When COVID-19 was declared a national emergency, businesses across the country scrambled to come up with a plan to continue to serve their customers. UPS and FedEx responded by revoking their service guarantees. In fairness, the decision wasn’t irrational. Their networks were suddenly filled with goods that would have normally been purchased in brick and mortal stores and their systems quickly became overloaded beyond capacity.
Now that 1 in 4 Americans are fully vaccinated, businesses are determining how to move forward. Early last month both UPS and FedEx announced the partial reinstatement of their service guarantees– with a few changes. Today, we’ll go through their April 2021 service guarantee announcements to let you know what you can expect when you ship with FedEx and UPS now.
On April 5, 2021, UPS announced the return of service guarantees for the following services:
They also announced that they would extend the guaranteed delivery time for UPS Next Day Air Saver® deliveries from 3 PM to 11:59 PM on the guaranteed day of delivery.
UPS has announced that service guarantees on all other UPS services not listed above remain suspended.
FedEx followed suit, and as of April 6, 2021, the shipping company has reinstated their service guarantees on the following services:
Missing from that list are FedEx Express®, FedEx Ground®, FedEx Freight®, and FedEx Office®.
Over the past year, the lack of service guarantees meant that the carriers were not held responsible for late deliveries– even when businesses paid for the expensive next-day shipping options. The reinstatement of service guarantees gives businesses peace of mind to begin using the more expensive shipping options. Once again, the carrier will be held accountable if they fail to deliver just as your customers hold you accountable. Soon, we expect the guarantee restrictions to be lifted on the remaining services.
Get in touch with the shipping experts at ShipRx to find a cost-effective solution that works for you. If your shipments are eligible for refunds, our parcel audit service will recover the funds you deserve. Not eligible for service guarantees? We’ll negotiate with your current carrier to ensure you’re paying the lowest rates possible.