What is the difference between FedEx overnight and priority overnight?

When it comes to shipping orders for customers that need to reach on priority in a short span, eCommerce businesses prefer to invest in express mode shipping. Shipping has become an essential aspect of the eCommerce business, where customers need express shipping for nearly every product they shop for. Since people have become more dependent on eCommerce websites for different needs, they wish that their purchases reach them quickly. While many eCommerce businesses have shortened their delivery tie to less than 2 to 3 days, many others offer options like one-day shipping or overnight shipping. 

If you are an eCommerce company, your business will tie up with a good shipping partner. FedEx is a great company that offers reliable and fast shipping and delivery service when it comes to shipping and delivery. There are many shipping modes that an eCommerce business can avail of with FedEx. FedEx is also one of the few shipping and delivery companies in the world that offers overnight shipping for its partners. Any eCommerce business can enter a tie-up with the shipping company and avail of this service. 

What Is Overnight Shipping? 

Overnight shipping is the fastest way of shipping and delivery that exists today. With overnight delivery, the consumer gets the order delivered the next day of placing the order. This ensures that the consumer receives super-fast service, and the waiting time is decreased for the consumers. This way, the eCommerce sector almost mimics the experience of the hyperlocal store for the customers where they can buy anything one day and use it the next day. While overnight shipping is the futuristic model of shipping that will include the entire eCommerce sector one day, the model works under FedEx and its expert delivery service. Let us delve deeper into FedEx first overnight delivery service. 

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Related: Cheapest Overnight Shipping Options for Retailers

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What is FedEx Standard Overnight Service? 

FedEx Standard Overnight Service is a great overnight shipping option that ensures the package delivery by 3:00 PM next day in US timings. The exact timing is 4:30 PM for US rural areas and 8:00 PM for residences. This is usual for shipping services because there is a specific cutoff time after which if you place an order, the package will only be delivered the next day. FedEx standard overnight shipping service operates over weekdays from Monday to Friday. 

On Saturdays, it is partially operational, with only pick up open in specific locations. Fed Ex overnight delivery is functional in all states of the USA but only for the places where the delivery commitment is only till 10:30 AM or noon. For Hawaii, the services are outbound only. 

The overnight delivery services are affordable, with the charges varying from minimal to a little more depending on the package you ordered. The shipping rate fluctuates with the weight of the box and the location to which they are shipping the package. If the package has a higher weight, it will cost higher to send it too. 

How Does FedEx Overnight Work? 

Fed Ex priority Shipping is a sector of overnight shipping of FedEx that is faster than the standard model. Via the priority shipping mode of FedEx overnight services. The timing of the delivery is 10:30 AM or a maximum of 11:00 AM. Mostly, for rural areas, the delivery time for such shipments is at most noon. The shipments may also deliver between 4:30 PM or 5:PM. The service is operational during Saturdays, and the delivery time is around 12:00 PM or 1:30 PM. 

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FedEx Priority shipping also delivers from Friday through Monday. The shipping services halt around Saturday. Only pickup services are operational for Saturday. 

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Standard Overnight vs Priority Overnight

When it comes to choosing an overnight shipping option, FedEx offers two different choices: Standard Overnight and Priority Overnight. Both options offer guaranteed delivery by 10:30am the next business day, but there are some key differences that you should be aware of before making your decision.

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Standard Overnight is FedEx's most economical overnight shipping option. With this service, you can expect your package to be delivered by 3 pm the next business day in most cases. If you need your package delivered earlier in the day, you can opt for a 10:30 am delivery for an additional fee.

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Priority Overnight is FedEx's premium overnight shipping service. With this option, you can expect your package to be delivered by 10:30 am the next business day in most cases. If you need your package delivered earlier in the day, you can opt for an 8 am delivery for an additional fee.

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So, which service should you choose? It depends on your needs. If you're looking for the most affordable option, Standard Overnight is the way to go. However, if you need your package to arrive as early as possible, Priority Overnight is the best choice.

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FedEx Overnight Shipping on Sunday

One of the great things about FedEx is that they offer overnight shipping seven days a week, including Sundays. So if you need to get a package delivered on a Sunday, you can count on FedEx to get it there. Just keep in mind that Sunday delivery comes with an additional fee.

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What Time Does FedEx Overnight Arrive?   

The FedEx overnight times depend on the location to which it is shipping and the distance between the nearest shipping point and the nearest drop-off point for the shipment. A better understanding of how easily you get the parcel in the said timing is determined by the number of FedEx stations in the proximity of your locality. When you have many FedEx stations near your delivery point, the shipping will be smoother and faster. The FedEx delivery system is an easy and efficient delivery system that works because of the FedEx stores and delivery network. 

The customers need their delivery to happen by 5 PM, which is considered the end of the day timing in most cases. However, the retailer should keep a considerable gap between the expected delivery time and actual time to make room for delays. Even with priority overnight shipping, you still get the packages delayed sometimes due to logistics issues. However, such problems are scarce in case of logistics issues because not only do you have an excellent transport team behind this extensive FedEx network. The FedEx priority shipping service in overnight courier US  is perfect for the modern-day customer because you get your delivery delivered in express time.

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Summary

FedEx Priority Overnight® means you can expect next business day delivery by 10:30 a.m. to most U.S. addresses, delivery by 5 p.m. to remote areas, and delivery by 1:30 p.m. on Saturdays.

• It operates Monday-Friday, with Saturday pickup available in many areas for an extra fee.

• Available to and from all 50 states, but not all areas of Alaska and Hawaii.

• Available for intra-Mexico shipping. Also available for intra-country shipping in Canada and Switzerland.

• You can expect delivery to and from many Alaska and Hawaii areas in 1 or 2 business days.

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Recommended: Compare USPS Priority Mail to Priority Mail Express

This article covers FedEx Priority Overnight shipping in detail. We will explore the features and facilities that come along with this service. You will also see how you can integrate it with your WooCommerce and Shopify store. 

One of the many things FedEx does best is to deliver items right on time. They have invested in a lot of workforce and resource to ensure their promise remain unquestioned. FedEx Priority Overnight, one of their fastest shipping service, is a prime example and for obvious reasons. 

Since online marketplaces have dominated traditional business models, it’s important to have an e-commerce shipping solution with you to survive. WooCommerce FedEx shipping plugin and Shopify FedEx App, for instance, are the exclusive gateways to online-FedEx shipping. 

What is FedEx Priority Overnight?

FedEx Priority Overnight is a part the FedEx’s next-day delivery trifecta known as the FedEx Overnight services. There are three services different services that fall in this category, namely, FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight and FedEx Standard Overnight. This particular service falls right in the middle in every sense. Let’s understand this better.

The ideal time when Priority Overnight attempts delivery is around 10:30 AM. Whereas, First Overnight delivers around 8:30 AM, and Standard Overnight by 3:00 PM. Coming to the cost of shipping, Priority Overnight is cheaper than First Overnight but costlier than Standard Overnight. We will discuss more on this later in this guide.

FedEx Priority Overnight Features

Does FedEx Priority Overnight support FedEx Special shipping options?

Not all businesses are the same. Each one has a unique set of requirements which don’t necessarily match with others. So the thought of a single shipping service sufficing every shipping need would be foolish. 

For instance, business owners dealing with chemicals usually transport raw materials from one state to another. So the safety of their shipment is the primary concern following by the cost of shipping. Moreover, to get such shipments delivered on time, store owners would require special permits and licenses.

Here are the special services provided by FedEx. Let’s understand each one in detail.

Saturday Pickup

FedEx Pickup service is offered by many of the FedEx services. With this facility, you can have your shipments picked up right from your warehouse at a pre-defined time and date. Saturday Pickup is an extension of it where you have your shipments picked up on a Saturday. 

Saturday pickup is available FedEx Priority Overnight. It’s also available for other two FedEx Overnight services and you need to contact FedEx in order to enable it for your account.

Saturday Delivery

Saturday Delivery is a special type of delivery where the delivery is attempted by FedEx on Saturday. So you can have shipments delivered to your customer or recipient on a Saturday. But there’s one thing to note here. Saturday deliveries don’t follow the usual delivery timings so your customers can expect some delay.

Both Priority Overnight and First Overnight offer this facility to store owners at an additional cost. However, this service is not available in the FedEx Standard Overnight shipping service. 

Dangerous Goods

FedEx provides reliable delivery for dangerous goods. If your business deals with dangerous goods then FedEx Priority Overnight is the right shipping service for you. It offers all the support you need and guides you on how to ship, download job aids and forms, and get the latest updates.

FedEx also updates you with the latest changes to IATA regulations, IATA variations, and other regulatory information. These are necessary information which you should be aware of. Check out the article on Specifying Dangerous goods using FedEx shipping to know more about it.

They also offer dangerous goods training for new business owners. On another note, if you’re looking to ship Hazardous materials then you will have to go with the FedEx Ground shipping service. Please note that FedEx Priority Overnight does not support Hazardous materials.

FedEx Collect on Delivery (C.O.D.)

You can select the Collect on Delivery option for your FedEx shipments going with FedEx Priority Overnight. FedEx designates the amount of money that the FedEx driver collects from the recipient when a package is delivered. 

If FedEx driver collects guaranteed funds, or a company and/or personal check, the payment is sent directly to the shipper via U.S. mail. Whereas if cash is collected the FedEx issues a check to the shipper in the amount of the cash collected. The FedEx issued check is sent to the shipper using the U.S. Postal Service.

FedEx Delivery Signature

FedEx Priority Overnight allows multiple options when you need a signature upon delivery. Based on the type and kind of shipment, FedEx will as the receiver to sign in to the final document.

Failing to do so may void the shipment entirely and the package will be returned back to the origin address, i.e, your warehouse. To avoid such scenario to ever happen, FedEx allows three types of signatures—

• Indirect Signature Required
• Direct Signature Required
• Adult Signature Required (required in the U.S. and Canada)

Please note that Indirect Signature Required is available for residential shipments only. You can visit the FedEx page and choose Pickup and Delivery and then select FedEx Delivery Signature Options to know more.

Hold At Location

There are times when you’d want to hold package(s) for some time before delivering to the final address. Customers usually raise the request to do that because of some reason. Maybe they had to leave the city for a few days or simply aren’t available at the moment.

Nevertheless, FedEx offers a special delivery service that allows you to hold package(s) at a FedEx location upon further information. If you have enabled Hold at Location option for your shipments then you can have your eligible FedEx Express or Ground shipments held for pickup.

You can request the consignments/shipments to be held/retained at the FedEx destination location. You can select this option when you prepare your shipment once it’s on its way. To find the relevant FedEx locations and where this option’s available, you can enter an address and then select ‘Hold at location‘.

FedEx Returns

There are times when your customers have to return the packages back. FedEx Priority Overnight allows you to generate and print return shipping labels for your shipments. You can use their FedEx Ship Manager to print the shipping labels.

Alternatively, you could either WooCommerce FedEx shipping plugin or Shopify FedEx App to print the return shipping labels. We’ll check it out later in this guide. 

Does FedEx Priority Overnight support FedEx One Rate?

FedEx Priority Overnight shipping service supports FedEx One Rate. You can use the One Rate if you have it enabled for your FedEx account.  However, you need to contact FedEx to have it enabled for your account.

Let’s take an example. Assume that we need to ship an item that weighs 1 Lb from New York to Georgia. Here’s what we found upon using the FedEx Rate Finder. 

Comparing shipping cost with FedEx First Overnight and FedEx Standard Overnight

Before you go ahead and start using this shipping service, you may want to compare its prices with other Overnight services. For that, we are going to take a sample package of 3 Lbs. We are then going to ship from a location in New York to another location in Atlanta, Georgia.

Let’s check out the rates in the FedEx rate calculator.

As you can see, the FedEx Priority Overnight shipping is in the middle at $77.34. However, if time isn’t a factor for you, then you may save some money by using FedEx Standard Overnight. 

Using FedEx Priority Overnight service in Canada

FedEx Priority Overnight service is also available in Canada. Business owners living there could also use this service to ship items to their customers. Priority Overnight operates really well inside Canada.

In addition, things aren’t that different in Canada for Priority Overnight. You get almost all of the facilities except the delivery timings which is guaranteed in the U.S.

FedEx Priority Overnight Features

As you can see FedEx Priority Overnight operates in a similar fashion when compared to the one in the U.S. You can read more on this on their official website.

How to Integrate FedEx Priority Overnight with your WooCommerce store?

WooCommerce doesn’t have the necessary features to either set up or show FedEx Priority Overnight rates on the Cart/Checkout page. You can only do that with the help of WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin.

Once you have installed the FedEx shipping plugin on your WooCommerce, you need to enter the FedEx Production credentials as shown in the screenshot below.

How to show FedEx Priority Overnight rates on the Cart/Checkout page?

As soon as you finish configuring the plugin with your account, you need to go to the Rates & Services tab and scroll down to the list of services. Here you can select the services you want and disable services you don’t want to be displayed on the Cart/Checkout page.

Now let’s go to the Cart page and try placing a domestic order. And just to remind you again, we are using the Priority Overnight service to ship a sample item.

How to generate FedEx Priority Overnight packages from your WooCommerce?

The process is quite simple. Once your customer places an order, WooCommerce will notify you with a New-order email. When you go into your order page, you should be able to see the new order. When you go in this order, you should be able to see the following screen.

As you can see in the image above, the order contains the shipping service name right under the product name “Stuffed Toy“. As mentioned before we are using is the FedEx Priority Overnight; the corresponding shipping rate can be seen next to its name.

You can scroll below and click on Generate Package which will generate the package show the further option to create the shipment. Have a look at the following image.

Here, you can enable the Saturday Delivery option which will enable the Saturday delivery for this service. You can even add enable Cash On Delivery option and add additional packages to the order if required. These features are really useful when creating order and can save a lot of your time.

How to print shipping labels for your FedEx Priority Overnight packages?

Once you have reviewed your order and generated the packages successfully, you can now click on Create Shipment. Doing this will place an order in your FedEx account requesting to deliver this order. FedEx, in return, will validate the request and if everything is good, they will give you the corresponding shipping label(s).

You can now print the shipping label by clicking on the Print Label option as shown in the image below. Also note that you have the option to Void the shipment, which can be used when you want to cancel an order.

Now if your customers need to send the package back to you for some reason (like product repairs and damages) then you can print the Return labels as well. For that, you can click on the Generate Return Label and FedEx will send you the return shipping label right there. Here’s the sample label generated.

How to Integrate FedEx Priority Overnight with your Shopify store?

Setting up shipping on your Shopify store is a seamless process. It comes with shipping options like weight-based shipping, flat-rate shipping, and carrier-specific shipping (UPS, USPS, DHL, etc.,). However, it does not come with the FedEx shipping option. You need to install an App for that.

With Shopify FedEx App, you can display real-time shipping rates and print shipping labels for your FedEx shipments. In particular, you can provide FedEx Priority Overnight shipping with features like schedule FedEx Pickup, enable shipment tracking, FedEx box packing, etc., You can know more about the App here.

How to show FedEx Priority Overnight rates on the Checkout page?

Once you have installed the App on your Shopify store, you can select the service from the list. Here we have enabled FedEx First and Standard Overnight services for comparison. Have a look.

How to generate FedEx Priority Overnight packages?

You will be notified on your Dashboard once a customer places an order. You can either choose to generate the package manually, which takes a few steps; or you could click on the Auto-Generate option that lets you fulfill the order almost instantly. You can even generate packages and print FedEx labels in bulk if you have multiple orders to fulfill.

How to print shipping labels for your FedEx Priority Overnight packages?

This App allows you to print shipping labels in different sizes and image types. For instance, to let the App download the FedEx shipping labels in ZPLII format, you will have to choose from the drop-down option in the App Settings. Have a look at the image below.

As you can see, you can choose the Label Size as well as the Image type (in this case, ZPLII). This way you don’t have to always change the format.

Anyway, once you do that, you should be able to print the shipping labels. Please mind, the shipping labels would be downloaded based on the type of image format you’ve selected. Here’s a sample FedEx shipping label generated in PNG format.

Conclusion

This guide gives you a deeper look in FedEx Priority Overnight shipping. We saw the benefits of using it with your online store, especially with WooCommerce and Shopify. Both the WooCommerce FedEx shipping plugin and Shopify FedEx App are wonderful FedEx shipping solutions that help you handle your FedEx shipments with much ease.

If you have any query regarding this guide, feel free to share your views in the comment section below. We will be more than happy to help you understand how this plugin can work together in fulfilling your shipping requirements.

And if you have any query regarding the plugin or WooCommerce shipping then feel free to contact our customer support. They should be able to help you out.

Happy selling!