FedEx agreements’ black and white details can often look like a foreign language even to the savviest of shippers and business-minded leaders. From surcharges and money-back guarantees to termination fees and more, there is a lot to digest when it comes to reviewing, understanding, and ultimately feeling confident about the terms of a FedEx agreement. Keeping this in mind, Refund Retriever breaks down the general outline of FedEx agreements to make understanding them much more straightforward.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Below, we identify the general breakdown of a FedEx contract with explanations to support each section.

FedEx Express Pricing Attachment

Whether you need next day, 2-day, or 3-day, this section identifies the terms and conditions of your express shipping. You want to ensure that the pricing is evident on both domestic express and international export shipments. Fees and surcharges also impact your overall shipping spend. A critical factor in these terms is that you rightfully deserve a money-back guarantee if any shipments are late or conflict with the terms of your agreement. Be sure that you do not waive this right at any point in your FedEx agreement. This can ultimately cost your business money and increase unnecessary shipping spend.

FedEx Ground Pricing Attachment

FedEx identified various terms, conditions, and pricing provisions based on a variety of ground shipments similar to express pricing. Among them include:

• Ground Domestic – Delivers packages within 1 to 7 days based on distance and destination.
• Ground Domestic Multi-weight – Combine multiple packages for the same destination in one shipment. Pricing will be based on total weight at a minimum of 200 pounds.
• Ground Export (Ground to Canada and Mexico) – Cross-border shipping helps manage the duty fees, international shipping forms, tariff codes, and other necessary shipping details to Canada and Mexico.
• SmartPost (USPS final delivery) – A service designed to support shippers through 25 strategically positioned hubs the USPS destination closest to the customer’s residence. From there, USPS delivers the last leg of the delivery to the customer’s door.

Fees and surcharges will apply to shipments based on factors that may include delivery location, delivery dates, and package weight. Having clarity to these terms, conditions, and pricing is crucial in your agreement with FedEx not to overlook. Additionally, do not waive the right to claim money back when deserved on ground deliveries, either. To automatically capture these refunds, explore more here.

Freight Pricing Attachment

Whether time is more important to you or saving on your shipping spend, it’s critical to understand the terms of freight pricing. More specifically, the conditions in which FedEx identifies to your contract for this service. Specific terms and conditions will apply to this section – just as they will all sections – and variations include express deliveries, domestic deliveries, and volume deliveries. Unique to this section, as well, is a discount program based on the volume of shipments. Like other FedEx agreement sections, do not waive the Money Back Guarantee that FedEx offers to all shipments.

Additional FedEx Agreement Details to Keep in Mind

As you review your FedEx agreement, some additional details to keep in mind include:

Money-Back Guarantee: For eligible services, shippers are entitled to request refunds under the FedEx Money Back Guarantee policy. To help ensure you get refunds when deserved, introducing a parcel auditing system into your shipping strategy. Parcel auditing is incredibly beneficial to your business. Through automation and no upfront cost, shippers can capture refunds and then have them deposited directly into their accounts. This helps shippers save money and educate themselves. Explore more about parcel auditing here.

Necessary Shipments: FedEx has the right to cancel agreements if a shipment is not made within 30 days. These terms are identified as part of your FedEx contract. Review to ensure they align with your business needs.

Potential Discounts: Often, shippers can save money on specific shipments, but shippers are often unaware of these possible savings. Due to this, having a FedEx agreement review by a professional can benefit you in further understanding the fine print details of a FedEx agreement. By having your contract checked and possibly negotiated, you would save up to 20% a year (on average). Discover more here about how to help your business unveil discounts and other saving opportunities from FedEx.

Contract Negotiations: At any time during a contract agreement, shippers can negotiate their contract terms with FedEx. Whether having just created a contract or it’s about to expire, negotiations are always possible. It is ideal to begin the process sooner than later since negotiations can take time.

Early Termination Fee: FedEx does not require you to have a termination fee. however, it is often part of a FedEx agreement. If this is the case for your shipping contract with FedEx, consider negotiating this to save on a potential fee that you should not have to pay.

Refund Retriever will explore FedEx agreements in more detail in this three-part series. Check out Part 2, where we will discuss how base and earned discounts work for FedEx.