Hi. I'm a business owner and do most of my shipments through the USPS. I'm looking to expand into FedEx Express 2Day and have some questions about the FedEx supplied packaging materials.

The first Google result for "fedex dimensional weight" is this site (yes I'm aware it is for FedEx india, but it is still the first result in the US). It states:

FedEx Express packaging offers you a practical and advantageous solution. Dimensional weight standards are not applied to this packaging, providing that the dimensions have not been changed.

Further, in the service guide is the following line:

FedEx Express applies dimensional weight to all shipments in customer packaging and may apply it to shipments in FedEx packaging.

So, question #1: Does dimensional weight apply to shipments using unmodified FedEx Express packaging materials?

If the answer is yes, question #2: Is it fine to modify FedEx Express packaging to lower the dimensional weight?

If the answer is no to question #1, question #3: What are the exceptions that do trigger dimensional weight to apply?

For example, on another FedEx page the following statement is made:

Dimensional-weight pricing is applicable for FedEx Pak shipments exceeding 940 cubic inches in volume.

Thanks for your time.

When packages are dropped off at a FedEx or FedEx Office location, are FedEx Envelopes handled separately from Pak's and are Box's handled separately from everyone else, in order to prevent damage or do all three types end up in large bins eventually together like they do at the USPS (Envelopes, Padded Mailers and Boxes end in large bins together)

Thanks in advance for any insight!

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...

I've been wondering for a while now why shipping with Fedex Pak mailer bags is cheaper than using Own Packaging.
Does anyone have any idea why?
As long as you are under the 5.5 lbs weight and 940 cubic inches volumetric limit using a Pak mailer bag is often a good 20-30% cheaper than own packaging, sometimes I just put my item that's already packed in "Own Packing" inside the Pak bag to save 30%.
There must be reasons for this to be the case?

Just to add my experience regarding this is with International Priority Shipping if that makes any difference.