What Does Fedex “No Scheduled Delivery Date” Mean?
Sometimes when shipping with Fedex you will see a status message that presents the dreaded “There is no scheduled delivery date at this time.” What does this mean? What do you do about it?
“No scheduled delivery date at this time” can have a few different meanings, so it’s a bit of a confusing message for you as the receiver (or even as the shipper).
It’s Just Too Early
Usually, there is no scheduled delivery date for a package simply because it’s too early in the shipment’s life for Fedex to have any estimates about it.
Once the shipment and its packing number are created, it takes some time for the logistics system to gain awareness of the package, schedule its delivery, get it space allocated on trucks and planes, and so on. During this time Fedex will not yet know what the delivery date will be and will return a result of “no scheduled delivery” until all the logistics can be arranged.
Fedex Hasn’t Received The Package
Similar to the above note, the number one reason why you’d see the “no scheduled date” message is because Fedex has yet to receive the package.
This would happen when the shipper has created a label for the shipment, but they have yet to hand it off to Fedex. Or perhaps the package is boxed up, has a label, and it’s been dropped off at a Fedex shipping location but the item hasn’t yet been scanned into the Fedex system. Some Fedex drop-off locations (like a Walmart or Walgreens store), particularly around the busy, holiday season will keep packages in the store but they won’t be scanned in until a Fedex truck arrives at the end of the day. This may also happen if the package was placed in a Fedex drop-box and it won’t be scanned in until around 4pm or 5pm that day.
Handling Exception
Another reason why a package might be missing its scheduled delivery date is because there has been a “handling exception” of some sort. This basically means that something is preventing the package from progressing on the next step of its journey. This could be a missing custom forms or damage to the label. The handling exception is the middle phase while the package is waiting while something else happens.
Package Is Stuck At “No Scheduled Delivery Date Available At This Time”
Sometimes you will find that a package will move to this status and it won’t update after a few hours or even a few days. This can have a few causes:
- The package was never receive by Fedex. In this cases the shipper created the label but never gave the item to Fedex
- There was an unspecified problem that is causing a delay
In either case you will want to contact Fedex and try to get an understanding of what specifically is wrong. The representative will work with you in order to remedy the situation, but normally this is something that will work itself out over time.
In Closing
A lack of a delivery date means Fedex is still processing your package’s logistics and is schedule the shipment. In the vast majority of cases you’ll just want to check back in a few hours and you’ll be abled to find the package’s schedule. In some rare cases something will be wrong and you’ll get a delivery exception which you’ll have to understand through its alert message.