FGX: A Powerful Ally in the Fight to Ship Greener
If you’re a company that’s looking for additional ways to green beyond the obvious, I suggest you look at how you ship internationally. Have you ever looked at where it goes? If not, do it soon. If it’s with one of the big three, It is far from a straight line. It first goes to a central hub. Even if that’s flying backwards further into the US. Then It goes overseas, but most likely to another hub. Then if it’s lucky, it gets to go to the intended destination.
UPS can talk all it wants about eliminating left turns on their driving routes, but if you’re adding 2-3 legs to the flight getting it there, that makes for a long, carbon intensive trip. And it doesn’t have to be that way.
As I wrote in April, FGX offers a very compelling alternative to this. How? By what would seem an intuitive move: Shipping direct from point A to point B. As their newly revamped website puts it so well, they ship 24 hours faster, for 20% less money, at a 30% reduction on the carbon footprint of your current shipping platform.
Whether you’re considering greening your shipping or just want to see a great example of effective, clear, compelling marketing, check out the brief animated introduction on the front page. It links how you as a person would of course aim to fly direct, so why wouldn’t you do the same with your packages?
They are under no illusion that switching shippers is an easy decision to make, so I think they made a smart move by offering to ship your packages for free for the first week, taking a small step to see if they work for you, minus the worry. They even offer a money back guarantee on service after that period.
I’ve spoken to Justin Brown, FGX’s CEO, and his commitment and drive to continuously seek out ways to green their operations is clear. From what packages get shipped in, to how they travel on the ground, to how they run their office, you can be assured they are putting forth a powerful effort to be the best shipper out there, beyond being green.
Their blog gives an inside view of how they as a company run, and interesting goings on in the world beyond shipping. Want to know what rats have to do with shipping? Go here to find out.
FGX is much more then an international shipper. With domestic overnight shipping that offers pickup as late as 1:00 am, they don’t mess around. They don’t just ship the small and easy, either, taking on freight and cargo shipping. As they put it, “Nothing is too heavy or awkward for First Global Xpress.”
And if you’d like a hand in seeing how you can ship greener, both in your internal operations and what happens when it leaves your door, they offer a free green audit. Or you can start to do it yourself now, on their Carbon Calculator, just by putting in the pounds and number of packages, resulting in an instant comparison between how you currently do and how FGX would do.
FGX shipments currently all originate from New York, but I have heard talk of them expanding west in the future.
Question for you, reader:
What are some practices your business does that help green your operations, packaging, and shipping? Please share!
More reading:
How to Make Your International Shipping Greener : Ecopreneurist
Bye Bye Box: HP Packages Laptops in Eco-Friendly Bags : Ecopreneurist
Forget the Green Packaging at your Peril - A Story : Ecopreneurist
[...] Ecopreneurist (10/9/08)—If you’re a company that’s looking for additional ways to green beyond the obvious, I suggest you look at how you ship internationally. Have you ever looked at where it goes? If not, do it soon. If it’s with one of the big three, It is far from a straight line. It first goes to a central hub. Even if that’s flying backwards further into the US. Then It goes overseas, but most likely to another hub. Then if it’s lucky, it gets to go to the intended destination. [...]
[...] Ecopreneurist (10/9/08)—If you’re a company that’s looking for additional ways to green beyond the obvious, I suggest you look at how you ship internationally. Have you ever looked at where it goes? If not, do it soon. If it’s with one of the big three, It is far from a straight line. It first goes to a central hub. Even if that’s flying backwards further into the US. Then It goes overseas, but most likely to another hub. Then if it’s lucky, it gets to go to the intended destination. [...]