FedEx and UPS shipping rates

LEx Ideas/Feedback
1

When will it be possible to use our own FedEx or UPS accounts with our account rates to purchase hops? Currently, we are paying full retail prices for purchases. Thanks

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2

Hey, @brian1 - we have no plans to offer this feature. We get very good negotiated rates based on our volume. You aren’t paying anything close to full retail rates. For example, full retail on order 138838 was $219.08 but you paid only $129.26.

3

John, I hate to tell you this, your rates are not great. While it may not be retail, it is higher than the rates I get. I am sure Brian is in the same position, otherwise he would not have posted. Send your negotiation team in to work on rates with the different carriers

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4

Thanks for the speedy reply.

However, my rate is $71.00 a difference of $58.26

5

Thanks, Ted. Will do!

6

Thanks, @brian1. You indicated that you were paying full retail via LEx, but that is simply not accurate.

What’s the UPS account number you’re using to get $71? When I plug in the UPS account number you’ve provided for past manual orders, I get $161.44.

7

Hey John, I’ll be glad to share that account number privately. I’m looking at another purchase and LEX pulls in a rate of $123.27 for 176 pounds and my UPS account comes back with $71.00. Published charges of $161.44 That is right at this minute.

8

@brian1, It doesn’t sound like we are comparing apples to apples. As you know, shipping is very complicated and rates can include all kinds of different surcharges. Here’s what I know:

  • You claimed that you are paying full retail. I don’t know why you would say that - nobody pays full retail on LEx. To demonstrate, I used one of your recent orders (138838). Full retail on that order is $219.08 (without insurance):

full retail
full retail2130×1284 320 KB

  • We got you $129.26 (fully insured), which is 59% of full retail.

  • Our FedEx rate on that order would have been even cheaper (we do a lot more volume via FedEx) but the seller of that listing only offered UPS.

  • For that same order, UPS.com quotes $161.44 (without insurance) when I use your UPS account:

Hop Alliance UPS rates
Hop Alliance UPS rates2146×1404 302 KB

Perhaps you have a second UPS account that gets better rates than the account number you’ve provided to us in the past for manual orders. If so, that’s great (and I’d definitely recommend using that account to save money on any future manual orders).

Regardless, the answer to your question is the same: we have no plans to allow buyers to use their own carrier accounts for purchases. To elaborate, here are a few quick reasons why that’s my answer:

  • This is the first time anyone has ever made such a request
  • It may not even be feasible given how we purchase labels + our various integrations
  • Even if it were possible, without consulting an engineer, I can already imagine how this would ripple through the app, requiring lots of overhauls & dev capacity
  • The number of members who might benefit from this is near zero
  • This would only decrease our volume discounts, ultimately leading to higher rates for brewers
  • We have limited capacity & our roadmap is full of other projects that will bring greater benefit to more members

Sorry, we can’t pursue this request of yours but hopefully you understand why that is.

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