If you’re paying the standard list rates for FedEx shipments, you’re paying too much. You’ll find that more than one type of FedEx shipping discount is available through various organizations and other programs. It’s worth exploring these options — as well as others like shipping consulting — to see which provide the most benefit and meet your shipping profile, helping you to take full advantage of your shipping budget.
Types of shipping discounts for businesses
FedEx Advantage is a program offered through many associations and business relationships. Through it, your company can take advantage of discounts without enrollment fees, minimum purchase or minimum shipping volumes.
Associations: Your company may find an eligible FedEx discounted rate through a business association or membership group. Many of these groups offer a benefits list inclusive of car rentals, hotels, copy and printing services, and shipping discounts.
With the FedEx Advantage program, your company can save up to 78% on select services, though most savings are much lower. Here are some typical savings offered by FedEx shipping:
- 29% on select FedEx Express U.S. services
- 25% on select FedEx Express international shipping services
- 20% on select FedEx Ground services
- 10% on select FedEx Home Delivery services
- 78% on select FedEx Freight services
Enrollment is free with the program, and there are no shipment volume requirements. Your company can also get a 5% discount on shipping rates for creating a FedEx shipping label on eligible FedEx Express shipments, when using FedEx Ship Manage.
Be sure to read the fine print to understand what is included and excluded though. The eligible services and discounts may change while you’re enrolled, and discounts may not apply to FedEx surcharges, accessorial charges, special handling fees, or other features.
Walmart Marketplace: The FedEx Advantage program can be used when selling on Walmart Marketplace too. FedEx Advantage through Walmart Marketplace may waive a $1 return label fee, and give 50% off flat discounts for multiple FedEx international shipping rates for those ordering from Walmart Marketplace Mexico and Canada. The program offers the same tracking information you would get with other FedEx shipments.
American Express: If your company uses a corporate AmEx card, you can enroll in a FedEx Advantage program for small businesses. You’ll need to link your American Express Business Card to your FedEx account to start.
Those with American Express OPEN cards can also take advantage. By linking the card and FedEx account, your company can save up to 16% off FedEx Express, 12% off FedEx Ground, and 20% off FedEx Office services. By printing FedEx labels through the site, you’ll earn an additional 5% discount. When paying with the OPEN card, your company gets 5% back, credited to your statement. The programs may offer savings in combination with your current FedEx discounts or promotions.
Shipping software companies: If you’re constantly asking yourself questions like, “Is FedEx or UPS cheaper?” then a shipping software company might be useful for you. Some businesses rely on these companies, taking full advantage of discounts negotiated by the vendor for a variety of carriers — whether you’re in search of a FedEx, DHL, USPS or UPS shipping discount. The software also allows you to print labels and shipping documents, track shipments for multiple carriers, and perform other relevant functions. If the company doesn’t have its own negotiated rates with FedEx, they may offer access to discounted rates through the FedEx Advantage Program.
Other FedEx savings programs
FedEx More Savings Program: Another shipping option that can help to reduce spending is the FedEx More Savings Program, which gives businesses up to 22% off eligible FedEx Express services, plus 9% off eligible FedEx Ground and Home Delivery, for nine weeks. Your company would need to use FedEx Ship Manager or approved FedEx electronic shipping solutions to take advantage of these savings. After the introductory period, the discount rate rises to 32% and 11% respectively for an eligible shipment, provided your company continues using its electronic shipping solution. The discounts are based on annual volume.
FedEx discount code: It may not be possible to use a FedEx coupon code or FedEx promo code for shipping, but you can use a FedEx Office coupon code for discounts on a print order or other FedEx Office discounts for office supplies.
FedEx business account discount: Of course your company can also negotiate its own FedEx shipping discounts outside of formal programs. The FedEx business discount rates you’re able to get depends heavily on your shipping volume as well as your negotiating ability.
How to get the most out of your FedEx contract
To ensure you’re paying the lowest shipping cost, you should consider optimizing your shipping service contract and enroll in an invoice auditing program. Many companies think they can negotiate their contracts successfully on their own, but we’ve found that shippers often leave money on the table when they do this. That’s because the shippers don’t have enough benchmarking data or know enough about their own shipping details to make the proper dent in their terms.
Shipware helps shippers optimize their contracts by diving into that data and analyzing it to better understand what services, accessorial charges, destinations, package sizes and other important factors influence their shipping costs. After determining these points, Shipware’s experts can fine tune a negotiation strategy, understanding what elements of the contract are open to change, and by how much. We find that our clients save as much as 30% on their shipping as a result.
This negotiation process isn’t just happening every few years as the contract comes due for renewal either. Tweaks can be made at any point, like when an accessorial fee goes up, or new yearly rates are introduced.
The other important way to get the most out of your FedEx contract is by using invoice audit recovery services. With the help of our proprietary software system, Shipware is able to identify invoice errors that often yield credits or refunds. Those refunds could be due to missed guaranteed delivery times, or they could be from the invoice not capturing a negotiated discount or incorrect accessorial charge. The software looks for 65 different points of failure, some of which result in refunds to the customer’s account.
Shippers are often surprised to find out that this invoice audit recovery service can save them 1% to 9% of their invoice amounts, and that the service is provided with no out-of-pocket costs — it’s funded by a percentage of the amount recovered from the errors made by the carriers. The program runs behind the scenes, with no effort on the shipper’s part, and the set-up is quick, accomplished by connecting the carrier’s online billing account to our software. No downloads, just quick and regular audits.
To learn more about how Shipware can help you lower your FedEx rates and capture invoice audit savings, contact us online.
