02-14-2019 08:41 PM
So I sold a pair of shoes Sunday and printed out a Fedex Smartpost label and adhered it to the box and put it in my local Fedex drop off box Monday afternoon. It's now Thursday night and the Fedex website still says the shipment is pending - the label has been created. I shipped via Smartpost before and the item arrived at the Fedex origin facility the very next day. Should I be alarmed that Fedex still hasn't updated its tracking information? Has Fedex lost the package?
Solved! Go to Best Answer
02-15-2019 06:47 AM
@simci_66 wrote:So I sold a pair of shoes Sunday and printed out a Fedex Smartpost label and adhered it to the box and put it in my local Fedex drop off box Monday afternoon. It's now Thursday night and the Fedex website still says the shipment is pending - the label has been created. I shipped via Smartpost before and the item arrived at the Fedex origin facility the very next day. Should I be alarmed that Fedex still hasn't updated its tracking information? Has Fedex lost the package?
There are two tracking numbers on a SmartPost package ... one is the FedEx and the other USPS.
It has been a while since I've used SmartPost (in my opinion, it is a terrible shipping option), but if I recall those FedEx numbers do not always update on the FedEx website ... and, sometimes, you won't see a tracking update until the package is turned over to the USPS.
Why do they not always update? I don't know ... maybe FedEx employees aren't required to scan them, or the scanners register the USPS number rather than the FedEx number, and the USPS number is nonsense to the FedEx system.
02-14-2019 11:17 PM
02-15-2019 06:16 AM
Maybe they recently changed their policy but their website specifically says they accept SmartPost. That is why I am confused as to why it is taking so long
02-15-2019 06:47 AM
@simci_66 wrote:So I sold a pair of shoes Sunday and printed out a Fedex Smartpost label and adhered it to the box and put it in my local Fedex drop off box Monday afternoon. It's now Thursday night and the Fedex website still says the shipment is pending - the label has been created. I shipped via Smartpost before and the item arrived at the Fedex origin facility the very next day. Should I be alarmed that Fedex still hasn't updated its tracking information? Has Fedex lost the package?
There are two tracking numbers on a SmartPost package ... one is the FedEx and the other USPS.
It has been a while since I've used SmartPost (in my opinion, it is a terrible shipping option), but if I recall those FedEx numbers do not always update on the FedEx website ... and, sometimes, you won't see a tracking update until the package is turned over to the USPS.
Why do they not always update? I don't know ... maybe FedEx employees aren't required to scan them, or the scanners register the USPS number rather than the FedEx number, and the USPS number is nonsense to the FedEx system.
02-15-2019 06:57 AM
02-15-2019 08:28 AM
@simci_66 wrote:
Thank you. Hopefully the tracking will update eventually, and if not I will make sure to call Fedex. I will probably not ship SmartPost any longer and just go with USPS instead.
Instead of dropping SmartPost as an option, simply go to the counter at any FedEx SmartPost dropoff and have them scan it and give you a receipt. That way you ALWAYS know that it was scanned on time.
For me the bonus is all the staff at the FedEx store know me and on the (very few) occasions where there was an issue, they ASSISTED in getting it resolved.
02-15-2019 12:28 PM
02-15-2019 12:38 PM
02-15-2019 12:43 PM
I would just drop them off directly at the FedEx store but I’m on a college campus with no car, and the fedex shipping center is about a half hour bus drive. I only used Fedex because of the conviene of being able to walk to the drop off box. If I have to drop off in person I may as well just go to the post office that’s easier for me to get to.
02-15-2019 12:50 PM
Well, lo and behold the package is in the hands of USPS. It arrived at my local post office on Tuesday so I guess it never was actually within the Fedex system. Strange
02-15-2019 01:03 PM
Was the shipment relatively local? (ie: not cross country?)
I looked at where you are and where the USPS tracking indicates the pkg is and it is totally local. Either you mistakenly dropped it in a USPS blue dropbox, your campus has some sort of mixed generic dropboxes, and/or what I speculate below occurred:
FedEx might sometimes pass fairly local shipments directly to USPS instead of processing them through their network, depending on the details of their contract with USPS and local agreements.
It makes logistical sense to not process a pkg through the FedEx Ground network, load it on a FedEx truck, drive it 200 miles, process it through that sort center, load it on a pallet, and deliver it to USPS for last mile Parcel Select delivery. Instead, I suspect they just load it on a pallet and deliver it to the local USPS dist center and let the whole 200 mile journey be last mile delivery. (Again, depends on the contract between USPS and FedEx, and local agreements for handling).
All speculation, no documentation, but fits with observations about fringe cases with Smartpost handling such as USPS just going ahead and handling Smartpost shipments mistakenly given to them at the start that they themselves truck cross country instead of redirecting to FedEx for the initial haul.
02-15-2019 01:18 PM
What’s interesting is this package is not local at all. Going from Indiana to California. I’m not sure why USPS is taking care of the entire shipment, but as long as it arrives to the customer then all is well.
02-15-2019 02:21 PM
We ship smartpost sometimes and have never had any issues. What is interesting is, we accidentally brought a smartpost package into the post office with our other packages a couple of times. As we were about to take it off the counter the clerk said no problem, leave it with us. It has a USPS bar code, will be recognized by our system and will be delivered with all their other parcel select packages.
We were not sure, but were told that it is done all the time so went ahead and tried it. Sure enough it was delivered with tracking updates along the way.
We do take our smartpost packages to FedEx regularly and get the drop off scan/receipt. Also, FedEx tracking is far superior to USPS in our opinion.
02-15-2019 02:43 PM
02-15-2019 02:52 PM