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FedEx SmartPost

Overview

FedEx SmartPost, also known as Ground Economy, is a cost-effective, hybrid shipping service that partners with USPS. In contrast to regular FedEx services, which offer fast, fully-managed, and often guaranteed deliveries, SmartPost packages are handed off to USPS for last-mile delivery, allowing you to avoid common FedEx surcharges such as residential and Saturday delivery fees. This makes them an ideal solution for non-urgent, high-volume shipments.

FedEx has announced the retirement of its SOAP-based Web Services, including those for Tracking, Address Validation, and Postal Code Validation, and is transitioning to a RESTful API connection instead. You must ensure that you are running Shipbridge v6.0.9.5 or higher and update your account configuration to the new OAuth method described in the FedEx Web Services Account Integration article.

Configure FedEx SmartPost

To use FedEx SmartPost through Shipbridge:

  1. Navigate to Menu > Options > Carriers > FedEx.
  2. Set the SmartPost tracking option to USPS. This number will be traceable on the FedEx website.
  3. Select the SmartPost Hub ID associated with your account. This hub is where your shipments will be initially processed.

  4. Choose your preferred SmartPost Endorsement Type:

    • ADDRESS CORRECTION
    • CARRIER LEAVE IF NO RESPONSE
    • CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
    • FORWARDING SERVICE REQUESTED

    • RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

    For Standard Mail shipments with delivery confirmation, only one of the following endorsements is permitted: ADDRESS CORRECTION or RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED. No other endorsement type will be accepted.

  5. Ensure that the Ground Economy services you intend to use are enabled in Menu > Customize Interface > Shipping Services.
  6. (Optional) Set up your Label Printer Configuration to print the corresponding label formats based on the shipping method.
If you frequently ship to PO box addresses, you can also enable Allow aggregator services for POB in Menu > Options > Shipping. This setting filters available shipping options to only show those that support delivery to PO Boxes when calculating rates, such as UPS Mail Innovations, FedEx SmartPost, etc.

Third-Party SmartPost Accounts

Some channels may instruct you to ship using their FedEx SmartPost account, which is different from standard third-party billing (where you use your own account and charge the shipping to a third party). If this is required, set up a separate Per-Company Configuration to handle orders that must ship under the channel’s account.

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