Additional accessorial and surcharge costs are a huge profit center for UPS and FedEx. Some of these charges are unavoidable such as Fuel Surcharges, but most of them can be reduced or eliminated by diving into your shipping processes and/or through negotiation with UPS and FedEx directly.
Let's discuss UPS and FedEx Address Corrections
These charges are applied when the shipper creates a label and ships the package with an incorrect address which could be a missing company, apartment, unit, floor number or an incorrect or misspelled street name and even when you are a digit off on the zip code. We have even seen P.O. Box addresses which most of us know are exclusive to USPS.
In 2020, the Address Correction Charge for both UPS and FedEx increased to $17.00 per address correction. There is no minimum unless you are shipping Hundredweight (UPS), Multiweight (FedEx) or by Freight to how many packages are billed this fee. That means, if you are sending 22 single shipments to the same location with the same pick-up and delivery date you will get charged $374 on top of your initial charges. If you are being billed Third Party there is an additional 4.5% fee with UPS and 2.5% fee with FedEx.
Where Can I Find FedEx Address Correction Charges?
FedEx Billing Online: Download Tab > Quick Search > Tracking Number Look-Up
FedEx does not make it easy to find these charges through FedEx Billing Online unless you can Quick Search the Tracking Number in Question, then click the Tracking Number Link to get detailed charges.
If you click the Address Correction Link once in the detailed charges view, it will bring you to all Address Corrections within that specific invoice.
An easier way to see FedEx Address Corrections would be to Open the FedEx PDF Invoice and do a Ctrl + F search for Address Corrections. This will navigate you to each tracking number with Address Correction charges which still don't show original address vs. corrected address until the Summary Address Correction page which is generally the last pages of the FedEx PDF Invoice.
Where Can I Find UPS Address Correction Charges?
UPS Billing Center: Invoice > Invoice Summary > Address Corrections
UPS makes it easier to find Address Corrections within the UPS Billing Center under the Invoice Summary section.
Just click on the Address Corrections Link (if any) to get a list of affected tracking numbers. Click on each tracking number to see the Original Address vs. the Corrected Address.
How to Avoid Address Corrections
Consider looking into an address validation software, such as Ship Watchers' swAddress Solution that works off a USPS CASS Certified system. This software will comb through your stored ship to addresses to clean them for future shipments. You can also use the software as a last check before printing the label to insure address accuracy. UPS has an address validation tool on there website HERE.
Working with a reputable logistics auditing company such as Ship Watchers will provide you with insight into your "repeat offender" list to determine which historical ship to addresses are being charged a UPS or FedEx Address Correction Fee so you can work internally to update the stored addresses you have on file.
Third Party shippers tend to have a tougher time with keeping up with Address Corrections as they rely on many Shippers to input the address information for them and many don't have address validation software causing many human errors to addresses. Shopping carts online let the user depict their address while checking out. Having a system in place to validate this online at the shopping cart level will prevent or drastically reduce any Address Correction Charges.
UPS Address Correction Fee was $13.40 in 2017 and just 3 years later it is at $17.00. We only see this accessorial to continue increasing year after year.
Why You Need to Take Action Now
When a package leaves the dock, your home, or facility with an incorrect consignee or recipient address this delays the estimated or guaranteed by delivery date and time which negates your right to request a full refund should the package be delivered late.
The bigger picture, is that the last mile and on-time delivery is your last chance to win a future customer. If 2% of your packages have incorrect addresses outbound, you are jeopardizing 2% of future relationships or returned customers. In addition, Customer Service has to deal with complaints, you end up offering a refund or some other kind of return incentive, your returns increase due to non-delivery, and packages get delivered to the wrong address. UPS and FedEx have measures in place to notify of packages with incorrect addresses through exception notifications where you can update the address in route, Hold a package at the local UPS or FedEx Pick-up Points, or put out an investigation to locate the package, but these all take time and risk a valuable future customer.
Ship Watchers is a logistics auditing company that keeps carriers compliant on rates, surcharges, incentives, and incorrect charges found within carrier invoices.
Want to stay on top of carrier increases, rate changes, and benchmark studies while insuring that your invoices are free from errors and incorrect charges? Give us a shout to learn more at oncall@shipwatchers.com or by calling us at 800.550.7217 ext 874.
No term agreements, no additional effort, and no additional fees... Just a small percentage of the savings we bring to your carrier accounts directly through our auditing process.
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