UPS or FedEx rewards programs?
 

I was wondering if they offered any type of award programs for frequent shipping with their companies? Thanks!

I get a nice volume discount with my fedex account.

And I think that Amex "OPEN" cards offer a Fedex kickback.

But I don't know of points, miles, etc.

I have all my fedex charges billed to my Starwood Amex.

You can earn points on the Intercontinental Hotels Group (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, etc.) Priority Club by shipping with Airborne Express.

Not bad! I may need to try this!

* 5000 bonus points for first shipment
* 4 points per dollar

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View from the Wing: A blog about Free Miles and Free Markets

vulcan, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I am told over and over by fedex and my company's commercial account rep that the only way they can bill direct to a credit card is to charge each and every shipment as a single distinct charge PER PACKAGE, and in no way will they allow us to pay a WEEKLY or MONTHLY bill in a single charge, whether we call it in, or better yet, wanted to set up an auto-pay via credit card for this SINGLE AGGREGATE weekly fedex invoice for all our shipments for that week? Let's say hypothetically we ship between 5-10 packages a day, and so in a week ship, lets say, 45 packages...and generate, hypotetically, a $500 invoice weekly (and pay weekly by a single fedex invoice)...instead of having any way at all to pay a single $500 payment to a credit card, on an autopayment system ideally, FedEx has told us repeatedly they would have to charge 45 distinct charges in this example. Which, over a month, would be ludicrous and an administrative nightmare.
Our fedex rep has told us customers have left fedex commercial accounts (and gone exclusively with UPS) over fedEx's inability to let commercial (ie high volume) shippers pay ONE AGGREGATE BILL by credit card, instead having to pay each single shipment charge if one was to be able to use a credit card.
Since we obviously do not prefer to get 10-page AMEX bills with each single shipp=ment charge separately, nor wish to try to reconcile such an awkward fedex and then amex bill on a weekly basis, we forgo a nice chunk of miles and starpoints. This is one of the largest untapped sources of prospective affinity points that I have yet to figure out a workaround.

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Please confirm if you have to pay each and every invoice/shipment distinctly using a credit card, or if you are somehow able to pay one aggregate bill using credit card. This is a biggie for, so thanks in advance for your (or anyone else's) response.

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My personal opinion - fedex, being one of the most competent corps in the world with respect to sophisticated IT capability and resources, could easily fix this anomoly...they choose, IMO, to force this weird, literally archaic policy to exist because they do not wish to have commercial shippers paying multi-thousand dollar weekly invoices by a credit card, to then give up 1-2% discount point. They are happpy to LINK a bank account so it can auto-pay a single aggregate invoice, but play this little game when one wants to pay by credit card (and then blame the credit card companies by saying amex won't allow them to charge an aggregate bill). BTW - I finally found (in texas anyway) a power company that lets me charge my commercial and home electricity bill to amex btw (gexaenergy.com, out of Houston, tx). Had found one or more that charged to credit card, but excluded AMEX, but gexaenergy also includes amex. SWEET. This is a nice [starpoint] windfall each month and, a nicer surprise, they easily beat the "price to beat" in Texas' deregulatory environment (ie TXU's price) substantially so there is true savings to boot over our established energy provider. Predictably they are growing like a wildfire.

[This message has been edited by ILUVCITIBANK (edited Dec 24, 2003).]

I ship about 200+ envelopes annually via FedEx and I can say without hesitation that in my view FedEx is a truly OUTSTANDING company, I'd almost trust my life on them. I use them not so much for speed of shipment but for reliability as - knock on wood - they have never let me down once in over 5 years of using them as my primary shipper. A few times they have delivered a package a few hours later than their guaranteed time and all that is needed for a full refund is a quick phone call - no questions asked.

Another nice feature of FedEx - as opposed to say USPS shipping - is that the shipping fee is unknown to the recipient. Say I charge an ebay buyer a flat $15 for overnight shipping, if I send the item via USPS Express Saver they will see a big label affixed to the envelope showing in black and white the actual shipping cost of $13.65 - boy does that open a can of worms with some buyers ("You overcharged me on shipping by $1.35 - refund it or I'll leave a Negative Feedback!"). On the other hand if you use FedEx they will never know the true exact cost of shipping.

I get a fairly substantial corporate discount on FedEx shipping thru USAA, sending an envelope via FedEx Express Saver - my favorite shipping method since it is the least expensive choice but at the same time you still get all of the reliability of FedEx - only costs me about $7.25 or so to most domestic destinations.

My FedEx shipments are automatically charged to my Diners Club account.

yanxxfan, I agree with edverything you've said. fedEx is a super company, and their attitude is great to boot. reliability is almost a bonus, and they stand tall among their competitors in our experience. They embarrass UPS with their superb CSR.

but - with respect to this issue of being able to charge larger, recurring charges, to a credit card - correct me if I'm wrong, but even having a fedex account in place, you presumably get 200 distinct charges on your credit card, right ? IOW,fedex offers no way to do a weekly or monthly SINGLE AGGREGATE CHARGE TO CREDIT CARD to pay a shipping account, right ? You can imagine this does not work for commercial accounts who ship hundreds or thousands of packages annually, perhaps even as few as 5-10 a day. If I did 200 in one batch or two I might suffer through 200 single charges to a credit card (although the credit card itself would probaly start denying recurring charges from the same charger due to security algorithems at about the 6-8thth charge on a single day, and that's another can of worms).

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Bottom line is I feel FedEx is being purposefully coy, obtuse, and non-cooperative on this issue (and worse yet is disingeniously blaming all credit card companies saying they won't "allow" fedEx to charge a single monthly or weekly billing) in fixing this one very prominent weakness of their billing system...which serves as a detriment to their customers who might prefer more options.

You are correct, I get 200 distinct charge charges. To me that isn't a problem, but I see your point

It is true that the only way to charge FedEx on credit card is to charge on each package seperately. Our Amex bils is about 30 pages long every month, but I just can't pass the opportunity.
I have two approaches to minimize our adminstrative headache. First, get an additional card just for FedEX. If you charge enough, this is worth it.
Second, American Express has an online accounting function which can download your statement to a spreadsheet or an accounting software. This will make your accounting department complains less.
We still get our volume discount with FedEX through charging to our AMEX. IF we can pay by credit card, we will not pay by check.

I think you guys are using fedex air. FedEx ground is not for to trust your life. Is old Roadway Ground, and although better than old roadway ground, is still one of the best ways to avoid a package delivery. Even Airborne is better.

Can you get the discounts that come with 200/2000 packages a month?

I use UPS, and my discount is over 10% and provides equipment, billing materials. Fed Ex has given me a better bid, but their billing system, and their delivery are not of the same calibre. Never asked about points, or charging to a card.

Troof. FedEx Ground blows mule.

I am a very high volume shipper. In my area UPS had the attitude that they were the only game in town. I was 100% UPS shipper for over 15 years. FEDEX ground is every bit as good as UPS ground. We have almost zero claims with Fedex ground. Occasionally something takes longer or whatever, but that happens with UPS as well.In fact they were faster than UPS and recently UPS stepped up their delivery times according to them. FEDEX ground is much faster to the West coast for me from the easty coast. I know the old Roadway ground was terrible but the new FEDEX ground can give UPS a run for their money. My discount is 30-35% less than UPS rates. I ship only a small fraction with UPS...Rob

PS UPS customer service to high volume shippers like me stinks. They are truly miserable and that is with my High priority customer call number. Most of the people at UPS hide wiuth no direct phone numbers. You end up callling out of state people who tell you the reps or whatever will get back with you in 24 hours or a few days. Whichever fits their needs.


[This message has been edited by robertw477 (edited Dec 26, 2003).]

So if you have your Six Continents set for miles what is the conversion t miles per package



[This message has been edited by FC_Dave (edited Dec 26, 2003).]

Well I'm a low-volume shipper on both FedEx & Airborne, have accts w/ both, & always paid invoice by check. Silly me! From now on charge to my cc; thanks all.

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Sharon