aethernet
02-03-2006, 08:33 PM
There are 5 ways to get discounts that I know of:
1) Payment method
2) Associations that your company belongs to
3) Volume based discounts
4) Online printing
5) Software packages
1) Pay with an American Express OPEN business card. You get 15% off Express, 5% off ground and up to 20% off international (export only).
Call FEDEX and say you would like talk to someone about lowering your rates. They will put you in contact with your account rep. Talk to your account rep and say you would like to associate your AMEX OPEN card with your account to lower your rates.
There are three different AMEX discount programs and I think they depend on which card you have. I forget the differences but some get more off envelopes, some get more off Express or International. The AMEX discounts are given back on your AMEX card as refund not as a discount immediately off your Fedex charges.
2) Fedex is not supposed to tell you about association discounts. They are also not supposed to tell you what associations give discounts. They WILL tell you what discount you will get from a specific association. So find a list of associations that have to do with your industry (or have nothing to do with your industry? http://www.embroiderytrade.org/benefits.shtml) and call them. Ask if they can get you FEDEX discounts and if they have a discount code. Then call FEDEX's association discount line at 800.345.6227, give them the code and ask what rates you would get for that association. Talk the FEDEX employee and see what info they can give you. Again, they are not supposed to tell you any association names besides the ones you specifically ask about. They did tell me a lot about the discounts I get from my AMEX card.
Association discounts DO interfere with AMEX discounts. They do not take it all away but I think you only get 5% off Express shipments + any association discount rates, not 15% off + association discount rates.
3) Ship a bunch of stuff for a few months, call your rep and promise them big numbers in the future and ask for lower rates. Tell them you also ship some with UPS and will have to switch over to UPS completely if they offer better rates.
4) Print your labels online and you get 5% off Express and International (except imports) but nothing off Ground shipments.
5) Use Quickbooks Pro and I think you save a few points but I have not actually tried it.
A few other things, Ground and Import are the hardest to get siginificant discounts on. For small to medium volume I would say 10 - 15% is a great discount. Also, you can either get association discounts or volume discounts, not both. For instance I get great association discounts for express and overnight packages over 10lbs but no discount what so ever on international imports, in fact I do not think any association discounts offer discounts on imports. But I do qualify for a volume discount on imports so I have to decide which will save me more money. I think the association discount will so I will probably start importing with UPS and barter for quantity discounts with them.
1) Payment method
2) Associations that your company belongs to
3) Volume based discounts
4) Online printing
5) Software packages
1) Pay with an American Express OPEN business card. You get 15% off Express, 5% off ground and up to 20% off international (export only).
Call FEDEX and say you would like talk to someone about lowering your rates. They will put you in contact with your account rep. Talk to your account rep and say you would like to associate your AMEX OPEN card with your account to lower your rates.
There are three different AMEX discount programs and I think they depend on which card you have. I forget the differences but some get more off envelopes, some get more off Express or International. The AMEX discounts are given back on your AMEX card as refund not as a discount immediately off your Fedex charges.
2) Fedex is not supposed to tell you about association discounts. They are also not supposed to tell you what associations give discounts. They WILL tell you what discount you will get from a specific association. So find a list of associations that have to do with your industry (or have nothing to do with your industry? http://www.embroiderytrade.org/benefits.shtml) and call them. Ask if they can get you FEDEX discounts and if they have a discount code. Then call FEDEX's association discount line at 800.345.6227, give them the code and ask what rates you would get for that association. Talk the FEDEX employee and see what info they can give you. Again, they are not supposed to tell you any association names besides the ones you specifically ask about. They did tell me a lot about the discounts I get from my AMEX card.
Association discounts DO interfere with AMEX discounts. They do not take it all away but I think you only get 5% off Express shipments + any association discount rates, not 15% off + association discount rates.
3) Ship a bunch of stuff for a few months, call your rep and promise them big numbers in the future and ask for lower rates. Tell them you also ship some with UPS and will have to switch over to UPS completely if they offer better rates.
4) Print your labels online and you get 5% off Express and International (except imports) but nothing off Ground shipments.
5) Use Quickbooks Pro and I think you save a few points but I have not actually tried it.
A few other things, Ground and Import are the hardest to get siginificant discounts on. For small to medium volume I would say 10 - 15% is a great discount. Also, you can either get association discounts or volume discounts, not both. For instance I get great association discounts for express and overnight packages over 10lbs but no discount what so ever on international imports, in fact I do not think any association discounts offer discounts on imports. But I do qualify for a volume discount on imports so I have to decide which will save me more money. I think the association discount will so I will probably start importing with UPS and barter for quantity discounts with them.
