Amazon Lifts FedEx Ground-Delivery Ban For Sellers

Amazon is telling sellers they can begin using FedEx's ground delivery after the company temporarily halted access to the service during the holiday shopping season. From a report: The company will resume FedEx's Ground and Home services on Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET, according to an email Amazon sent Tuesday to merchants that was viewed by CNBC. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that the company is resuming ground-delivery service on Tuesday. The spokesperson said FedEx Ground and Home services have been consistently meeting Amazon's on-time delivery requirements, so it reinstated the shipping option for Prime orders.

But it was FedEx that pulled out...

[bobbied]

Wasn't FedEx that pulled the contract with Amazon, not Amazon pulling away from FedEx? That's what I thought I remembered...

So Amazon is allowing the use of FedEx at the retail (non-contracted) rate? Interesting..

Re:But it was FedEx that pulled out...

[damicatz]

FedEx Ground is operated as a separate company from FedEx so the contracts would be negotiated separately. FedEx ground relies on independent contractors that own their own trucks.

Re:

[slycyberguy]

Nope. Amazon blocked sellers from using FedEx because of poor performance: https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]

Re:But it was FedEx that pulled out...

[raftpeople]

Yes, FedEx pulled out of their partnership with Amazon in general. The issue, from FedEx perspective is as follows:
1 - Amazon growth, if sustained over next 5 years will put it's package delivery well beyond current capabilities of FedEx or UPS, which would require significant investment in facilities and logistics just to keep up.

2 - Amazon's business is low margin (due to Amazon's negotiating strength)

3 - Amazon was already cherry picking the most dense delivery areas for their delivery services and leaving the less dense areas to carriers like FedEx

If FedEx tries to keep up with the growth and demands, they run the risk of heavy investment for low margin with the possibility of Amazon still shifting to their own or other lower cost providers.

Re:

[kingbilly]

This didn't have to do with that. And this was only for Seller-Fulfilled Prime shipments. We've been using FedEx Ground and Express the entire holiday season, on Amazon. We don't participate in Seller-Fulfilled Prime. I'm probably the only Amazon seller who has replied to you so far.

Good.

[b0s0z0ku]

Ground (truck/rail) transportation is a lot more carbon-efficient than flight.

Fedex is the WORST

[humankind]

I always cringe when I find out a seller has shipped via Fedex. Crushed packages. Delivery to the wrong address. Super late delivery. Changing delivery days 5x in a row. I've even seen them put packages in the garbage.

Re:

[thegreatbob]

Came to say just this... now I can once again have my packages folded in half by real professionals!

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Fedex Ground

[kilodelta]

Who I know to consistently tell lies about when they'll deliver things. Latest example, first they said they'd deliver an item this past Saturday, then said Tuesday, then said Sunday. Guess what day it was delivered, Monday.