Ship Cheaper by FedEx SmartPost

While the USPS (United States Postal Service) and FedEx may seem like competitors at first, in reality, they have partnered up to offer special services to customers. For example, in the USPS Global Express Guaranteed service, international shipping and delivery are provided by FedEx Express, whereas FedEx SmartPost utilizes the U.S. Postal Service for final delivery. You can ship cheaper by FedEx SmartPost and save money on domestic shipping.

The history of FedEx SmartPost began in 2004, when FedEx purchased the parcel consolidator Parcel District and re-branded is as FedEx SmartPost. It consolidates low-weight, non-urgent parcels from online retailers, catalog companies, direct marketers and fulfillment houses, and uses FedEx for the journey and the USPS for the final delivery to recipients. The resulting delivery is cheaper than FedEx Ground and faster than regular mail.

Headquartered in New Berlin, Wisconsin, FedEx SmartPost operates more than two dozen strategically located hubs throughout the United States. From these hubs, packages are delivered to their final destinations by the United States Postal Service. The alliance between FedEx and the USPS allows to reduce shipping costs without significantly lengthening delivery time.

FedEx uses the so-called “zone skipping” to deliver shipments in the shortest time and at the best possible price. Here is how FedEx Smart Post works. First, FedEx pick ups your packages and sorts them at a special facility the same day. You will be offered a customized pickup solution based on your average shipping volume. After sorting, your packages are transported to the hub closest to your customer using FedEx Ground. Upon arriving at the hub, they are transported to the local post office and then delivered to addressees by USPS.

FedEx SmartPost offers efficient and cost effective residential shipping service. Thanks to its partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx SmartPost delivers to every residential address in the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii and all U.S. territories. The service also delivers to P.O. boxes and military APO (Army Post Office), FPO (Fleet Post Office) and DPO (Diplomatic Post Office) destinations.

Delivery by FedEx SmartPost generally takes 2 to 7 business days within the contiguous United States, but it may take longer to deliver to addresses outside the contiguous U.S. Note that FedEx SmartPost doesn’t pick up packages originating outside the contiguous U.S. Tracking numbers are provided, so you can track your packages on fedex.com.

Just like other mail services, FedEx SmartPost has shipping labels attached to packages. They are marked with the letter S so parcels can be clearly identified as a FedEx SmartPost shipment. You can generate FedEx SmartPost labels using fedex.com or you can resort to third-party services, such as PostageMaker. With PostageMaker, you can easily generate FedEx, USPS and UPS labels online, depending on which service you choose for each particular shipment.