FedEx’s decision to part ways with Amazon may cost sellers in an unexpected way: As of last Thursday, FedEx is no longer a participant in Amazon’s Partnered Carrier program.
As a result, some sellers said they would end up paying higher costs when sending their inventory to Amazon Fulfillment Centers through the Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) program, reporting that now their only option was to use UPS for small parcel deliveries.
To be clear, sellers can still choose to send their FBA inventory to Amazon using FedEx, but there are advantages to using one of its partner carriers – including greatly reduced rates (savings of up to 45%, according to the company).
The Amazon FBA Partnered Carrier program is available to FBA sellers for both small parcel deliveries (SPDs), which consist of units packed in individual boxes and individually labeled for delivery, and Less Than Truckload/Full Truckload (LTL/FTL) shipments, which combine individual boxes on pallets for delivery.
Amazon provided an example of the savings on the Partnered Carrier landing page.
Real-world example: cost to ship an 18 lb box from New Jersey to Indiana.*
Partnered Carrier Program: $6.30 ($0.35/lb)
Without PCP: $16.56 ($0.92/lb)
Money saved: $10.26 ($0.57/lb)
Some sellers on industry discussion boards said UPS was more expensive or didn’t provide free pick-up, but other sellers advised their colleagues to get a UPS rep to be able to negotiate rates. Interestingly, some sellers said they preferred FedEx while others preferred UPS.
