as an optional add-on service. This type of insurance is convenient because it can be purchased directly through the carrier when shipping a package. However, carrier insurance may have limitations in terms of coverage and reimbursement.
Third-Party Insurance: E-commerce businesses can also opt for third-party insurance providers specializing in shipping coverage. These providers offer more flexibility and often provide broader coverage options than carrier-provided insurance. They may also be cost-effective for businesses with frequent shipments.

How to Get the Most out of Shipping Insurance

1. Understand what’s usually covered in parcel insurance

Beyond general guidelines from insurance providers, it is important to understand that there are some exceptions to what is and isn’t covered by them.

For instance, major carriers such UPS, FedEx, and USPS do not insure precious stones or coins. Also, the maximum declared value for a lot of items including artworks, antiques, highly fragile items, dangerous goods, etc. are lesser compared to traditional items with most carriers.

Thus, in your effort to understand what is covered by the major carriers, it’ll be helpful to review similar freight exclusions that may limit your return on investing in shipping insurance.

2. Strengthen claims with documentation

Insurance claims are much easier to fill out with documentation. Properly documenting loss or damage will make for a faster, smoother, and easier claims process.

To clarify and strengthen your claim, take notes and photographs of the freight to prove that it was damaged or otherwise compromised in transport. Most importantly, holding onto documents like the original bill of lading, a paid freight invoice, and a packing slip will be helpful in allowing you to identify and file claims.

When there is a concealed damage or shortage that’s discovered after the proof of delivery is signed, it can often be more difficult to get your full claim back. Thus, it’s essential to thoroughly examine incoming shipments for quality and document anything that may seem out of order before signing for the delivery.

Documentation is critical because it’s the way your company can prove loss, damage, or shortages in the insurance process. Leverage it strategically for the most success with claims.

3. Explore third-party options

Like we mentioned earlier, large carriers aren’t the only organizations that offer shipping insurance to companies. There are also plenty of third-party options that provide businesses with their own benefits.

A third-party shipping insurance provider like LateShipment.com can turn out to be an incredibly simple way of protecting your parcels by helping you optimize costs at scale.

Comprehensive protection to ship every order with a peace of mind
Intelligent insurance automation to help you decide what get’s insured and what doesn’t
Unified portal to effortlessly manage insurance claims
Actionable insights to optimize operations and risk management

And so much more…

This is a guest post by Sydney Wess

Sydney Wess writes about supply chain and e-commerce trends for Clutch.

Wrapping up - Prevent Delivery Issues in the First Place

Shipping insurance is a valuable investment that helps you recover shipping expenses that arise due to common delivery issues, which otherwise may prove to be significant losses for your e-commerce business. But what if you could prevent such delivery issues in the first place and reserve insurance only for emergencies?

LateShipment.com’s Delivery Experience Management helps you stay ahead of lost or damaged packages with ease via real-time tracking that lets you identify delivery issues beforehand.

Since you get to know well in advance if a package is flagged as lost or damaged, it gives you an edge when you get in touch with the carrier to resolve the issue or send a quick replacement or offer exclusive discounts for customers who are facing them.

Well that’s all from us. It is now your turn to prevent delivery issues from damaging your customer relationships and lead to unwanted costs. Reduce the negative impact of delivery issues by 80% by proactively communicating with your customers and catering to their needs.

The days of worrying over delivery issues are long gone. It is time to recover unfortunate losses and avoid losing customers for such incidents.

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How to Ensure Better Performance from Shipping Carriers

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 13:29:44 +0000

The Importance of On-time Delivery

On-time deliveries are a business’ best practice. Yet they do not captivate customers like same-day delivery or free shipping promises do. However, failing to make on-time deliveries gives you a bad reputation.

But..but…keeping deliveries on time is not so easy, given that on-time delivery is in the hands of your shipping partner.

In such situations, it is natural to ensure a better performance from the shipping carrier that you’re using.

To do that, we’ll have to first understand the role shipping carriers in ensuring on-time deliveries.

The Role of Shipping Carriers in Ensuring On-time Deliveries

Once the package has been handed over to the shipping carrier, they take control of your customers’ post-purchase experiences as well.

Despite carriers’ efforts to deliver your customers’ parcels on time, delays occur daily, largely because of carriers straining their capacity to meet on-time deliveries.

That’s not all! 7 out of 10 common causes of delays are because of the shipping carrier — ranging from poor warehouse management to failed delivery attempts.

And the worst part about these delays is the fact that the responsibility falls on you rather than the shipping carrier.

Customers who have faced a delay on packages that are most valuable to them will definitely not shop with you again. And if that’s not enough, frustrated former customers also end up posting negative reviews on social media and deter potential customers from choosing your business.

Thus, it is clear that your shipping carriers’ performance has a significant effect on your customer experience (and wallet!).

That said, you can make use of a solution such as LateShipment.com that helps you deliver phenomenal post-purchase CX and measurable results such as a better quality of service and an on-time delivery guarantee from your shipping partner.

How E-commerce Businessses Can Ensure On-time Deliveries and Better Performance from Shipping Carriers

1. Collect delivery feedback from customers to identify areas of improvement

Your customers are the ultimate end users when it comes to order deliveries.

If they are not satisfied with the delivery experience provided, they would not only show their frustration at the carrier but also at the business that is making use of the carrier as well. Therefore, it is wise to understand what they think of the delivery experiences they receive.

Collect your customers’ feedback on delivery experiences to know whether all that time, money, and effort you spent is working in your favor. You can then use this valuable data to make the right decisions when it comes to shipping and identify areas of improvement such as delivering on time.

With the help of LateShipment.com’s Delivery Experience Management (DEM) platform, you can:

Capture your customers’ Delivery Satisfaction (DSAT) rating after every order delivery and
Monitor the average DSAT scores of customers to optimize the shipping & delivery process

Consistently improving your customers’ post-purchase can help you promote your brand’s credibility.

2. Review carrier performance scores via comparison reports

Shipping takes a lot of effort, time, and most importantly money. It is only smart that you review and evaluate your choices and decisions with the help of good data

LateShipment.com provides you a detailed assessment of how your carrier’s delivery performance fares against service-specific delivery standards in the form of intuitive reports.

With this data at hand, you can get a single consolidated view of delivery performance metrics across carriers, services, and geographies. You can then dig deeper to uncover gaps in carrier performance and know where you’re seeing profits and review areas where you’re not.

That’s not all! You can now make informed decisions and efficient last-mile carrier choices that can inevitably increase the odds of on-time deliveries.

3. Hold your carriers accountable by regularly collecting refunds for their service failures

About one-third of customers won’t repurchase from a merchant after a late delivery.

So, why bear the brunt of delivery issues?

It’s only fair to hold your carriers accountable for their mistakes. And you can do that by regularly auditing your shipping invoices and claiming refunds.

Each package shipped through major carriers comes with a service guarantee. It’s an assurance that the package will be delivered within a committed time, failing which they offer a complete refund of the shipping cost.

There are more than 50 service failures, overcharges, and discrepancies that are eligible for refunds. When unclaimed, this money that you’re entitled to be just left on the table.

Keeping a close watch on delivery issues and claiming refunds where due, also ensures better service quality by your shipping carriers.

Bottom Line

Apart from helping you ensure a better performance from your shipping carriers, LateShipment.com also helps you do bigger things with your post-purchase by combining stellar delivery experiences with easy, seamless returns and not to forget, recovering eligible refunds from your carriers.

Try LateShipment.com for free now and grow your fanbase, savings, and business. We’re ready when you are. Ready to get started?

If you still have questions for us, we’re all ears.

The post How to Ensure Better Performance from Shipping Carriers appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

How to Reduce the Impact of Oversize Charge on Shipping Costs

Joelah James — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 15:50:42 +0000

Shipping is an expensive part of any ecommerce business. Therefore, it is wise to cut corners wherever you can to save on costs and grow your business. However, that may not be as easy as it sounds.

Your shipping bills can contain additional expenses over existing shipping fees that can put a dent in your wallet and deter your plans to save on shipping costs.

One of such expenses is an oversize charge, which unfortunately is a common expense for businesses dealing with particularly large products such as pianos, washing machines, refrigerators, etc to name a few.

With the right optimization techniques, businesses dealing in large goods can reduce the impact of oversize charges. But first, let’s understand the basics.

What is an Oversize Charge?

An oversize charge is a surcharge levied on packages that exceed the carrier’s permitted weight. This charge is applied to the package’s actual weight or dimensional weight, whichever is higher.

Major carriers such as FedEx and UPS treat oversized packages differently according to their own calculation and nomenclature.

FedEx Oversize Charge

A FedEx Oversize Charge is applied to packages that exceed 96 inches in length or 130 inches in length and girth.

As we mentioned, the surcharge will be based on the greater of the package’s actual rounded weight or dimensional weight with 90 lb as the minimum billable weight.

FedEx also suggests that the package shape and dimensions may change during transit, affecting the package’s dimensional weight and surcharge eligibility. In such cases, FedEx may make appropriate adjustments to the charges at any time.

UPS Large Package Surcharge

A Large Package Surcharge is applied to each UPS package when its length plus girth [(2 x width) + (2 x height)] combined exceeds 300 cm but does not exceed the maximum UPS size of 400 cm.

Large Packages are subject to a minimum billable weight of 40 kg in addition to the surcharge itself.

UPS does not apply an Additional Handling charge when a Large Package Surcharge is levied.

Catching up with the Price Hike for Oversize Charges in 2022

If these surcharges don’t worry you enough, keep in mind that FedEx and UPS increase the rates of these surcharges YoY. Not to forget the additional peak surcharge during the holiday season.

In 2022, both FedEx and UPS increased the rates of their services by an average of 5.9%. This applies to oversize and large packages as well, making you, the retailer, feel the brunt end of the price hike.

Here’s a quick rundown of the FedEx and UPS Oversized and Large Package price hike.

FedEx price hike for Oversize Charges in 2022

As of January 24, any packages sent under FedEx Express and Ground services will cost a minimum of $110 to a maximum of $145 (which was $105 in 2021) based on the designated FedEx zone of the destination.

Similarly, FedEx Home Delivery will cost anywhere between $135 to $170 from a common $130 for all zones in 2021.

That’s not all! Oversize Packages under International Express and International Ground services will now cost $145 per shipment, a significant increase over $105 the previous year.

UPS price hike for Large Package Surcharge in 2022

Just like FedEx, UPS too has increased the rates for Large Packages with effect from December 26, 2021.

Commercial packages that are considered large and oversized can cost you between $110 to $140 based on the zone under which the destination is marked.

Residential packages, on the other hand, are even more expensive and can cost you between $135 to $165, with an increase of $10, $15, and $20 based on the respective zones.

While this rate change did not come as a surprise to many, it shows shipping carriers’ stand on oversized packages. They have made it downright difficult for shippers to ship heavier items without paying a pretty penny.

What Do Oversize Charges Mean for Your Business?

While retailers are still coming to terms with the effect the price hike will have on their margins, those who deal with furniture, gym equipment, mattresses, home appliances, etc are worried even more. These particular retailers will now have to come up with other inventive means to make up for the loss.

Shipping carriers would no doubt get the better end of the deal when such products are shipped. But, the main motive behind the rate hike seems to be the need to compensate for their significant losses due to COVID-19 without regard for ecommerce businesses, who went through the same ordeal.

However, all things considered. There are still ways for your business to make sure that the damage as a result of Oversized Packages surcharges and regular increases in their rates is trivial.

What You Can Do to Minimize the Impact of This (Significant) Hike

Try renegotiating the terms of your contract with your shipping carrier (in this case FedEx or UPS) and work out a cheaper alternative if you are a bulk shipper.
Consider choosing Freight services if your profit margins are affected too much (delivery usually takes 4-6 business days).
If the alternate service options aren’t working out, you could consider shipping with other carriers who can accommodate oversized packages at better rates.
If the product consists of various parts that could be divided and shipped, then you could dismantle it and then send it. This would work with automobile parts, electronics, gym equipment, furniture, or bikes.
In the case of mattresses, investing in compression boxes or packaging might be a tad more cost-effective than paying the oversize price.

How Lateshipment.Com Can Help

Does your company have an issue with oversized packages? Many shippers really have no idea of what they are paying for when they pay an invoice from their shipping carrier.

In this case, LateShipment.com can help you reduce your shipping costs from additional expenses such as Oversized charges.

Firstly, LateShipment.com helps you regularly audit your shipping invoices and claim eligible refunds to recover up to 20% of your shipping cost.

Apart from delivery issues, this also includes incorrect surcharges and billing errors such as duplicate entries and complex DIM weight errors, helping you save up to $170 per package in 2022.

That’s not all! We can also help you renegotiate your contract with your shipping partner.

LateShipment.com provides you with carrier performance reports that let you dig deeper to uncover gaps, know where you’re seeing profits, and review areas where you’re not.

The reports equip you with good data while renegotiating contracts with shipping carriers and can help things work in your favor.

Not just that, keeping a close watch on carrier performances and claiming regular refunds also ensures better service quality by your shipping carriers.

In conclusion, LateShipment.com’s automated Parcel Audit and Refunds solution can help you with these Oversized Charges and Large Package Surcharge with FedEx and UPS respectively.

The post How to Reduce the Impact of Oversize Charge on Shipping Costs appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Porch Pirates: How to Handle Them and Prevent Package Theft

Rohan Rinaldo Felix — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 00:00:56 +0000

Imagine if a product you’ve longed to collect for years gets stolen from you. And guess what? It was stolen right at your doorstep by fellow people dubbed ‘the porch pirates.’

Package thefts are so frustrating for the customer because of the fact that they can’t hold anyone responsible for the mishap of not being able to get their hands on their much awaited purchases except themselves and the “pirates” who scooted away with their package.

But you as an ecommerce business owner can save your customers from such bad times and stop package theft by porch pirates or if not even drastically reduce them to a great extent.

However, before we get to know the ‘how’ part, let’s take a further look at porch pirates and their impact on your business.

Who Are Porch Pirates and How They Can Affect Your Business?

Porch pirates are average individuals or a group who steal packages off customers’ doorstep or porches when it is left unattended.

Much like kleptomaniacs, Porch pirates are simply opportunists who cannot resist an opportunity to pick up packages they see lying on doorsteps or porches.

A recent study by Safewise found that a staggering 210 million packages vanished from porches across the US over the past 12 months.

The scale of the problem is only getting worse as more people begin to shop online. The problem gets exacerbated during the holiday season because it’s at this time of the year that people shop online the most. And it is common for people to leave on holiday while ordered packages lie on their doorstep.

Worry not! The situation is not out of hand. There are measures your business can take to stay safe from the scourge of package thieves that America is facing. Here are some things you could do.

What Retailers Can Do to Prevent Package Theft by Porch Pirates

There are a lot of ways in which retailers and shoppers can work together to prevent a theft attempt by porch pirates. Let’s take a look at the ways in the timeline of the order delivery cycle even before it gets shipped.

1. Package discreetly

When a package is dropped off on the porch of a house, it can sit up like a duck waiting to be shot. Porch pirates dream about just such a situation. Packaging discreetly can help avoid this situation.

There are many ways to make a package discreet. One way is to avoid excessive branding. Another way to make a package less noticeable is to reduce the amount of product-descriptive text on it.

Larger boxes are more attractive to porch pirates because they give the impression of a larger pay-off. Using a box that fits the size of the product will help make the package less noticeable while also helping to reduce the cost of shipping.

2. Provide your customers with flexible delivery options

It is best to start by leaving things to the judgment of your customers and the utmost importance for them would be the delivery.

There is a multitude of choices when it comes to making your delivery options flexible.

For example: you can provide multiple shipping and delivery options like Same-day delivery, BOPIS, etc to let your customers choose their own delivery time and follow up with offering 4-5 time windows throughout the day.

Apart from package safety, such flexibility in delivery options can also help you increase conversions, lower cart abandonment, and improve brand loyalty in general.

3. Keep your customers updated about the status of shipments

Proper communication is key to eliminating many of the pain points of the post-purchase shipping experience. This is a good way to deal with the risk of package theft as well.

The first aspect of proper communication with customers is to provide them with the right estimate of the delivery date and time.
The next step to be taken is to give them periodic updates on the status of the parcel in transit. These updates can be provided via SMS or e-mail or both. This will help customers be prepared at the time of delivery.
The final step in this process of communication is to drop a message once the actual delivery is about to be/has been performed. A helpline number can be provided to assist in case of discrepancies.

4. Use emerging technologies to ensure safe delivery

Using emerging technologies can help you stay one step ahead of porch pirates.

A lot of businesses today have come up with package guarding technologies that can come in handy for your customers. You can suggest any of these technologies to your customers and play a role in providing a safe delivery. This, in turn, can help in improving their post-purchase experience.

Amazon has come up with the Amazon Key, a smart lock that allows delivery persons to place packages not only at homes but also in garages and cars when the customer isn’t available at home.
There’s also the Amazon locker at select locations, that customers can make use of to pick up their packages with a unique code.
Suggest using package guarding services such as The Package Guard or Door Box to protect your packages via secure locks and anti- theft alarms, etc.
Encourage customers to install doorbell cameras and home security systems to deter porch pirates in most cases.

Such technologies can be especially useful when shoppers are away on a short trip or a long holiday vacation.

That’s not all! If you’re still concerned about your customers’ packages being stolen, know that there are many measures available to them to deter package thieves.

What Shoppers Can Do to Prevent Package Theft by Porch Pirates

1. Route Packages to Office Addresses

Home deliveries are fraught with problems: package thieves looting drop-off deliveries, irresponsible mailmen or carriers leaving packages on the front door without even knocking or ringing the door, pre-signing delivery without consent, or delaying home delivery by sending notifications too early.

All this can be avoided by routing packages to office addresses where they are processed officially. The probability of losing packages to package thieves is much less with office deliveries. This is also why FedEx/UPS charges more to deliver to residential zip codes than to office zip codes.

2. Mandate signatures on delivery

A mandated signature delivery can help in preventing package theft in most cases. An arrangement can be signed off with mutual consent from the sender and the receiver (you, that is). If a package is lost and there is no signature of delivery, a legal procedure can ensure that you receive a replacement or full refund.

3. Place packages on hold when on holiday

If you are away on holiday, you can opt to place your pending packages on hold. While USPS and FedEx offer a free service to hold packages for a certain period, UPS charges for every rescheduling.

4. Opt for in-store pickup

Click-and-collect is increasingly becoming a trend. Using this mode of delivery, you can order online and collect the ordered parcel from an outlet located near your home. This mode is particularly useful for ordering a larger number of items.

Bottom Line

While the threat of package theft continues to increase year on year, some measures can be taken by both retailers and customers to ensure package safety and a smooth last-mile experience. Retailers, shipping carriers, and end customers need to work hand in hand to stay ahead of package thieves.

A Little about LateShipment.com

We at LateShipment.com work hard to make “parcel shipping & delivery” transparent and help businesses be fully in control of their last-mile success.

Here are some ways in which LateShipment.com can help you regarding packages getting lost or stolen:

With our real-time tracking solution, you can step in before customer impact and proactively address them, thereby instilling confidence in your customers.
With automated and customized shipping notifications, keep your customers in the loop about the whereabouts of their order with proactive communication and free up your support time to focus on more pressing issues.

That’s not all! In case of packages that get lost due to carrier negligence, LateShipment.com can also help you automate refund claims from your shipping carriers for service failures to help you save up to 20% on shipping costs.

The value we add to businesses is most evident when experienced first-hand. Learn more about our solution here.

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How to File FedEx Claims for Late Deliveries

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 05:34:37 +0000

FedEx is one of the top-three behemoths in not just the US but in the worldwide shipping carrier and delivery services space (the other two being DHL and UPS).

Did you know that FedEx delivers more than 12 million packages per day? And in such cases, common delivery issues such as late deliveries are common and inevitable.

However, like all major carriers, FedEx too aims to provide top-notch service and reduce the frequency of such issues. In order to do so, FedEx has a Money-Back Guarantee option that customers can use to claim refunds for delivery failures.

Understanding FedEx’s Money-Back Guarantee before submitting Claims

FedEx’s Money-Back Guarantee is a part of your shipping contract that stipulates that FedEx will refund the shipping charges if parcel delivery is delivered late by even 60 seconds except in exceptional circumstances (natural disasters, weather delays, etc).

However, the Money-Back Guarantee has multiple limitations that you, as a shipper must understand before you start submitting FedEx claims. In most cases, your forms can end up getting rejected if the conditions are not met.

Important clauses from the Money-Back Guarantee to keep in mind when submitting FedEx claims:

Before you start reading down the clauses, make sure that you have not signed a money-back guarantee waiver in your shipping contract. This straightaway prevents you from claiming refunds and is also not an efficient move
Wait for 24 hours from the expected delivery time to claim your refund. There are chances for your lost package to end up getting delivered to your hands. However, you can straightaway submit claims for late deliveries (for select services)
Refund claims requests must be submitted within 15 calendar days of the scheduled delivery date or the date listed in the tracking details or your proof of delivery, whichever is later.

Keeping that in mind, let’s move on to how you can start claiming FedEx refunds by yourself.

How to File FedEx Claims

Login to your FedEx account and choose the ‘File a claim’ option from the support tab
Start a claim by entering your tracking/PRO number and selecting your claim type
Add the supporting documents necessary to validate your claim
Review your form and submit the claim
Check the status of your claim online or request email updates

However, manually submitting FedEx claims is not always as easy as this and can be a tedious process. Here’s why.

Why Manually Submitting Claims Can Be a Hassle

Like we mentioned earlier, manually submitting FedEx claims is a huge headache as there is a list of conditions to be met for them to accept your claim.

As we mentioned earlier, you are required to file the claim within 15 days from the date of the scheduled delivery with the receiver’s name, address, date of shipment, package weight, and tracking number
Your claim must include complete shipper and recipient information, as well as the FedEx tracking number, date of shipment, number of pieces, and shipment weight
The money-back guarantee does not apply to all services and destinations parcels that FedEx undertakes
In cases of international shipments, you have to submit documentation required by the country of origin or destination to support your case
The parcel must have been tendered to FedEx directly and before the stipulated collection time.

That’s not all. With the finer-print terms and conditions, FedEx can still reject your claim for a refund.

So, what’s the smart way out?

Make use of an automated refunds tool like LateShipment.com to claim your refunds. All you need to do is integrate this tool into your existing shipping operations while you focus on your core business functions.

How LateShipment.com Makes Filing Fedex Claims Easier

The money that goes unclaimed in shipping carrier refunds runs to the tune of over 3 billion dollars annually!

But what should matter more to you is this: Experts say that you can bring your shipping budget down by up to 20% if you claim every single refund you are eligible for.

LateShipment.com’s Parcel Audit and Shipping Refunds solution can help businesses like yours hold your shipping carrier accountable and ensure that you do not lose money that is rightfully yours.

Also, monitoring and claiming refunds regularly help you receive better performance from your shipping carrier resulting in more successful last-mile deliveries.

Apart from late deliveries, LateShipment.com also helps you recover refunds for more than 50 service failures such as lost and damaged packages, incorrect surcharges, etc.

Not just FedEx, LateShipment.com also helps you file claims and recover refunds from all major carriers such as DHL, UPS, Purolator… to name a few.

LateShipment.com’s refund recovery process allows you to focus on your core business functions while it analyses every shipment you send, identifies late shipments that are eligible for refunds, and files FedEx claims with supporting documentation.

It also follows up with the procedure and ensures that a refund is credited to you as soon as possible.

The best part is, LateShipment.com has a simple signup process, which takes less than 2 minutes for you to get started on claiming refunds.

Create a LateShipment.com account
Add your shipping carrier credentials.

That’s it! All you have to do now is to sit back as refunds get credited to your account.

What Else You Can Do with LateShipment.com

While claiming refunds are great, they don’t always compensate for your customers’ bad experiences faced in the post-purchase phase. In such cases, the onus of crafting a delightful delivery and returns experiences falls on you.

Therefore, don’t stop with just claiming refunds. Go all out with our post-purchase excellence cloud. It combines stellar delivery experiences with easy, seamless returns – all while significantly reducing your shipping spend by auditing your invoices and recovering eligible refunds from your carriers.

Time to grow your fanbase, savings, and business with LateShipment.com. We’re ready when you are.

Or still have questions? We’re all ears.

The post How to File FedEx Claims for Late Deliveries appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

2021 State of Holiday Shipping in the US

Sashank Ravindranath — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 07:27:21 +0000

The pandemic has largely disrupted holiday shipping in 2021, with a surge in online purchases, record shipping costs, port congestion, and inventory shortage.

Not to forget, the heavy weightage that has fallen on the operational efficiency of shipping carriers, raising concerns over their package-handling capacity and their ability to meet on-time delivery promises. Indeed, you can anticipate your customers to meet with stockouts and longer delivery timelines from all carriers this Holiday season.

FedEx Corp. is forecasting a 10% increase in holiday package deliveries over the previous record peak season in 2020 while UPS is also taking efforts like hiring 10,000 seasonal workers.

While carriers who are well aware of this demand, are responding with more fulfillment and distribution capacity besides hiring temporary workforce. They are also levying additional surcharges to meet the demands of delivering residential packages amid volume surges.

Before you start worrying over skyrocketing shipping bills, know that navigating through the holiday shipping season with mitigated damage from delays can help you save on shipping costs!

We at LateShipment.com have crafted our 4th annual report, which gives you detailed unbiased insights on delivery performances and expected delay rates during the 2021 holiday shipping season. This can give you a headstart in your process towards making data-backed decisions to optimize their supply chain during the critical Holiday season and beyond.

Let’s take a deep dive into it.

An Analysis of Shipping Performance by FedEx and UPS in 2021 Right Before the Holiday Season

The following section is the result of a trend analysis conducted on packages shipped during the 2021 Regular Operating Period (Jan 1 – Oct 31). You will find a detailed breakdown of package delays by UPS and FedEx across key States, Cities, Service-types, and Retail Categories in the United States.

In 2021, parcels shipped through FedEx witnessed Holiday-shipping- season-like delays while UPS performed considerably better than in 2020.

States, cities, and regions

States

During the regular operating period of 2021, UPS Packages shipped to Texas faced the most delays with 10.3% of packages delivered late. While 15.34% of packages shipped to Illinois via FedEx faced the most delays.

Cities

When it comes to cities, packages shipped through UPS to Houston faced the most delays at 8.9%, followed by New York at 8.24% and Los Angeles at 7.7%.
Among key cities, packages shipped to Miami, Chicago, and Houston through FedEx faced delay rates of 13.8%, 13.6%, and 13.5% respectively.

Regions

Among the West Coast – Holiday packages shipped to the State of Washington through UPS faced the most delays at 13.64%. And packages shipped to Oregon through FedEx faced the most delays at 25.66% followed closely by Washington at 23%.
In the Central Region – packages shipped to Arkansas and Louisiana through UPS recorded the highest package delay rate at 10.49% and 9.27%. And packages shipped to Louisiana and Arkansas through FedEx faced high delay rates of 25.65% and 25.48% respectively.
Amid the East Coast – states in the US that witnessed the most package delays were South Carolina for UPS, recording a delay rate of 8.2%. And Maine for FedEx with 19.88% followed closely by Georgia at 19.19%.

Service types

UPS Ground Services recorded a delay rate of 10.36%.
FedEx Ground services faced a package delay rate of very similar to the 2020 Holiday shipping season at 19%.
UPS Express Services – 9.9% of packages shipped through Next Day Air service were delayed.
FedEx Express Services – 14.6% of packages shipped through 2 Day service were delayed.

Retail categories

In the 2021 Holiday shipping period, the Electronics category saw a delay rate of 14.44%, while the Sports and Health, and Fitness categories witnessed package delay rates of 10.5% and 10.7% respectively with UPS.
When it comes to FedEx, the Jewelry category observed a delay rate of 14.4% while the Sports and Apparel categories witnessed package delay rates of 13% and 11.3% respectively.

With all our findings in the regular operating period of 2021, we have forecasted the on-time delivery performances of FedEx and UPS in the Holiday shipping period. This can help e-commerce retailers such as yourself stay aware of possible delays with the busy season to come.

Holiday Shipping 2021 Predictions, Trends & Insights

Holiday retail sales are likely to increase between 7% and 9% and E-commerce sales particularly will grow by 11-15%, YoY, during the 2021-holiday season. – Deloitte

With an unprecedented surge in online orders during the Holiday season, along with freight constraints, warehouse capacity issues, and insufficient workers, there would be an immense strain on shipping carriers to ensure timely delivery of Holiday orders.

Retailers and shoppers alike should brace themselves to face delays due to shipping network congestion, labor shortage, and COVID-19 outbreaks in some parts. There will also be stock availability issues.

Average package delay rates during the 2021 holiday shipping season to be between the range of 16% to 20%.

UPS’ on-time delivery performance will be 2x better than FedEx (based on their 12-month track record) during the 2021 Holiday season
Densely populated urban cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc. to face record package delays, even as high as 25% to 30% during the 2021 Holidays.
Popular e-commerce service types, Ground and Express services offered by both UPS and FedEx will remain affected, resulting in delivery delays irrespective of the service type consumers choose for their Holiday orders.
With unusually high congestion affecting every type of transportation network, both air and ground shipments are expected to face significant delivery delays.
Expensive and fast services did not really matter! 25.2% of FedEx Overnight shipments and 11.2% of UPS Next Day Air were delayed during the 2020 Holiday season.

Delays are expected to be more than the previous years due to the added burden of the ongoing supply chain disruptions. If you’re looking to be one of those retailers who are looking to win, you will need to take measures to mitigate the impact of delivery delays on customer experience and loyalty.

Let’s see how you can do just that.

How E-commerce Retailers Can Prepare Themselves to Counter Delays in the Holiday Shipping Season 2021

The surge in online orders will see retailers and shipping carriers grappling to meet customer expectations around frictionless shipping, delivery, and returns experiences.

The shift to e-commerce is here to stay but a negative order delivery experience will have a long-lasting impact on your relationship with customers; making post-purchase customer experience (CX) key to your business’s success during this Holiday season and beyond.

But why is post-purchase CX so imperative?

The post-purchase CX mandate

Focusing on your post-purchase CX strategy is critical because it helps you:

Establish trust and buyer confidence with clear shipping and returns policy, thereby fostering loyalty
Improve customer satisfaction and increase loyalty by proactively resolving delivery issues
Reduce customer anxiety by meaningfully engaging with customers during the “Order Delivery” phase
Drive customer delight post-checkout with memorable, on-brand tracking experiences
Boost revenue from repeat purchases by leveraging your customers’ order tracking moments
Increase conversion, repeat purchase rate, and retain revenue by optimizing product returns on your store

As evident here, numerous benefits emanate from a well-thought-through post-purchase customer experience strategy for your online retail business. It’s time to move on to the next part — HOW to optimize the post-purchase CX?

Here’s how.

7 Strategies to Ensure Post-purchase CX Success

Taking measures to close the post-purchase CX gap and provide customers with a frictionless delivery experience can cement you as their preferred brand.

Adopting the following ways to improve your post-purchase CX will ensure a positive impact on both your customers’ lifetime value and the retention rate of your business.

1. Proactively identify and resolve delivery-related issues

Third-party shipping services are highly error-prone. Monitoring your in-transit parcels in real-time and being in the know about parcels facing delivery issues will ensure proactive and faster resolution of delivery-related customer issues.

2. Reduce customer anxiety with automated shipping notifications

Effectively engaging with your customers throughout the order delivery lifecycle will strengthen customer relationships and foster brand loyalty. With timely email and SMS alerts, keep customers informed about their order delivery status, including critical delivery issues.

3. Offer custom-built branded tracking experiences on your online store

To ensure seamless brand experiences, every customer interaction should be owned by the brand. Default order tracking pages provided by shipping carriers are dull and off-brand. Providing brand consistent order tracking pages on your store drives customer delight and increases brand loyalty.

4. Make order tracking self-service to reduce delivery-related support tickets

Over 30% of customer support tickets created are shipping-related, with most tickets being WISMO (Where Is My Order) inquiries. Addressing such tickets can be both time-consuming and expensive. Enable your customers to track their orders from within your website or app to significantly reduce customer support inquiries.

5. Leverage order tracking moments to increase sales and reduce returns

On average, customers track their orders 6 to 8 times before order delivery, that’s 6-8 additional marketing touchpoints with customers post-checkout. Boost repeat sales with product recommendations on order tracking pages, besides providing relevant product usage information to reduce returns.

6. Get customer feedback around order delivery experiences

Capture customer feedback around their delivery experiences after every order delivery to understand the detractors of a great post-purchase experience and make necessary changes to improve.

7. Optimize your returns process to make it hassle-free while maintaining profitability

Be transparent and establish trust with a clear returns policy. Make product returns effortless for your customers while providing return methods that encourage exchanges and store credit options to ensure revenue retention.

Implementing all of these strategies just as the holiday shipping season arrives won’t take long. You can make use of a post-purchase solution such as LateShipment.com to do the heavy lifting for you.

How Lateshipment.Com Can Help

LateShipment.com is the world’s only cloud-based Post-purchase Success platform built to enable retail parcel shippers of all sizes to provide memorable order delivery and returns experiences — besides reducing shipping costs by up to 20%.

Our feature-packed Delivery Experience Management platform helps improve shipment visibility and drive customer delight post-purchase.

Our customer-first Returns Experience Management platform makes returns effortless and efficient — all while retaining revenue.

Our Automated Shipping Refunds solution brings better performance accountability to shipping carrier services by recovering millions of dollars in refund claims.

LateShipment.com seamlessly integrates with over 600 shipping carriers and business tools that include E-commerce platforms, Order Management Systems, CRM, and Marketing Automation tools to help you craft delightful post-purchase experiences, at scale.

Visit www.lateshipment.com to find out more.

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Shipping Carriers’ 100% Money-Back Guarantee Policies and Why Avoid Signing Refund Waivers

Rohan Rinaldo Felix — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 08:44:18 +0000

Shipping is an area of e-commerce business that is highly risk-worthy and more prone to errors than the other phases of the order journey. The carriers responsible for your customers’ orders during this stage are very much aware of this — hence, major carriers such as FedEx, UPS, Canada Post, Purolator, Royal Mail, DHL, UK Mail, etc, offer the option to claim refunds when they commit a service failure.

Given that over 15% of parcels shipped through them face service failures and delivery issues (it becomes 2x or even 3x during busy seasons such as holidays), claiming refunds is a must to ensure you’re not overpaying your shipping carrier.

While carriers provide the option to claim refunds for different errors from their end, they understand the need for shippers like you to extra-emphasize handling as many late deliveries as possible. This is what led them to specifically come up with a money-back guarantee policy for late deliveries.

What are Money-Back Guarantees or Guaranteed Service Refunds?

Shipping carriers work on the condition that they abide by their contract and one such condition is their commitment to on-time deliveries. If these deliveries are missing their mark, carriers will ensure a 100% refund under their ‘money-back’ guarantee policy’.

Money-back guarantees are refund policies within the carrier’s SLAs that promise a 100% refund on shipping charges for select service types if a parcel is delayed (sometimes even by 60 seconds) except in exceptional circumstances (natural disasters, weather delays, etc.).

Major carriers that provide money-back guarantees for late deliveries

Here’s the list of different terms and conditions on money-back guarantees from major shipping carriers that you can revisit to stay aware of while filing refund claims.

Shipping carriers offer money-back guarantees to assure customers of the reliability and timeliness of their services. I.e., if the carrier fails to meet certain predefined service standards or delivery commitments, then you, the shipper, are entitled to hold them accountable for their service failures and thereby are eligible for a refund of the shipping cost.

Benefits of claiming refunds under the money-back guarantee

Shipping carriers such as FedEx and UPS have money-back guarantees that offer refunds for late deliveries. However, they either don’t get automatically credited to your account nor are not easy to claim. Therefore, shipping invoice audits act as document evidence that can help you recover costs directly associated with late deliveries. There’s more to it.

Firstly, making full use of the money-back guarantee and claiming refunds gives you the opportunity to save on your shipping costs.

Second, regular auditing of invoices and claiming refunds holds carriers accountable for their service level agreements (SLAs). This ensures better visibility into your carrier’s delivery performance and fosters a more transparent relationship between you and the carrier.

As a third, with insights into the form carrier performance metrics such as recurring delays with specific routes, services, etc., you can optimize your shipping and make informed decisions regarding logistics.

Data from audited invoices can also be used as leverage in negotiating better terms (lower rates or improved service guarantees) for future contracts with shipping carriers, thereby enhancing overall logistics efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

However, enjoying these benefits and claiming refunds are not so straightforward, as these money-back guarantee policies often come with certain fine print caveats that make it complicated for you to claim refunds.

Refund hurdles under the money-back guarantee policy

There is a list of eligible services – Only certain services are applicable for money-back guarantees. It is important to check if your packages are sent through a service where the guarantee is valid.
It can be excluded based on conditions – Money-back guarantee is not applicable when delays are caused by natural disasters, weather conditions, incorrect addresses, customs delays, the unavailability of the recipient, or other events beyond the carriers’ control.
There are modifications and suspensions – Carriers reserve the right to modify (increase the permissible duration) or suspend the money-back guarantee during high-volume periods like the holiday season.
The claim process is tiresome and time-consuming – Even if all conditions are in your favor, the claim can still be rejected owing to the reason that the carrier must be notified within a specific time frame after the delivery (typically 15 days). This can be a hassle, especially if you’re filing these claims manually.

What Are Shipping Refund (Money-Back Guarantee) Waivers And Why Avoid Them?

Shipping refund waivers or (specifically called) money-back guarantee waivers are clauses within the SLAs that provide special benefits (typically discounted prices) to shippers in return for giving up (waiving off) their right to claim shipping refunds. Carriers more often than not claim that not signing the waiver will deprive you of saving on your shipping costs and insist you do sign them.

However, signing a shipping refund waiver might not be best for you and hence, must be avoided. Before we look into why you must avoid waivers, let’s see why carriers insist on signing them so much.

Why do carriers want shippers to sign refund waivers?

Now the obvious question arises: Why are carrier representatives so keen on getting shippers to sign refund waivers? Is it because they want to provide them with discounts and help their clients reduce their shipping costs in the bottom line?

Not at all.

So, why are they insisting then? This is why:

Over 3 billion dollars go into unclaimed shipping refunds each year – Unclaimed refunds are just money left on the table and carriers want to keep it for themselves. This money rightfully belongs to retailers like you, but if you cannot claim your refunds because of the waiver you signed.
Fear of accountability despite ever-increasing shipping costs – Shipping carriers have dodged accountability despite higher shipping costs due to a lack of close watch on their service failures and not claiming refunds.

However, the growing demand for refund claims and better service has proved inconvenient for them. This makes them eager to get shippers to sign refund waivers so that they can skirt their responsibilities despite increasing costs YoY.

Now that it is evident that signing waivers only stands to benefit these carriers, let’s consider how you, the shipper, stand to lose because of them.

What are the disadvantages of signing a shipping refund waiver?

Not claiming refunds roughly translates to not holding your shipping carrier accountable for their failures.

With your shipping carrier conveniently left out of accountability, the next thing that happens is you bear the brunt of the delivery issues. And as if that won’t be enough, keep in mind that about one-third of customers won’t repurchase from you after a late delivery.

In the long term, lack of accountability also leads up to the fact that you can’t expect better service performance from the carriers. In a situation where a waiver has been signed, there would be nothing you could do to pull up the carrier for the poor quality of service, leading to your last-mile suffering in a big way.

Amidst growing concerns about on-time deliveries, you end up overpaying your shipping carrier. It is to be noted that the meager discounts that are promised at the time of signing a waiver are often superseded by add-on charges beyond the cost of shipping. Also, discounts promised on waivers usually last for a limited period. On the other hand, the waiver is permanent.

Worry not! At the end of the day, there are ways for you to avoid being forced to sign a waiver of your money-back guarantee.

What can you do to avoid signing shipping refund waivers?

Be prepared with comparative data about the services of various shipping carriers before negotiating a contract.
Ask the shipping carrier representative to provide you with an impact summary to detail how signing a refund waiver will affect your monthly shipping spend and how many packages will be affected.
Before signing the contract, check to ensure that there is no clause waiving off your right to claim refunds.

Congratulations! You’ve managed to avoid signing a waiver and are now eligible to claim refunds from shipping carriers for their service failures. So, what next?

Before you start claiming refunds, there’s one more thing that you must keep in mind.

Manually claiming shipping refunds with carriers is such a hassle for more reasons than one. Therefore, it is a good ploy to start using automated parcel audit companies such as LateShipment.com to do it for you.

Rather than seamlessly cruising through the tiresome process of late delivery claims, LateShipment.com also helps in identifying and claiming refunds for 50+ service failures and billing errors.

The post Shipping Carriers’ 100% Money-Back Guarantee Policies and Why Avoid Signing Refund Waivers appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

5 Tips to Get the Best out of Your Package Shipping Carrier

Ian — Mon, 03 May 2021 11:04:00 +0000

Millions of international packages make their way to destination points and cross borders every day. And the vast majority of them are the goods people buy from eCommerce businesses operating globally.

While it’s no secret that free package shipping does not actually exist and the seller is the one who has to pay for it, international shipping either costs loads of money for a brand, requires lots of workforces, or both.

Plus, there’s always a chance of late deliveries or lost packages. And suddenly, shipping internationally becomes a true headache.

Thankfully, this struggle a seller experiences can be minimized by knowing how to get the most out of your partner shipping carrier.

Carriers often offer a bunch of additional perks to having you as a long-term partner. And it’s an important thing to have in mind when making a new agreement with a package shipping carrier.

This article will give you a basic understanding of how to make the most out of picking and dealing with a shipping carrier for your eCommerce business (or for your shipments). That way, you’ll be able to make a smart choice by saving both your money and your nerves when choosing a partner package shipping carrier.

Quit Overpaying for Shipping

Spending less on quality services is one of the top priorities for you when choosing a carrier, right?

If it’s a yes, the best way to avoid paying too much and find the cheapest shipping carrier meeting your needs is to simply compare pricing. There are many shipping price comparison sites that give you estimated costs from major US shipping carriers such as DHL, FedEx, and UPS.

Using price comparison sites will give you a primary understanding of what shipping costs to expect regarding the destination country and the country you are shipping from. And believe it or not, it usually varies greatly.

But. There’s always a but. Although DHL, FedEx, or UPS are great for international shipments due to long-term experience, smooth processes, and of course, affordable pricing, comparing a few carriers won’t give a full picture.

Regardless of these big players in global shipping, the US shipping market is crowded with less popular package shipping carriers. Possibly, some of them will also be able to offer you affordable pricing and meet your business needs.

So, do your research ⇓

Use the shipping price comparison sites ( e.g. Easyship, Upela, etc.)
Check costs manually with less-known carriers
Request a custom quote based on your unique business needs

Doing all this will guarantee you’ll find the best shipping partner for your business in terms of pricing.

Prepare to Negotiate

When you choose a shipping carrier for your business, you want to have it for a long period. You do know that bouncing from one to another is exhausting, disrupts work processes, and is wasteful.

But what you may not be aware of is that the shipping carrier needs you likewise you need their services. And you can definitely benefit from that.

When you receive a quote or a long-term offer for shipping services, know that it’s not definite. Usually, there’s plenty of room for negotiation that many businesses forget to take advantage of.

You can lay down your own conditions because as much as you’re interested in having them as a shipping partner, they’re interested in having you as a long-term client.

Want better rates, package insurance, or some extra benefits? Just ask for it!

What’s worse that can happen? Nothing. The carrier can say no and that’s it. You’re free to accept the primary offer or head to another carrier.

Be confident and persistent when making this big decision

Choose a Shipping Carrier Wisely

Picking a good shipping carrier sounds quite simple, but it’s easier said than actually done.

To make it less challenging, the best thing would be to choose a reputable and widely-known international shipping carrier. You cannot go wrong by picking from big-name courier services such as DHL, FedEx, or UPS.

However, if your shipments have a specific route, you might look for other options. Let’s say you operate in the States, but your product is purchased amazingly in the Polish market. So, you’re constantly shipping to Poland from the USA.

And what does that mean regarding picking a carrier? It simply implies that you might consider a carrier specializing in this exact route. That might save you money, shorten delivery times dramatically, and prevent shipping fails.

For example, carriers like AEC Parcel Service which specializes in delivering packages to Eastern European countries may provide a better shipping experience than those shipping to every part of the world.

Consider Convenience and Benefits

If you’re trying to actually get the best out of a shipping carrier, you have to consider what additional value the carrier has to offer.

Put simply, you have to look not only through yours as a seller, but also through the customer’s perspective. Will your customer and your business experience the best package delivery possible without any delivery issues?

What’s here to consider in a nutshell:

Figure out whether the shipper offers free package insurance covering your product.
Decide if delivery times and methods are appropriate for your business model.
Pay attention to the shipping refund policy and compensation for late deliveries.
Consider the drop-off locations and whether there’s one next to your business spot.
Will the shipper provide strong customer service for you and your clients? It should.
Check if the shipper has a real-time tracking tool for both your and your customer’s peace of mind.

Do a Feedback Research

Nothing gives a better picture of a product or service than the experiences of others. Getting familiar with opinions from former or current customers helps to compare competitors, figure out if they offer quality service, and actually makes it easy to decide if the business can be trusted.

The best way of doing it is by reading reviews online. Facebook, Google my Business, Yelp, and other sites where customers express their opinions are the most popular places to look at those stars and words about shipping carriers. In fact, in most cases reading reviews dramatically changes the first impression.

On the other hand, it’s easy to find reviews from simple customers, yet businesses do not tend to share their experiences online. So, if you’re operating in eCommerce, you might want to reach out to your business partners or even competitors asking for their experiences with international shipping carriers.

How LateShipment.com Can Help You

Regardless of which shipping carrier you’re going to choose, the top goal here is to avoid late shipment experiences and have an impeccable shipping service operating along with your business.

However, international shipping is a complex procedure and even the best carriers sometimes fail in delivering packages. That’s where LateShipment.com steps in.

LateShipment.com is the world’s only logistics cloud tool that combines shipping refunds with everything you need to create well-managed, branded delivery experiences despite the odds.

LateShipment.com drives savings in your shipping spend, gives you new revenue channels, better repeat purchase rates, and offers your customers premium delivery experiences. Here’s how we elevate the game for your business.

At LateShipment.com, we aim to transform your customer’s post-purchase journey and make it a memorable experience that encourages fierce customer loyalty.

Our Delivery Experience Management platform powers post-purchase CX success for your business by helping you:

Stay on top of delays by tracking your in-transit parcels across carriers in real-time.
Resolve delivery issues proactively with predictive alerts for shipments facing delays.
Over-communicate with customers facing critical delivery issues.
Send automated delivery status notifications via email and SMS to reduce your customers’ anxiety.
Build beautiful, branded order tracking pages, personalized for your customers.
Capture your customers’ Delivery Satisfaction (DSAT) rating after every order delivery.

Our DEM platform also seamlessly integrates with all your tech-stacks such as eCommerce platforms, CRM systems, Help desk, and Email marketing tools, etc without any change to your existing workflow.

Now, how good is that?

The best part is,

In addition to helping you elevate your customers’ post-purchase experiences, you can also SAVE UP TO 20% on your shipping costs with our Parcel Audit and Shipping Refunds solution, which can help you:

Audit your monthly shipping invoices for 50+ service failures
Submit refund claims to your carrier(s) on your behalf
Deposit the refunded amount directly into your account
Save you up to 20% of your overall shipping spend.
Get better service quality from shipping carriers

The value we add to businesses is most evident when experienced first-hand.

Try LateShipment.com now.

Or, get in touch by writing to us at sales@lateshipment.com

The post 5 Tips to Get the Best out of Your Package Shipping Carrier appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Everything You Need to Know about the Changes Made to Canada Post, UPS, FedEx and Purolator’s Money-back Guarantee

Sashank Ravindranath — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 12:44:03 +0000

This article has been updated as of 23rd August, 2021.

It’s been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic debuted and created panic across the globe, dramatically changing the way we live our lives.

The eCommerce retail industry felt the brunt of the pandemic’s impact, just like every other industry out there.

While many retailers had to shut shop temporarily, others scrambled to deal with the humongous surge in demand. As a result, eCommerce retail – especially the supply chain and post-purchase aspect went under the scanner.

And as if this weren’t overwhelming enough, businesses also faced challenges from shipping carriers through peak surcharges and a suspension on money-back guarantees which have almost emptied SMB owners’ purses in the form of shipping bills.

While peak surcharges are still levied on packages that are being shipped to certain remote locations, major shipping carriers such as FedEx, UPS, and Purolator reinstating their money-back guarantee for select service types is certainly some good news for eCommerce business owners.

What is the Money-back Guarantee Policy?

The Money-Back Guarantee (MBG) is a clause that is part of a shipping contract that stipulates that major shipping carriers such as FedEx, UPS, Purolator, etc promise to offer you a full refund on shipping charges if parcel delivery is delayed by even 60 seconds except in exceptional circumstances (natural disasters, weather delays, etc). Apart from the Money-Back Guarantee, shipping carriers offer refunds for 50+ service failures & billing errors including late, lost, and damaged deliveries, surcharge errors, etc.

And as you may be aware, due to disruptions in the global supply chain caused by COVID-19, all major shipping carriers around the world had suspended their Service Guarantee, also known as Money-Back Guarantee across all service types.

What are the Recent Changes Made to the Money-back Guarantees?

While continuous efforts are being made to restore normalcy in operations – carriers including UPS, FedEx, and Purolator have REINSTATED their Money-Back Guarantee for some service types, effective April 5, 2021.

The latest carrier to resume On-time Delivery Guarantees is Canada Post for parcels shipped within Canada. The delivery guarantees will take effect starting August 23, 2021.

This translates to more savings on your shipping bills, given that over 20% of all shipments faced delivery issues in 2020.

But first, you must stay in the loop of the select services that are now eligible for the money-back guarantee. And that’s why we’ve compiled them for you.

Want this list right in your device?

We’ve also presented the same as a downloadable document below for you to access the links and read more about money-back guarantee being reinstated from the carriers themselves.

How LateShipment.Com Can Help You

At LateShipment.com we are committed to ensuring that every dollar in refund claims is returned to you.

Throughout the pandemic, LateShipment.com has been monitoring and filing claims for 50+ service failures on your behalf. With the reinstatement of select Money-Back Guarantee claims, we will be able to recover even more claims (that’s even more shipping cost savings!)

Our automated parcel audit and refunds solution effortlessly audits your invoices and helps save up to 20% on your shipping costs. The best part is that it takes less than 2 minutes to set up and seamlessly integrates with your existing workflow.

That’s not all! Here are some more benefits of using LateShipment.com

50+ carriers supported – With customers in over 40 countries, we successfully claim refunds from carriers worldwide.
Highly-trained algorithms – Our exclusive technology is built in-house with algorithms trained from tracking over 100M parcels.
Human-backed automation – Our automated claims system is human-backed to ensure that you never miss any refunds.
Maximum refunds recovery – Apart from common service failures, our systems are built to recover refunds for 50+ carrier errors.
No upfront cost – Zero out-of-pocket costs for your business. Pay only a part of the refunds claimed.
Refund claims for previous shipments – We don’t wait for you to ship out packages. Our systems can backtrack up to 45 days and claim refunds even for past shipments.

Feel like you’re missing out? Worry not, it is never too late to start claiming refunds!

Try LateShipment.com today now and save up to 20% on your shipping costs while providing memorable delivery experiences for your customers (It just takes 2 minutes).

Still doubtful? You can get in touch with us by scheduling a call with our expert or writing to us at sales@lateshipment.com

The post Everything You Need to Know about the Changes Made to Canada Post, UPS, FedEx and Purolator’s Money-back Guarantee appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Lost Packages 101: How to Handle Them

Joelah James — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 09:00:16 +0000

When you ship through DHL, FedEx, UPS, or USPS most packages make it to their destinations intact and on time. But, what about those rare occurrences when packages are lost in transit? Who exactly gets blamed when this happens? The seller or the shipper?

In most cases, it is the retailer who bites the bullet. This is because customers the accountability of the package from checkout to delivery falls on the business they ordered from rather than the shipping carrier, a third party.

Customers who’ve lost their packages are often aggrieved and take their grievances to social media and call out your brand. Just like this:

Hey @amazon thanks for ruining Christmas and losing my brother's Christmas present. What's the point in 2 day shipping if you lose the package?
— Eddie Smedley (@GettinSomeSmed) December 23, 2018

And what exactly happens when posts like this catch the attention of their followers/ your potential customers?

Your brand reputation takes a huge hit, customer churn rate hits the roof, and staying ahead of competitors becomes next to impossible (Uff 😤)

Worry not!

Here are some tips for retailers on how to handle lost packages, (spoiler alert!) save on shipping costs, and improve customer loyalty.

Step 1: Determine if the sent packages are really lost

If a package that was en route to a customer goes certifiably missing and has not arrived at their doorstep four or five days after schedule, then it can be officially considered lost.

When you suspect your packages as lost, wait it out a maximum of seven days beyond the day of expected delivery.

Sometimes, there are packages that turn up after being rerouted somewhere along the chain (they might have also been incorrectly scanned or sorted).

In most cases though, the issue is either a wrong address or a weather-related one. Quite simply, it is not unheard of for a package to turn up a day or two late.

In case the tracking number shows that the product has as ‘delivered’ and the customer still files a complaint about the package being lost, then it has to be treated as a stolen package.

Here’s how you can prevent package theft.

Step 2: The packages are lost. Now what?

In case if your customers’ packages are truly lost, they naturally expect a refund or a replacement.

If the shipping carrier is unable to locate the packages, you need to file an insurance claim to cover the combined insured value of the lost packages. This requires the tracking number, proof of value of the item, and proof of insurance.

When you’re shipping valuable products, it is always wise to insure the shipments.

Remember that apart from the insurance sum, the carrier also has to fully refund the shipping costs for failing to deliver the package safely to the buyer.

Once the claim is filed and investigated, you will receive your dues via the original mode of payment be it through check or credit card.

Meanwhile, make sure YOU send the customer a replacement or a refund with a sincere apology.

Step 3: File a Refund Claim for the Lost Packages

File refund claims for DHL lost packages here
File refund claims for FedEx lost packages here
File refund claims for UPS lost packages here
File refund claims for USPS lost packages here

Step 3.1: How do I file a claim for lost packages?

The tracker on your package is usually true to its name and rarely allows packages to get lost. But on the off chance that the shipping label comes off, or the package is torn and the contents scattered, you’ll have no choice but to file lost package claims with the carrier.

Here are a few things you need to keep in mind if you’re going to file a claim for FedEx lost packages.

If the contents of the package cost less than $100, you can complete the entire form online and request a refund without documentation.
In the event of the package costing anywhere above $100, proper documentation is necessary for the claim to get processed.
Documentation can include FedEx pickup records, photos of the damaged or lost contents, and proof of value documentation.
Claims have to be filed within 60 days for US shipments and in 21 calendar days for international shipments (with all supporting documentation filed within 9 months of delivery date).
The tracking number that was initially allocated to the package is vital to the process and has to be provided.

After a scheduled inspection, your claim will be processed and you can track its progress.

In the case of other shipping carriers, you can file claims online through the following links and within the following deadlines.

UPS lost packages claim (file within 5 months online, within 9 months through customer service, and within 45 days if it is an uncollected C.O.D)
USPS lost packages claim (file within 60 days for all services except Priority Mail Express, First class, and Surface Mail)
DHL lost packages claim (file within 30 days)

Note: Filing Refund Claims for Lost Packages by Yourself Is a Huge Hassle

Apart from running your hectic business, manually submitting claims with shipping carriers by yourself is a huge hassle for more reasons than one:

Tedious Process – The process to file a claim manually is an exhaustive one, you will have to deal with multiple forms, proofs, and document submissions

Time-Consuming – After submitting a claim, you won’t get your refund immediately, it takes at least 5-7 days or forever to get a refund for one single package

Not Cost-Effective – The amount of time and money you will spend to get a refund will be greater than the compensation you will probably receive
Inefficient Use of Resources – This process doesn’t have a definitive output and require lots of back and forth communication along with document re-submissions

Worry not! You can make use of a parcel audit solution such as LateShipment.com to help you effortlessly recover refunds for lost packages while you focus on your core business.

Step 4: How Lateshipment.Com Helps You Handle Your Lost Packages

LateShipment.com’s Parcel Audit and Refunds solution effortlessly audits your invoices and helps save up to 20% on your shipping costs. The best part is that it takes less than 2 minutes to set-up and seamlessly integrates with your existing workflow.

Our parcel audit and refunds solution:

Not only submits claims on your behalf but also constantly follows up till issue resolution.
Makes sure that all claims are submitted within the timeframe of the carrier(s).
Not just lost shipments, but also helps you recover refunds for 50+ service failures like late deliveries.
And best of all this, you don’t have to pay anything out of your pockets. We only charge 50% of the refunds you’ve received, that too only when it is successfully recovered.

Sure, refunds are great for your business. But getting them doesn’t help in mitigating the pain of a loyal customer who might have lost packages such as birthday gifts or an anniversary surprises.

That’s when our other feature Delivery Experience Management (DEM) platform can help. DEM is particularly helpful if you are a bulk shipper who uses multiple carriers and would prefer an efficient automated workflow.

Step 4.2: How Delivery Experience Management (DEM) Platform Works

Delivery Experience Management platform keeps you in check the status of the parcel and helps you stay ahead of lost or damaged packages with ease. It is easy to use and tracks every package you send via major carriers like FedEx or UPS.

When a certain package takes a detour, DEM sends out an alert to the sender and the receiver. This helps you foresee a delay and handle it proactively.

If you send out several packages at once, and some of them are suspected lost by our automated system, you are intimated of that as well.

Since you get to know well in advance if one or more packages are flagged as lost, it gives you an edge when you get in touch with the carrier to resolve the issue or send a quick replacement in case of a time-sensitive delivery.

The value we add to businesses is most evident when experienced first-hand.

Try LateShipment.com now.

Or, get in touch by writing to us at sales@lateshipment.com

The post Lost Packages 101: How to Handle Them appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

[COVID-19] Service Updates from FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL, & Canada Post

Naveen Selvaraj — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 03:00:52 +0000

With updates as of July 31, 2020.

With most people staying indoors & practicing social distancing, isolation or quarantining, there has been a spike in online shopping over the past few months. Major eCommerce marketplaces including Amazon have put up messages on their sites warning customers of possible delivery delays due to a surge in orders.

This post is intended to enable you with critical updates from the major shipping carriers about possible discrepancies on the delivery front and also what your business can do to tide over them.

At this point, the situation remains volatile and is rapidly changing. We will keep a close watch on developments within the industry and update this page as the situation evolves.

Read till the end for valuable insights on how your business can navigate these uncertain circumstances.

1. FedEx Corp.

FedEx is facing discrepancies in its services due to the prevailing situation. In its latest service alert, the carrier has stated that due to the high volume of parcels that they are dealing with at the moment, they are facing delivery delays in their FedEx Ground services in various parts of the U.S.

What You Need to Know

Global Suspension of Money-Back Guarantee

FedEx has suspended its Money-Back Guarantee for all FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, and FedEx Office services worldwide. Packages shipped after March 23, 2020, won’t be eligible for the Money-Back Guarantee.

Temporary Surcharge for International Shipments

FedEx implemented a temporary surcharge on all its FedEx Express services beginning April 6. The carrier has stated that these surcharges are being levied as a result of limited air cargo capacity and escalating costs due to the current constrained environment.

Temporary Peak Surcharges

FedEx has implemented temporary peak surcharges, in addition to existing charges, for shipments that qualify as oversized or unauthorized or which require additional handling. These surcharges have been implemented in order to deal with the surge in residential deliveries and transit of large-sized packages, which substantially escalate operational costs.

Temporary Suspension of Signatures

FedEx has temporarily suspended its signature rules for most deliveries in the U.S. except for those that require an adult signature in order to protect customers and workers from getting infected.

2. United Parcel Service (UPS)

UPS is facing discrepancies with its services and has communicated that it is continuously reassessing its operations to deal with the situation.

What You Need to Know

Implementation of Peak Surcharges

UPS has applied a peak surcharge to certain UPS Ground Residential and UPS SurePost Packages for packages with U.S. origins and destinations.

This surcharge is applicable for businesses whose average weekly shipment volume between February 2, 2020 and February 29, 2020 increased by 25000 packages.

The carrier has also implemented a surcharge for overweight packages. This surcharge is applicable for businesses who have shipped more than 500 large packages in the above-mentioned period.

Large Packages are defined as packages with length (longest side of the package) + girth [(2 x width) + (2 x height)] combined exceeding 130 inches, or with length exceeding 96 inches.

The surcharge has been in force from May 3, 2020.

Suspension of Service Guarantee

UPS has suspended service guarantees on all its shipments originating from the U.S. for both U.S. Domestic and International packages.

Temporary Suspension of Signatures

UPS has suspended the requirement of signatures for most of its deliveries. During a delivery requiring a signature, the UPS driver will leave the parcel on the customer’s doorstep along with the form to be signed. The driver will retrieve the form after the customer has signed it and is away at a safe distance.

Contactless Deliveries

UPS has also provided a contactless delivery option. This option provides for a customer to ask their UPS driver to drop the parcel at their doorstep or redirect it to another desired address.

3. United States Postal Service (USPS)

The US Postal Service released its latest service update on July 30,2020.

As per its update on April 17, 2020, it changed its service commitments for a few services.

The service commitments for Priority Mail’s two- and three-day services have been extended to three and four days respectively.

Similarly, for the Priority Mail Open and Distribute (PMOD) service, the service date has been extended from two to five days nationwide, and for the First-Class Package Service (FCPS) two and three-day services, the service date has been extended by three and four days respectively.

What You Need to Know

Suspension of Refunds

USPS has suspended refunds for items shipped to international countries where their service has been suspended.

Here is the list of all the international destinations which are facing service disruptions and are thus not eligible for refunds.

Safety Measures for Services that Require Customer Signatures

USPS has implemented a few safety measures in order to ensure the safety of both its employees and customers. Following are the safety measures:

Employees have been instructed to ask customers to stay at a safe distance or close the screen door/door while they leave the item being delivered in the mail receptacle or appropriate location by the customer door.
Employees are expected to maintain a safe & appropriate distance while obtaining details from customers.
Employees have been instructed to avoid areas that may be frequently touched when knocking.
If there is no response during a delivery, employees have been instructed to follow the normal Notice Left process.

4. DHL International GmbH

DHL has made some temporary adjustments to its time-definite international services due to an increase in the transit time for many international destinations.

The carrier has formed the Deutsche Post DHL Group Coronavirus task force in order to closely monitor and manage services during the Coronavirus outbreak.

The carrier has stated that it is coordinating with international organizations to provide the necessary information to all employees on relevant operations.

What You Need to Know

Emergency Situation Surcharge

Due to the high volume of packages and the impact on the aviation industry, DHL introduced an Emergency Situation Surcharge in early April that was reduced starting July 1, 2020.

No Suspension of the Money-Back Guarantees

DHL has stated that there is no suspension of its money-back guarantee, which is applicable for its Time Definite services.

No-Contact Deliveries

DHL is offering signatureless deliveries to customers who do not wish to sign via their scanner screen or on paper in order to maintain social distancing. It has temporarily enabled Signature Release for all business-to-consumer (B2C) shipments on its On-Demand Delivery platform.

5. Canada Post Corp.

As per Canada Post’s latest update released on July 29, 2020, service levels are improving as a result of their parcel volumes reducing due to the reopening of some stores. However, the On-Time Delivery Guarantee for parcels remains suspended.

What You Need to Know

To help contain the spread of COVID-19, Canada Post has taken the following preventive measures:

No Refunds for Late Deliveries

The carrier has waived off refunds for late deliveries, but other service failures like billing errors, incorrect surcharges, and others are still eligible for refunds.

Temporary Suspension of Signatures

In order to avoid close contact between delivery agents and customers, Canada Post no longer requires signatures on normal deliveries.

However, for items using the Registered and Xpresspost Certified services and those that require Proof of Identity, Proof of Age, and COD (collect-on-delivery) and items which require custom fees, a signature will be required.

Contactless Deliveries

Canada Post delivery agents will drop packages in the mailbox or outside the door if possible and safe to do so. Else, a notice card will be left indicating the post office from which customers can collect their parcels by showing their identity proof.

6. Here’s How Your Business Can be Prepared

With all the changes that COVID-19 is bringing to the logistics industry, it makes it incumbent upon retailers like you to be prepared to deal with the fast-changing situation.

1.Get your workplace COVID-19 ready

Take every sanitary step possible to ensure the safety of people that work in your organisation. Promote frequent and thorough hand washing, encourage workers to stay home if they are sick, encourage respiratory etiquette, etc.

2.Regularly disinfect your shared elements

Routinely disinfect surfaces, equipment, devices and other elements that are frequently shared among the people in your organization.

3.Prioritize your stocks

Understand what your customers are buying from you and prioritize your stocks so that you can quickly receive, restock, and ship them during demand.

4.Prepare an emergency response team

Online orders can spike at any time so, in order to deal with the situation, prepare an emergency response team.

5.Inform your customers about possible delivery delays

Notify your customers about possible delays in deliveries on your website or by sending emails or messages.

6.Follow a multi-carrier approach

Make use of multiple shipping carriers so that you can prioritize between them and deliver your orders efficiently.

7.Build a contingency plan

Plan ahead for scenarios that could affect the bottom line of your business, like unavailability of staff, shipping carriers not operating in a particular region, suppliers not being able to deliver your orders, etc.

7. How LateShipment.com Can Help in This Crisis

With shipping carriers straining to deliver parcels and a high possibility of delays, here are some capabilities of our Delivery Experience Management (DEM) suite that can help you now more than ever in the last mile of parcel shipping:

1.Real-Time Visibility into Shipments in Transit

Monitor all your shipments across carriers, services, and locations unfold in real-time on a single unified dashboard.

2.Purpose Built Dashboard for Your Customer Support Reps

Empower your Support team with critical insights on a purpose-built dashboard that lets them intervene and fix last-mile issues before customer impact.

3.Send Automated Email & SMS Updates to Your Customers

Engage with your customers in the last mile with timely notifications on their parcel status and show them you’ve got their back.

4.Send Customized Email Updates to Specific Customers

Sometimes, certain parcels need more attention than others. At such times, reach out to specific customers well in advance and allay their concerns.

Additionally, our solution also allows you to provide customers an on-brand tracking experience through custom tracking pages that reside on your domain rather than on the shipping carrier’s.

You can start using these features in less than 2 minutes without the need for any IT/business process change or coding. And the best thing is that LateShipment.com is a simple cloud-based plug-and-play solution that can seamlessly integrate with the tools you already use.

The post [COVID-19] Service Updates from FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL, & Canada Post appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

All You Need to Know About Amazon Logistics in 2019

Sriram Sridhar — Sat, 21 Dec 2019 01:24:13 +0000

Introduction

In the world of last-mile deliveries in the US, 2019 is a landmark year; For the first time in a very very long time, the duopoly of FedEx and UPS in the US market is being seriously challenged by a competitor: Amazon.

For the first time in a very very long time, the duopoly of FedEx and UPS in the US market is being seriously challenged by a competitor.

In 2019, Amazon Logistics is set to finish the year handling around 2.5 Billion shipments. This is 2x what it handled in 2018 and getting eerily close to the 3 Billion mark of FedEx and the 4.7 Billion mark of UPS. This is no mean feat even for a company like Amazon and represents more than a decade of effort behind the scenes to own the complete shopping experience of a customer from procurement to unboxing.

From the perspective of a tech company that operates in the shipping and logistics space and which is an active advocate for transparency and choice in this space, this is exciting news that can potentially disrupt this space and bring a host of positive changes to both shippers and end customers who receive those shipments.

Here we attempt to take a closer look at the impact that Amazon Logistics has had on Holiday Season 2019 and what the future potentially holds for them in the small parcel shipping carrier space currently dominated by FedEx and UPS.

Why is Amazon Logistics a big deal?

While last-mile deliveries may seem like just another component in the long list of things Amazon does, the reality is far from it. This happens to be an exceptionally important component of their “customer obsession” mission and helps them build a critical advantage over other online merchants.

When you look closer, every online merchant, including Amazon, traditionally relied on a shipping carrier like FedEx or UPS for their last-mile deliveries. This meant that a merchant’s shipping speed, costs, and delivery experience were restricted to what was offered by these shipping carriers. In a country like the US, with a near duopoly between two carriers, this often meant very little flexibility or control for merchants over their shipping.

In the US, the near duopoly between two carriers has meant little flexibility or control for merchants over their shipping.

This limitation was something that Amazon has always resented as it left the final portion of a customer’s shopping experience in the hands of a shipping carrier, which often had different objectives compared to Amazon. For instance, providing a tighter delivery window, offering flexible redelivery options, ensuring that a high-value shipment or customer is given special treatment, providing in-home deliveries to combat package theft, etc. may be of high importance to Amazon, being the seller a customer has a direct relationship with. But, a shipping carrier, which is simply paid for transporting a shipment from A to B, often has very different objectives compared to the seller and customer. This mismatch has always been a pain point for customer-obsessed businesses like Amazon.

Taking direct control of this final piece of the shopping experience will enable Amazon to have direct control over a customer’s order right from the moment a customer lands on their website to the moment the customer unboxes the product, enabling Amazon to have a remarkable customer experience advantage over the competition.

Just imagine being able to order something in the morning, pick a 30 min delivery window late next evening, rescheduling that effortlessly if needed or even giving the delivery person permission to step in and leave the product in your living room vs picking another merchant who will be delivering through FedEx or UPS throwing the delivery across your fence 3 days later. That’s the magnitude of difference in experience Amazon Logistics can bring to the table for Amazon.

How did Amazon Logistics succeed where others could not?

The biggest limitation that has prevented serious new competition from emerging in the shipping carrier space to challenge FedEx and UPS has been the very high infrastructure investment required to operate at a national level as a shipping carrier. The shipping volumes required to justify such an investment have always been very high and it remains exceptionally risky for a new entrant to bet on achieving these massive volumes to be successful.

Amazon, on the other hand, managed to circumvent this challenge by independently growing to be a shipper large enough to easily justify such investments, thus allowing it not only to become an independent carrier that satisfies their own shipping needs but also offer shipping services to other merchants who may or may not be selling on Amazon; in other words, reduce its own dependency on FedEx and UPS and offer a serious alternative for other merchants using FedEx and UPS.

How is Amazon Logistics different from shipping carriers?

Let us imagine a customer in California ordering a product from a merchant in New York and. on the same day, a customer in New York ordering the same product from a store in California. When these merchants rely on FedEx or UPS, this situation will result in two cross country shipments of 3+ days, each with a higher probability of delays compared to shipments that travel a lesser distance.

With Amazon through, since they are also the merchant and have control over inventory and shipping locations, the order from California would be fulfilled probably the same day from a warehouse in California and the order in New York similarly so from a warehouse in New York.

This direct control over inventory and shipping locations offers Amazon the ability to optimize transportation costs, performance, and efficiency far better than a traditional shipping carrier like FedEx or UPS. When Amazon Logistics makes a move to corner the non-Amazon shipping market down the line, this considerable expertise in managing fulfillment as a whole is likely to see them offering comprehensive and innovative fulfillment solutions that go beyond just the shipping services offered by traditional carriers.

How did Amazon Logistics perform this year?

This is the first year Amazon Logistics is operating at a scale comparable to FedEx and UPS and we project their performance numbers to match up to those of FedEx and UPS with Holiday performance being right around the 8% delay mark. For a first attempt, this is commendable indeed.

With the inventory and fulfillment location advantages that Amazon enjoys, we expect performance numbers to get far better than those of FedEx and UPS in the next 1–3 years, especially because Amazon is relentless in trying to improve performance and expand its footprint in this space.

Image Courtesy: www.vox.com/recode

What does the future hold for Amazon Logistics?

For the reasons stated above, Amazon Logistics is a very serious effort for Amazon; something that Amazon has put a tremendous amount of background work into over more than a decade and something we expect Amazon to be relentless in trying to perfect.

We expect Amazon Logistics to have a massive impact on the shipping space, comparable to the significant impact AWS had on cloud computing. We expect it to grow into a huge, invisible backbone that powers e-commerce across the US.

We expect Amazon to focus on perfecting its own deliveries and taking on the deliveries of merchants using FBA. 2019 saw them handling 46% of such deliveries and 2020 is likely to see that expand to around the 70% mark. At this point, we expect to see Amazon open up Amazon Logistics on a large scale, as a serious alternative to FedEx and UPS, for non-Amazon sellers and shipments. This move will likely double it’s 2.5 Billion parcel volume by 2021 and eat into the 82% share of FedEx, UPS, and USPS in the small parcel space, giving Amazon about 40% of that market by 2023.

Amazon has far more interest in focussing on delivery speed and experience than traditional shipping carriers as most shipments are sent to its own customers. This is likely to make Amazon obsessively focus on on-time deliveries and more flexible and customer-friendly delivery options such as in-home deliveries, batch deliveries, and night deliveries and tighter delivery windows.

We estimate Amazon to achieve >98% on-time deliveries all through the year, including the holiday season, with a significant rise in more customer-friendly delivery offerings by 2021.

Final Word

Irrespective of whether we take the perspective of a customer or of a merchant, Amazon’s much-anticipated entry into the last mile space is exciting news. The massive competition that Amazon brings is likely to revitalize tech penetration in this space and bring about a succession of rapid changes that are likely to enable merchants and customers more of a say in how packages are shipped between them.

_________________________________________

This is an article by Sriram Sridhar, CEO at LateShipment.com.

The post All You Need to Know About Amazon Logistics in 2019 appeared first on Lateshipment.com.