Been seeing lots of customers coming in with their boxes not ready and asking for tape and then getting upset when we tell them that they have to buy it.

For the record FedEx locations DO NOT offer free tape, bubble wrap, packing peanuts, other packing supplies or boxes to customers.

The only exception is the free white Express envelopes, paks, or white boxes that can be used ONLY for Express shipments.

You also have the option of going to a FedEx Office location only and pay them to pack your shipment.

If you don't want to pay for anything, bring your shipments already properly packaged up and ready to go. Or else your shipment will be refused.

EDIT: Personally, I have no issue providing free tape if they need a strip to close the top of a box. But I tell the customer that they have to already bring the box ready to us and that we are not obligated to seal up their package.

Hey fellow officedepot employees. I work in a store with a ton of fedex drop-offs. 90% of these customers do not have their boxes taped and ask for us to provide them with tape. This exchange is free, however one of my managers recently said that there is a charge for it but he wasn't sure how much it is. Does anyone know what we are to charge for packing their box for them?

I know it’s not good form, but I literally ran out of packaging tape whilst tapping the first box. I do not have time before pickup to get more.

Do other stores also have the rule of customers that bring untaped boxes have to buy their own tape and do it themselves? I’ve had some very upset customers over the rule, saying we are a fedex location so we should tape it for them?

Do you think FedEx will ship this? Only asking now to know, planning on going to a FedEx office and asking them tomorrow but I wasn’t sure since the tape is messy. It’s a return and the tape covers every hole.

You can get them shipped to you or if you live near one of their shipping centre's you can pick them up there

It’s a Xbox series s and has bubble wrap in it

I just want to make sure I'm not crazy. I've generally gone to FedEx whenever I need to ship out a laptop and l've been able to purchase a laptop box, pack it up, and the employee would usually provide me with a strip of tape before I even asked so that I can seal it up before checking it in.

This time I went to the nearby UPS since the FedEx is closed on Sundays. The laptop box ended up costing almost double of what FedEx charges and then told me that I had to buy a roll of tape for $8 dollars to tape up the box. I just bought the box and left the store.

So I just want to ask, am I crazy for expecting a free strip of tape after spending $35 on a box? I can understand if it was a large shipment that required a considerable amount of tape, but a laptop box? I didn't package it beforehand because I knew UPS sold what I needed, so I wanted to go there and get everything done so that I can get the shipment out asap.

The most controversial topic in the entire The UPS Store Network.

Do you? How much? How do your customers respond?

I am wondering how many stores do this for FedEx drop-off customers, when they drop off the package it is supposed to be all taped up with a prepaid shipping label, the only thing we need to do is scan their package. but from time to time I see people bring in their return packages opened expecting me to provide them with packing tape. I would provide them with tape if they asked but I would generally remind them they need to tape their package ahead of time before bringing it in.

“Nothing is free.” Want to start my business and just found this out since I never shipped anything in my life.

I knew USPS, for instance, offers free Priority Mail shipping boxes provided that you only use the boxes to ship USPS Priority Mail. I am just learning, however, that FedEx and UPS do as well.

What is the catch tho? Is it the same as for USPS where you only use the boxes to ship on their services? What are your experiences with these free shipping supplies?

I'm a long way from a FedEx Office. Do FedEx "Ship Center's" have supplies (envelopes, labels, etc.)? I just wasted 30 minutes driving to a Walgreens to be told they are FedEx Express, and don't have any supplies. I only have a 1 page doc to ship.

Thanks in advance for the help. I used FedEx a lot back in the day - they used to be convenient and easy. Not so much anymore I guess...

Why do customers expect us to tape up their FedEx packages for them? My SM says to go ahead and do it for "customer service."

I heard recently that you can use your own box for Fedex One rate? What has been peoples experience with this? There is a chart somewhere out there that showed cubic inches and then what size it corresponded to. What was interesting is it looked like by using your own box you save money, or can use a larger box than the express boxes...

Hello guys, I thought since the big gift exchange is coming up, you might like to know some tips I have about shipping packages after working for fedex for almost a year and currently running an online store.

-First off, do not, DO NOT tape over the bar code or any other important information. If you need to tape a label onto a package, put the tape on the side. Putting tape over the bar code just makes scanning the bar code harder, sometimes making us manually type in the code or even create a whole new label. If you are worried about the label coming off during shipment, then put the address information inside the box so they can open it to see where it is going and add a new label.

-Buy labels online! do not over pay and wait in long lines at the post office. The easiest way is to either go to their main website, or go to paypal.com/shipnow It is around 30% cheaper doing this. You will need a scale to weigh your package though.

-Actually use a sturdy box and plenty of tape. From my experience at fedex, 90% of damage from boxes was due to bad packaging. People using flimsy boxes, very little tape (or even none at all!), or letting the item move around in the box. If your box can not survive a 5 foot drop, it is not strong enough.

-If you only have small boxes and are sending multiple items, it could be cheaper to tape two boxes together and ship it as one box rather than shipping two separate boxes.

-Fragile don't mean too much, if you have something fragile, at the very least, add a sticker or hand write fragile on every single side of the box. A single sticker means literally nothing.

-Add the label to the flat side of the box and make sure the bar code is flat and not wrapped around a corner.

-As u/AJLobo reminded me, PLEASE, if you are re-using a box, completely remove or cover any old labels on the box, even if it is a shipping label from a different company. Actually cover up or remove them too, if you take a pen and just put an X on it, that probably won't be noticed. If you don't do this, you package will probably get sent to the wrong truck and get delayed.

I guess thats about it. Follow that and you hopefully won't have many issues!