Example of Fedex Intl shipping

From: Jerome Fine <jhfine_at_idirect.com>
Date: Sat Jul 28 23:15:27 2001

>Jeffrey S. Sharp wrote:

> >On Fri, 27 Jul 2001, Fred Cisin (XenoSoft) wrote:
> > IOW, if packages ABCDEFGHIJK are sent sequntially, and B is late,
> > rather than have CDEFGHIJK all be a little late, they will then be
> > delivered ACDEFGHIJKB.
> > Almost all of their packages are on time. The late one may be VERY
> > late.
> I think service guarantees are the reason behind their sequencing scheme.
> Broken guarantees cost them money. Once package B is late, its guarantee
> is broken, and nothing's going to change that. Letting B delay CDEFGHIJK
> would mean many more broken guarantees. Putting B off until the end
> (assuming CDEFGHIJK arrive on time) results in only one broken guarantee.

Jerome Fine replies:

I though I might add my own experience. In general, I find FedEx to be
excellent, if a bit expensive compared to other carriers. But I do get
what I pay for. In most cases, I suspect that the cost is much higher when
a company who uses FedEx very little and does not have a volume discount
sends me something.

About 3 months ago, a shipment was sent via two day delivery. It was picked
up on Friday and due the following Tuesday by 5:00 P.M. However, when
it arrived VERY early Monday morning at the last stop before final delivery,
they must have been less than busy and the shipment was scanned in and noted
as being TOO early for delivery that day. HOWEVER, by the time Tuesday
arrived, it was not found in the warehouse again in time and it did not arrive
until 7:30 P.M. First, I was told that FedEx will often delay shipments if they
are found to be arriving too soon (1 day instead of 2 days) since the justification
is that if the customer is going to start assuming that 1 day delivery is normal
even though only 2 days is being paid for, then that is all that will be paid for
almost all of the time. Second, I would probably not have complained if I had
not seen the note that the shipment was chosen to be delayed - but when FedEx
actually chose to delay it on Monday and then did not meet the deadline on
Tuesday, I felt a bit more than annoyed. Third, when I did call and talk to a
low level (first level) complaint taker, THERE WAS A VERY STRONG
ATTEMPT to ignore my complaint and fob me off without any consideration.
I think at that point, if FedEx had just apologized, it would have been enough,
however, since that was not forthcoming, I ASKED - STRONGLY REQUESTED -
FINALLY DEMANDED to talk to a supervisor. If you get that result, be firm
but courteous (after all those low level complaint takers are only doing what the
VP instructs them to do - but it might be interesting to consider a class action
suit if everyone else had the same experience) and insist on speaking to the
next level supervisor who was a courteous as can be and IMMEDIATELY
agreed to a refund of the shipping charges.

Fourth, this was a shipment from the US to Canada. If you are doing this, a
"Commercial Invoice" is required (4 copies I am told). However, if the
value on the "Commercial Invoice" (NOT including shipping and handling -
just the cost of the goods) is below $ US 12.00 or $ Can 20.00, then at
least in Ontario and probably all provinces west will classify the shipment
as "LOW VALUE" and NOT collect the GST of 7%. This means that
the shipment does not need a broker to clear it since the only thing a broker
is really needed for is to make the arrangements to pay Revenue Canada the
GST (the charge for which is almost always included when sending by air,
BUT NOT INCLUDED when sending by ground - and those brokerage
charges can be up to five or even tens times the actual GST charge. Note
that when sending by ground by USPS, the green CN-22 customs sticker
seems sufficient when the value is $ US 12.00 or below.

Fifth, it seems to delay shipments above $ US 12.00 a minimum of one day
in customs so that the GST can be collected.

I saw an article in the paper today that Bush and Canada might consider
dropping the border checks (almost a million people a day and 2 billion
in goods between Canada and the US). I don't know how much of that
trade is business to business, but for goods coming into Canada from the
US, every penny of any GST that a business pays right now is never even
worth the paper work to collect it if the goods are worth about $ US 1000
or less. For example, on shipments valued at $ Can 1000, the GST at 7%
is $ Can 70 and Revenue Canada would, I guess receive that $ Can 70 as
soon as the shipment crosses the border. But about 3-6 weeks later, any
business which paid that amount would deduct that same $ Can 70 from
any GST collected from a Canadian customer. Thus the net result of all
the extra handling is that Revenue Canada saves about 1 month of interest
on that $ US 70 - or about $ Can 3.00 - hardly worth the paper work to
collect it and the company and everyone else probably spends and extra
$ Can 10 just collecting and keeping track as well. There was an estimate
that retail prices might actually drop a few percent as a result.

Sincerely yours,

Jerome Fine
Received on Sat Jul 28 2001 - 23:15:27 BST