What a start to 2025! Arctic temperatures, snowstorms, wildfires and heavy rain are making travel difficult for passengers and parcels this winter. And then, the February 17 Delta plane crash in Toronto closed two runways— one of which is Canada's busiest. While the flipped plane did not result in loss of life, it caused a major backup at the airport, affecting parcel transit.

What happens when things out of your (and the carriers') control delay parcels? We're sharing how you can use parcel audits to collect refunds when UPS and FedEx don't deliver as promised.

What is a service guarantee?

FedEx and UPS offer service guarantees, resulting in refunds when service failures occur. However, the sender must request these refunds— they are not automatic. And they're time-sensitive. FedEx requires refund requests within 15 days of the invoice date, while UPS needs them within 15 days of the parcel's scheduled delivery date.

What's not covered by a service guarantee?

Are winter weather, wildfires, and a plane crash causes for refunds? According to both carriers' service alert pages, their service guarantees do not cover the current weather events and wildfires. While their pages do not specifically mention the Delta crash, FedEx's Service Guide notes that "We will not be liable for, nor will any adjustment, refund, or credit of any kind be given as a result of... Perils of the air... national or local disruptions in air or ground transportation networks (as determined solely by us)."

How can a parcel audit help me?

A parcel audit is an automatic process that tracks all manifested and shipped packages to determine whether a refundable service failure has occurred. Since not all service failures are reimbursable, these audits are a necessity for every company that relies on parcel shipments.

A few of the most common service failures ShipRx discovers for our customers are:

●       Manifested but not shipped
●       Invalid address correction
●       Invalid residential surcharge
●       Duplicate charge

Parcel audits are the best way to quickly discover service failures and request money back before the period for refunds expires.

Set up a parcel audit for free

The team at ShipRx has been in the shipping industry for our entire careers. We've seen a lot of changes, and we're committed to helping our customers receive the best service at the lowest possible price— and that includes making sure you're not paying for the carriers' mistakes. That's why we've made it free to set up a ShipRx parcel audit. Our proprietary software checks more than 40 factors to ensure you get the refunds you deserve. We're so confident in our ability to discover refunds that we don't charge a setup fee— only a small percentage of the funds we help you recover.

You can't control the weather, but you can control your potential for refunds. Don't leave your money in FedEx and UPS's pockets. Set up your parcel audit with ShipRx here, and start recovering funds as soon as your next invoice.