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What Are Flexport's Delivery Service Level Agreements (SLAs)?

A service level agreement (SLA) is the tier of shipping that categorizes the estimated or promised shipping time of an order (e.g., Standard, 2-Day, Overnight). SLAs also cover Flexport's agreements with distribution centers, such as how quickly products will be received during inbound. 

 

How do SLAs work?

Once an order is in the Processing status (i.e., after any bad address or inventory errors have been resolved), the following delivery SLAs apply according to the shipping service level.

  • Orders given the Processing status prior to 11AM PST / 2PM EST will typically ship the same day.
  • Orders given the Processing status after 11AM PST / 2PM EST will typically ship the next business day.

Please note: marketplace orders will normally ingest with an anticipated ship date and delivery date that is passed directly to Flexport from the marketplace. This is shown on the order page as "Promised By" dates. If an order does not ship the following day as outlined above, but ships by the 'Promised By' date listed in Flexport Portal, then this order is still considered to be shipped on time. 

 

See the delivery SLAs listed below for an explanation of how much time to expect for your orders to be delivered from the ship date. Note: “Day one” is considered to be the day after the order is initially promised to ship. If the order is re-processed or has any type of delay in shipment, the order will be expedited (at no cost to you)to meet the initial delivery SLA. Note: the actual ship method or carrier used per order may vary.

  • Ground - delivered within 7 business days
  • 3-Day - delivered within 3 business days
  • 2-Day - delivered within 2 business days
  • 1-Day - delivered within 1 business day

 

When can your customers expect to receive an order?

Here are a few examples to understand Flexport’s delivery speeds.

 

Example 1: 3-day shipping during a holiday

Let’s say your customer places an order with 3-day shipping on November 23 after 11AM PST / 2PM EST. Your customer would receive the delivery on November 30.

November_3_day_ex.png

 

Example 2: Ground (7-day shipping), no upcoming holidays

Let’s say your customer places an order with Ground (7-day shipping) on April 4 before 11AM PST / 2PM EST. Your customer would receive the delivery on April 13.

April_7_day_ex.png

 

Example 3: 1-day shipping, no upcoming holidays

Let’s say your customer places an order with 1-day shipping on February 8 after 11AM PST / 2PM EST. Your customer would receive the delivery on February 10.

February_1_day_ex.png

 

Exclusions and limitations

Flexport will do its best to maintain our delivery service level; however, we may be unable to do so should there be unplanned spikes in shipping volume due to:

  • “Peak Season” dates, including:
    • The Friday after Thanksgiving
    • The week of Cyber-Monday
    • The first week of December
    • Mondays during December
    • December 12-25
    • New Year’s Eve 
  • Starting February 2020, some deliveries may take 1-2 more days due to congestion at carrier networks.
  • “Peak Season 2023” dates from November 1, 2022 to January 15, 2023
  • Warehouse holidays
  • Unforeseen technical errors and 'Bad Address' alerts 
  • General carrier disruptions outside of Flexport's control

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