Better to put it in carry-on or Fedex it ahead if you have no room in carry-on
You have to be extremely careful about using FedEx if you are going to an out-of-the-way location. A few years ago, I shipped a package to southern Mexico. I paid for overnight and asked if it would be there overnight and they told me yes. Since there were direct flights from Mexico City to the town it was going to, I didn't worry. After four days it hadn't arrived, I started worrying and called FedEx in the US. They could tell me nothing, they "didn't know" why it wasn't delivered. Interestingly enough, FedEx in Mexico City told me that shipments south of Mexico City were put on a third-party truck in Mexico City. The package arrived after eight days and FedEx refused to refund my money. If I had been shipping film, I would have arrived seven days before the film.
The second incident was recent and was even in the US. I had to ship a FedEx letter to someone in Alaska. They told me they had overnight service to the address and I didn't question it since it was inside the US. The next day it showed as delivered. After two days and no delivery, I asked for the signature. It turned out it had been signed for by the USPS in Anchorage. FedEx didn't deliver to the address, they delivered to the USPS. I called USPS in Anchorage and they told me FedEx always delivered to them for the locations outside Anchorage and that they delivered it from there. On the fourth day it arrived. Again, there was no refund. It would probably have arrived earlier if I had used USPS Express Mail.
So the message is that if you're traveling between major cities, or you call the destination location and find out where the closest FedEx delivery location is, you can expect find out when it will get there. But don't depend on what the FedEx agent tells you at the sending end.
Jeff Spirer
Photos: http://www.spirer.com
One People: http://www.onepeople.com/
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