Any Canadians here who have Fedex delays shipping to the USA?

[JustSumGuy]

We've been using Fedex International Priority (not Fedex Ground) to ship small and medium-sized items to the US for years. I'm finding that even when we enter all the required info on the on-line shipping forms, about 25% of the time there's a holdup at customs or FDA because of information they seem to need that we have already entered electronically with fedex (like EIN numbers). Does anyone in a similar position have any magic advice as to how to do things so that more of these shipments go through to the US without these problems? Is there any other fedex customer discussion forums on the web besides this one?

 

[MrFedEx]

We've been using Fedex International Priority (not Fedex Ground) to ship small and medium-sized items to the US for years. I'm finding that even when we enter all the required info on the on-line shipping forms, about 25% of the time there's a holdup at customs or FDA because of information they seem to need that we have already entered electronically with fedex (like EIN numbers). Does anyone in a similar position have any magic advice as to how to do things so that more of these shipments go through to the US without these problems? Is there any other fedex customer discussion forums on the web besides this one?

I'm not a Canadian, but International packages from all origins into the US are frequently delayed. Even if your paperwork/electronic entries are perfect, they still have to get it checked by the proper authorities. If that takes too much time and the plane is ready to go, the plane leaves and your pkg stays behind until the next day. FedEx also occasionally pulls packages to do audits, which invariably cause the pkg to be delayed. They send a nice little note the next day to tell you why your shipment was delayed, but that doesn't do you any good when you needed it yesterday.

This forum is mainly for employees, but you might get some additional information from some other particpants here.

 

[LTFedExer]

My manager asked me about a package I picked up 2/1 that was sitting in customs (2 weeks). After giving me the printout, I took it to the shipper. While I was explaining to him what happened and that he needed a commercial invoice, I noticed it had a value of $10000.01, which the shipper hit himself because it was a mistake. not sure what happened after that. Dumb mistakes like that could be the cause of some holdups.

 

[JustSumGuy]

We shipped a package yesterday (Friday).

Feb 17, 2012 11:40 PM / In transit / MEMPHIS, TN / Package available for clearance

Feb 18, 2012 12:52 AM / Clearance delay - Import / MEMPHIS, TN / Shipment requires importer's registration/identification number for clearance. (Examples include EIN, SSN, VAT, GST, RFC, etc.)

We called fedex this morning (about 10 am) and they checked the file and said "yes, I can see the EIN number in the file" - so who can explain why we're seeing this clearance delay? There is nothing new in the tracking screen as of right now (9:30 pm).

 

[DS]

If this was a ups pkg,I'd suggest posting the tracking number.There are actually some people here that could get to the bottom of it.
The fedex forum here is represented by the few fedexers that have found the browncafe.
I am unaware of any other helpful fedex sites.fedexaminer seems to simply be an anti fedex site.
Give ups a shot...and get a free tablet

 

[LTFedExer]

We shipped a package yesterday (Friday). We called fedex this morning (about 10 am) and they checked the file and said "yes, I can see the EIN number in the file" - so who can explain why we're seeing this clearance delay? There is nothing new in the tracking screen as of right now (9:30 pm).

If this was a ups pkg,I'd suggest posting the tracking number.

Could post the FedEx tracking number also. Maybe MFE could take a look. Customs could be a buddy* sometimes.

 

[MrFedEx]

Could post the FedEx tracking number also. Maybe MFE could take a look. Customs could be a buddy* sometimes.

Like I said, the first thing that gets bumped when time is tight is International. They can always slap some sort of delay on it, even if the reason it is "delayed" is failure to get it over to the aircraft on time. I'm not an International Specialist, but I've done enough searching for delayed shipments to know what this frustrated customer is talking about. I know that FedEx has tried to improve the process, but there are obviously still some problems.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I know that we have made great strides on the Brown side with our paperless invoices. International shipments begin clearing customs the minute the shipment has been created.

As drivers we used to have to check waybills/invoices/customs paperwork on road---now we simply pick them up and they are processed in the hub/center.

 

[dvalleyjim]

If your international priority to Canada is delayed it maybe be better and cheaper to ship it Fedex Ground International. We have very good success in Canada and have streamlined the document process.

 

[JustSumGuy]

This morning (Monday - 9 AM) the status of the shipment had not changed or was not updated. We called Fedex and they said they could see that the EIN number was in the system originally, and was given again on Saturday (when we called the first time). But the package had not been "resubmitted" to customs on Saturday. The agent said that it was now 10 am in Memphis and that customs should be processing stuff so the package was resubmitted.

.

I have no idea what sort of mumbo-jumbo really goes on behind the scenes, or if Customs really does operate short hours on Saturday (and none at all on Sunday) or when on Monday they're back on the job.

.

Right now its 12:30 pm Monday (Feb 20) and the last tracking activity was Feb 18 (Saturday) at 1 AM. (those blank quotes are my attempt to create paragraphs when posting. Is there any other way to do it?)

 

[JustSumGuy]

If your international priority to Canada is delayed it maybe be better and cheaper to ship it Fedex Ground International. We have very good success in Canada and have streamlined the document process.

I'm talking about our fedex shipments going into the states. We had some experience a few years ago with using Fedex ground to have stuff shipped to us from the US into Canada. It was an absolute nightmare. We had to broker the stuff ourselves. We swore off Fedex Ground and have never and will never use them again when shipping stuff from the US into Canada. I'm told that Fedex Ground is a completely different / separate company vs Fedex Air. UPS also has a bad rap here in Canada for shipping stuff from the US into Canada. Broker costs and hassles are outrageous. The only thing that seems to work moderately well for us when we ship into the US and have stuff shipped from the US to us here in Canada is Fedex International Express Priority 2-day service. We fill out all the paperwork on-line (EIN numbers, HS tarrif, FCC junk, print 6 copies that go along with the box) and most of the time the stuff will get delivered no problems. But when there's a delay, it always seems to be for stuff that is claimed to be missing when it clearly got entered by us electronically and was printed on the forms when the box was picked up.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

This morning (Monday - 9 AM) the status of the shipment had not changed or was not updated. We called Fedex and they said they could see that the EIN number was in the system originally, and was given again on Saturday (when we called the first time). But the package had not been "resubmitted" to customs on Saturday. The agent said that it was now 10 am in Memphis and that customs should be processing stuff so the package was resubmitted. I have no idea what sort of mumbo-jumbo really goes on behind the scenes, or if Customs really does operate short hours on Saturday (and none at all on Sunday) or when on Monday they're back on the job. Right now its 12:30 pm Monday (Feb 20) and the last tracking activity was Feb 18 (Saturday) at 1 AM. (those blank quotes are my attempt to create paragraphs when posting. Is there any other way to do it?)

When you wish to quote another post in your reply simply hit "reply with quote"--if you want to quote more than oner post hit the symbol to the right of "reply with quote" for each post that you wish to include and then hit "reply with quote".

 

[JustSumGuy]

When you wish to quote another post in your reply (...)

I know that. What I don't know is -> when I type a bunch of stuff here and I separate it into separate paragraphs, the formatting is lost in the final posted version and it all ends up being one big paragraph.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I know that. What I don't know is -> when I type a bunch of stuff here and I separate it into separate paragraphs, the formatting is lost in the final posted version and it all ends up being one big paragraph.

That shouldn't happen but if it is I don't know how to fix it.

I typed this as two separate sentences--let's see how it is displayed.

 

[menotyou]

That happens when I post from my iPhone. I have no idea why or how to fix it.

 

[LTFedExer]

That happens when I post from my iPhone. I have no idea why or how to fix it.

Dump your IPhone into the toilet.

 

[DS]

Dump your IPhone into the toilet.

THE THREE STOOGES Trailer 2012 - Official [HD] - YouTube

 

[MrFedEx]

Curly is pretty much on the money.