When Your Shipment Comes In. Now FedEx delivers to your home office

Your client needs to ship a product sample to your home office.A distant teleworker forgets an important file at the office. Yourbrochures are ready to be shipped-but you're in and out onsales calls all day and will only be home after sixo'clock.

According to the National Research Foundation, the residentialdelivery market is expected to grow 119 percent by 2003.Recognizing this growth potential and the fact that the at-homeworkplace is a time-sensitive delivery market, FedEx has launched anew service called FedExHome Delivery. This new service is dedicated to deliveringpackages to residential customers, including people who work athome.

Debuting in March, the service is designed for the growingnumber of business-to-consumer marketers, including e-commercesites and many of the network marketing organizations whose web ofpartners work from home selling goods that are shipped toresidential consumers from a central facility. (Forrester Researchforecasts e-commerce will grow from $38 billion this year to $184billion by 2004.)

FedEx Home gives e-tailers an option that combines reliabilitywith cost-effective ground transportation, says Allison Sobczakwith FedEx Ground in Pittsburgh.

The service doesn't include pick-up from homes; FedExExpress handles that area of the residential market. The newservice does provide a wider array of delivery options-and amoney-back guarantee, Sobczak says. Working with the shipper, therecipient can outline specific delivery instructions or times aslate as 8 p.m. between Tuesday and Saturday, she says.

People who need home delivery need different options, saysSobczak, noting that some services cost extra, like the scheduledappointment option and evening delivery. "We've identifiedthat customers will pay extra for these premiums."

Journalist and author Jeff Zbar has worked from homesince the 1980s. He writes about home business, teleworking,marketing, communications and other SOHO issues.