Mary,
In general, the ground and home base rate is the same, but there is a $2.75 surcharge for Home. Which is why I always mark nonresidential even if it is a home.
I find when I use my account and ask for Ground I get an “error” that states “your delivery qualifies for home delivery, please correct the errors in red and resubmit”
So they basically FORCE me into Home Delivery when I want ground.
[1928_middle_finger.gif]
I use Fedex due to Wine Institute discounts as well. Plus, in our area, the fedex guys are great, and a couple of the UPS guys are not really great. Plus, the UPS truck gets much hotter. Dark brown in the sun with a fiberglass roof? It reminds me of a toaster.
I have had issues in the past with fed ex customer service, but I have a Sales Rep. now and if I am having a problem, he actually fixes it. He used to work for GSO, so he gets that there is competition in wine shipping business.
If you continue to get no results, if you want, I will ask him if he wants more wine people to help, or to hook you up with a good rep.
To the OP who had an eight dollar per bottle difference in shipping cost? This is nuts! The cost of a case shipment via fedex cross country is less than normally $35-40. Add the cost of the packaging, $6 or so, I still can’t hit $5 per bottle, much less $8 difference. Now, if you are shipping one or 2 bottles, cost per bottle go up. I get the feeling that the seller outsources the shipping service, pays solid fees, then marks up. Even if it was a next day shipment.