MEMPHIS, TN — FedEx announced Monday that it has added a new official tracking status, “Maybe,” after a nor’easter along the East Coast left millions of customers staring at “Delivery Exception” and wondering what it meant.
“Delivery Exception sounded too confident,” said FedEx customer experience director Linda Hargrove. “Maybe tells customers exactly what we know, which is nothing.”
Under the new status, a package could be on a truck, in a hub, on a neighbor’s porch, or “going through something right now.” The tracking page will show Maybe in bold letters, with an estimated delivery window of “eventually.”
The company said early testing in several storm-affected ZIP codes cut angry phone calls by 22 percent. Over the same period, the number of customers refreshing the page every 45 seconds “just in case Maybe changed its mind” went up by 400 percent.
Hargrove said the company is also looking at a premium tier called “Probably,” which will be offered for an extra $14.99.
As of press time, the reporter’s own package had been marked Maybe, then Perhaps, and then, briefly, Who Can Say.
