We Listen and Take Action #5: New FedEx Shipping Option Live, Especially for Orders without Batteries

Shipping cost is one of the major concerns when consumers shop online. Few people are willing to pay shipping costs beyond a product’s sales price. Seeed has always been dedicated to finding more economic shipping options for our customers.

In the first article of the We Listen and Take Action series, we cut delivery charges down to half by changing the packaging materials for products less than 200g. This is but one way of reducing shipping fees. In addition, there are many constituent elements that together comprise the overall freight costs, such as destination or origin, delivery speed and method of distribution.

These elements have less room to change. Therefore, we decided to focus on the more slight differences, that is, by distinguishing between packages with batteries and without batteries.

Does it Cost More to Ship Li-ion Batteries?

There are specific transportation rules and conditions associated with lithium-ion batteries. As lithium-ion batteries are associated with many safety risks, they need to be handled with the utmost care. Also, additional paperwork is required prior to the transportation of these batteries, which contributes to the cost and overall shipping time.

In the past, we only had one FedEx option, whether or not there were batteries in the order. But now, Seeed provides two FedEx options, one, especially for orders without batteries, which will ultimately save on shipping costs.

Let’s take a look at some examples.

(In the screenshot above, this order does not contain a lithium-ion battery, so there are two FedEx options to choose from)

(The system has detected that this order has a battery, so you can only choose the FedEx with battery option)

We care about every little detail when it comes to providing better products and services for our customers. If you think there are other areas where we can make progress, please share them on our Wishing Well. We check the wishing well every day and will get back to your feedback quickly. Your suggestion could lead to improvements that benefit everyone.