Need to ship a package? Get out your credit card!

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 9/1/1998

We all use credit cards for travel, dinners out, hotels, catalog orders, and more. But use a business credit card to pay for express parcel services?

It's happening now. Since January of this year, shippers who hold American Express corporate accounts have been able to use their cards to pay for shipments by Federal Express. In April, Mastercard U.S. Corporate Programs and DHL Worldwide Express launched a similar arrangement.

Shippers who have express-delivery services billed to their corporate credit cards get substantial discounts off published rates. DHL/Mastercard offers 30 percent off domestic shipments and slightly more off international shipments originating in the United States. FedEx/Amex gives a discount of 10 percent off domestic and 20 percent off international priority services.

The services are specifically designed for small businesses that may not normally have the volumes required to qualify for discounts. The arrangement also makes it easier than ever to do business with an express carrier, says James Lyski, FedEx's vice president of U.S. marketing. The carriers benefit by gaining access to a very important market segment, says DHL spokesman David Fonkalsrud. "We expect to get new customers and increase customer loyalty [by offering this service]," he says. "That's important as many of these smaller companies grow into larger ones."