Each and every day, FedEx is responsible for handling millions upon millions of packages – many of them delivered via FedEx Ground Transit. One of the most popular forms of shipping for individuals that want to send someone special a surprise as well as a service used by businesses that need to send decently heavy or larger sized boxes around the country, FedEx Ground is a “bread and butter” service from this top-tier shipping agency.
At the same time, not everyone is familiar with all that FedEx Ground has to offer – and not everyone is aware of how quickly you can get shipments across the state or clear across the country with this particular delivery method. Below we dig a little deeper into all of that for you. By the time you’re done with the inside information below you’ll have a much better idea of how fast FedEx Ground really is, how reliable FedEx Ground can be, and how cost-effective it is when you need to ship larger items around the nation.
We also cover some of the benefits that you will be able to enjoy when you choose this service, some of the limitations you want to be aware of, and a few other things that will help you determine whether or not FedEx Ground is the right option for you moving forward. Shall we jump right in?
Let’s get to it!
What is FedEx Ground?
As we just alluded to a moment ago, FedEx Ground is one of the most popular services available from Federal Express and its popularity only continues to increase year after year. Every day, FedEx handles north of 50 million packages that move through their shipping infrastructure. At least 9.7 million of those packages (as of 2019) are handled exclusively by FedEx Ground, representing almost 20% of all the shipping business that FedEx does day after day. As you can see, that’s a pretty decent amount of volume.
Even more impressive is just how quickly FedEx Ground has become the “go to” solution for shipping things around the country. In 2013, for example, FedEx Ground daily packages hovered around 4.2 million packages or so. Two more than double that in just six short years – and 2020 is likely to have even more daily FedEx Ground packages handled than 2019 – is really something. The odds are pretty good that you’ve seen FedEx Ground vehicles around your neighborhood in your community on a day-to-day basis, too. After all, these are the famous white vans with the purple and orange logo that FedEx is known for that zip into businesses and residential driveways delivering boxes from Amazon (and everyone else) all day long, every day of the week.
What you might not know, though, is that those FedEx Ground delivery vehicles are just one piece of the puzzle behind the ground infrastructure that FedEx has established. The chances are your FedEx Ground package was handled by individuals in warehouses all over the country, moved by trucks and vans to rail yards and shipping facilities, and then loaded aboard trains or tractor-trailers to be distributed throughout the country before being loaded back onto those familiar white vans and dropped off at your doorstep.
FedEx has grown by leaps and bounds because of the legendary infrastructure they have that makes delivering ground packages in particular so efficient and reliable. As we mentioned earlier, this really is a backbone service of the company even though we think a lot of our packages spend most time in the air.
Why Use FedEx Ground?
There are a number of different reasons to take advantage of FedEx Ground services, but the biggest one has to be the overall reliability and consistency of the service itself. FedEx Ground runs five days a week, Monday through Friday, and is available all over the United States – including in Alaska and Hawaii. These vehicles deliver between the hours of 8 AM and 8 PM local time (sometimes even earlier and later than that, too), and it’s not at all uncommon for drivers for FedEx to go out their way to make sure that they get their packages to recipients as quickly as possible.
On top of that, FedEx offers a delivery timeline of between one and five business days throughout the continental United States. This means that if you live in the “Lower 48” you are going to be able to expect your packages to arrive in just a few days – and if you live in Alaska or Hawaii your packages are guaranteed to be delivered to you between three and seven business days. We dig a little bit deeper into transit times just a moment, but this is pretty quick service – often a whole lot faster than anything you even be able to get from the folks at UPS Ground, even. FedEx Ground is significantly faster and more reliable than the ground shipping services from the USPS, too.
The last big benefit that we really want to highlight is the overall affordability of this shipping solution. While FedEx Ground is not as inexpensive as USPS Priority Mail, for example, it is significantly less expensive than comparable shipping services from companies like UPS and DHL. The pricing is very competitive across the board, but you also get to enjoy day definitive service and transit times that are 100% supported with a moneyback promise. If your package doesn’t arrive when it is expected to arrive – when it is guaranteed to arrive – you’ll get every penny spent on shipping refunded to you with no questions asked. Service like that isn’t available across the industry. It helps to separate FedEx from the rest of the pack in a big way!
What Kind of Delivery Times Can I Expect?
As far as overall FedEx Ground transit times are concerned, we just want to highlight (once again) that you can generally expect your packages to arrive anywhere between one and five business days after they have been shipped out. Unlike some of the other shipping services available from FedEx, FedEx Ground is not available on Saturday or Sunday (outside of some very extreme circumstances). Sure, during the holiday season – particularly around Black Friday – it’s not uncommon to see FedEx Ground vehicles out at odd hours. But for the most part you’re going to have a delivery window of one and five business days after FedEx has received your package.
Delivery to addresses in Alaska and Hawaii via FedEx Ground are going to be slightly more delayed. They have transit times it delivery windows of between three business days and seven business days from the moment that FedEx receives your package.
When it comes to overall transit times, though, it really depends on where you live in the United States. Let’s take New England, for example. If you live in the state of Massachusetts (out by Boston, maybe) and want to have a package sent up to New Hampshire you can expect that package to arrive via FedEx Ground in just one business day. You also be able to send packages to Philadelphia or to the southern part of Maine with that one day delivery window, too. If you wanted to send that package via FedEx Ground from Boston to Raleigh in North Carolina, though, you could expect the delivery window to push out to a second day. The same package sent to Tampa in Florida would take a third business day, and anything you’d like to send out to Denver in Colorado would take a fourth one. Finally, packages that you’d like to send out to the Nevada, Oregon, Northern California or in Washington State would take five business days – and then of course anything that you’d like to send to Alaska or Hawaii would (usually) take even longer than that. If you live in California, though, packages to Arizona would only take a single business day, packages to Texas would take another, and then packages to North Carolina one more day after that. To get a package from San Francisco to Boston in Massachusetts would take the full five business days.
When you want to factor in transit times helpful to think of the different “sections” of our country. New England, the rest of the eastern seaboard, the Midwest into the South, the Rocky Mountain region, and then the West Coast and how far these sections are away from one another are good guidelines to base your transit times off of.
Of course, if you’d like more concrete estimates of your delivery windows with FedEx Ground you can visit this page on the FedEx website, punch in your origin ZIP Code and the destination ZIP Code, and FedEx will tell you (generally) how long your FedEx Ground delivery will take.
It doesn’t get much easier than that!
Are There Any Exceptions to FedEx Ground That I Should Know About?
There are a couple of exceptions to using FedEx Ground you’ll want to know about. Understanding these exceptions can help you avoid issues with your delivery being rejected or returned moving forward.
For starters, you’ll need to know that FedEx Ground will NOT deliver to any US PO Box address. This is going to be something you need to know if you have a PO Box as your primary address and definitely something to know if you’re going to be sending things to people with PO Box addresses. FedEx will flatly reject these kinds of packages if you include the box number as the primary address. There are a couple of ways around this (like using a virtual mailbox service, for example) but it is going to be something you’ll need to know how to navigate if you plan on shipping via FedEx Ground.
Secondly, you cannot ship any hazardous materials of any kind whatsoever to addresses in Alaska or Hawaii. Hazmat items (like ammunition, for example) can be shipped via FedEx Ground in the lower 48 – but it is something you’ll need to disclose at the time you send out your package with a FedEx agent. Other than that, though, the only real restrictions you may have to deal with involve the physical dimensions of the boxes you are shipping. Boxes can weigh up to 150 pounds and can be 108 inches long with a 165 inch girth, but no larger.
You Deserve a More Modern Mailing Solution – Try US Global Mail!
As mentioned just a moment ago, you cannot have FedEx Ground boxes shipped to PO Box addresses and will not be able to receive them at those addresses, either. If you don’t have a physical address you feel comfortable accepting packages at (especially if you don’t expect to be home most of the time when the FedEx van comes around) then you’re in a bit of a bind. Most post office locations will not accept packages from companies like FedEx on behalf of your PO Box.
Thankfully, though, you can choose to leverage the US Global Mail virtual mail service and avoid this issue altogether! Virtual mailboxes from US Global Mail guarantee you get a legitimate, physical street address that you can use as a shipping address with companies like FedEx. This guarantees acceptance of all FedEx Ground packages (and packages from DHL and UPS, as well as the USPS for that matter!) – a huge bonus for those that otherwise would have been in a tight spot.
On top of that, virtual mail solutions from US Global Mail include digital scanning of all packages and parcels, mail forwarding to any address in the US (as well as almost all addresses overseas), better digital record keeping, and so much more.
If you’re interested in learning about all that US Global Mail has to offer be sure to visit their main page ASAP. If you have specific questions you’d like to have answered you can reach out to them via their customer service chat line, or drop them an email. They are always very responsive and quick to help whenever possible!
Check out US Global Mail today!
