When the cost of your label isn’t quite what you expected it to be.
Have you ever run a Quick Quote and gotten a price for a label that you quoted to your customer, and then booked the label, only to have the label cost something different than you originally quoted?
Have you ever used a coupon code and didn’t get the savings you expected?
Let’s delve into these two conundrums and figure out why.
QUICK QUOTES
Scenario One: You grab a quote off the front page of the website. Then later, you book the label and it costs LESS than the quote. Why?
The answer is almost 100% certain that you checked the quote without being logged in. If you’re not logged in, the quote will show you our standard public discount rate. Once you log in to book your label, if you’ve got a customized discount, you’ll see bigger savings than you were quoted.
Takeaway – Make sure your account is logged in whenever you’re running price quotes.
Scenario Two: Your account is logged in when you grab a quote off the front page of the website. Then later, you book the label and it costs MORE than the quote. Why?
The Quick Quote feature on our website is only intended to give you an estimated quote based on the zip codes and box sizes you input. In addition to the base rate used to calculate cost of shipping labels, FedEx has a number of various surcharges or fees that it may tack on to the final price. Most of these extra charges are calculated based on the specific address being booked to, not just the zip code. For instance, the Residential Delivery Fee is $4.65 (retail) added onto any label being delivered to a residential address. Other fees may also be added.
When running a quote with just the zip code, there is no way to calculate for these possible additional fees.
One way to always avoid these additional fees is to have your packages shipped directly to your recipient’s nearest Ship Center (aka Hub) and held for pick-up there.
Takeaway – If your business typically ships to residential addresses, you can mentally add $5 to any Quick Quote and get a more accurate number to give to your customer, or just wait until the label is actually booked to let them know how much shipping will be, if you want it to the exact penny.
COUPONS
You’ve scored a sweet coupon code and are excited to use it, only to discover that you only saved about a buck-fifty, OR you didn’t save a single penny, OR the label actually cost you more than if you’d booked it without any coupon at all.
These can be frustrating scenarios if you don’t understand how our coupon codes work.
First rule of coupon codes: The percent discount they represent is always taken off of the FedEx Retail Rate for a shipping label. They don’t offer discounts off of the SYR/SYA shipping rate.
For instance, our standard public discount is already 30% off the FedEx retail rate. If you find a 40% coupon code, that means your discount will be 40% off the FedEx retail rate—NOT 30% off and then an additional 40% off. SO, a $100 label will cost $70 booked without a coupon, and $60 booked WITH the coupon. That is still a great savings, but maybe not as much as you expected, if you thought you were going to get 40% off of $70.
If you have a customized discount rate that is 40%, then our standard “40-code” coupons will not save you any money at all. The discount is exactly the same.
Some customers may have a discount rate higher than any of our standard coupon codes. Those customers might even lose money if they use the code. A coupon code will override whatever discount you were supposed to get…it cannot distinguish whether that is a good deal for you, or not.
Takeaway – It’s very good business practice to be aware of your personal discount rates and make sure to compare them with any coupon codes you would like to use.
Other Notes about Coupons
1. Coupon codes are typically meant to be used only once per account.
Unless specified as an exception, once you’ve used a particular code, it’s done with and can’t be used again.
If you’ve input a code during the label ordering process, but did not complete booking of that label, the coupon may be considered “used” and you won’t be able to use it again.
If that happens, contact our Customer Service and we’ll be happy to give you an equivalent code to replace it.
2. Coupon codes rarely expire. The exceptions to this are
Birthday codes are good for at least one year after your birthday.
Some Holiday codes are only good for one year.
3. Coupon codes are ONLY used for ordering FedEx shipping labels on your own account. They cannot be used to purchase supplies or applied to shipping costs on supplies.
4. If you ever feel like you HAVE to use a coupon code in order to get a good deal on your shipping labels, please contact us and ask about custom discounts.
We hope this has shed a little light on what can sometimes be a confusing subject. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions or concerns you might have about quotes, coupons, or label prices in general. We’re here to work WITH you!