FedEx Ordering Supplies (Exceeds normal usage)

They seemed to have really gotten specific that express padded paks are for express shipping only. They called me on it, saying that my account only usually ships ground.

I fibbed when she called about future shipping plans, but I don't know that i'll be ordering any more.

 

They've completely caught on to the game of using the padded paks for free insulation in larger boxes.

 

Yeah I tried using a padded pak box this past week when I shipped and FedEx made me put it inside another box saying I could not use one with that on it.

 

This happened to me last week when I placed an order for 50 of the padded packs. A day or so later, a woman called and said they are for express shipping only. I said they've always given them to me anyways (which they have), so she said she'd send me 25 for now, but I don't know they'll be willing to send me any more in the future. It doesn't seem like it.

 

I figure eventually they'll start checking how much you ship express before you can order them. I used to be able to order 50 then once it said I could only order them every 90 days or so. Now I can only order 25.

 

You have to think of the amount of money they are losing by giving away this stuff for us to use to pack up a box. I just ordered some from UPS and they are sending it, but I am sure if I request more stuff they are going to start asking questions.

 

Wait, wait, wait. Whaaaaaa? You can get padded envelopes for free? Why have I been buying $15 rolls of bubble wrap!?!? I'm such a rookie.

 

I always assumed only businesses got the shipping supplies, considering when you order bubble envelopes the min qty is like 25 or 50 and honestly, what private person is shipping out that much stuff to need hundreds of envelopes?

 

They're figuring it out now. When they called, she specifically called out the fact that my account only ships ground and not express.

 

Yep, happened to me almost a year ago now. Now I only order every few months and just put in 25. No issues with that yet.

 

They make you type in your business name. So I suppose they really only want to offer them to businesses.

 

I find they're more of an additive than a replacement. You can't even get enough anymore, so your options are either roll up each bottle in 1 padder, or bubble wrap a couple and stick them into one padder. If you do one bottle per padder, you'll burn through an order of 25 in 3 trades. Net-net you really need the bubble wrap.

Once you trade enough, you end up with plenty of extra wrap/packaging anyway.

 

True, I ran through the first roll really fast between my first trade and your BIF. The last two trades I've done I hardly used any of the second roll of bubble wrap due to having plenty of extra packaging. I despise WalMart, but found that they have by far the cheapest shipping supplies.

 

I work for a company that ships A LOT! we get a 30% discount with UPS on all our shipping and they always just randomly send in supplies like padded envelops. Fed ex send them in too in the hopes that we will use them, which we rarely do since they have effed up so many of our shipments, so we only use them when the customer asks for it. We actually had about 300 from DHL that they sent in before they decided to stop domestic shipping.

I routinely take home 50-100 envelopes and nobody minds. If anyone is looking for a trade I can put some spares in my package too.

Another good option is Uline and Staples industrial, they have all kinds of packing stuff.

 

If you have a Sam's Club near you and have or know someone with a membership they have like 240' rolls for $13.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=121568&navAction=

 

It used to be a lot easier to get the free shipping supplies. Then this guy ruined it for everybody.

 

That's a really good deal. Staples sells 200' rolls for about $18 in store only (not online), which is what I pickup periodically.

 

Amazon also has cheap bubble wrap. I've paid $10 or $11 for 220' in the past

 

I ordered a 25 count Fedex Padded Pak in April through work & saw a charge from FedEx of $11.02 in our May statement. We've shipped nothing in the past half a year so I suspect these aren't actually free. Thoughts?