The news
FedEx has started selling Authenticated Delivery, a paid option that keeps a package on the truck until someone at the door shows a QR code. The shipper turns it on when it makes the label, and FedEx sends the recipient a unique code ahead of time. When the driver arrives, they scan the code and hand over the package. If nobody can show it, the package stays on the truck, because a signature no longer counts, per FedEx’s product page.
The option is available for homes and businesses in the US and Canada on select expedited services. FedEx built it for shippers of luxury goods, electronics, collectibles, healthcare products and aerospace parts, per the release.
“The future of delivery isn’t just moving packages quickly. It’s about building greater trust throughout the delivery process,” said Neil Gibson, FedEx’s senior vice president of global customer experience.
Know more
Until now, the driver has been the one who proves a FedEx delivery happened, with a scan, a photo, or a signature from whoever answers the door. Authenticated Delivery flips that, because FedEx sends the code before the truck shows up and only the person holding it can take the box.
That makes the rules stricter than any of FedEx’s signature options.
No signature track: it cannot be combined with Direct, Indirect or Adult Signature Required, so it runs as its own service.
No reroute: once the package ships, Hold at Location, Redirect to Hold and address corrections are all off. Vacation holds through Delivery Manager still work.
Three tries: the driver attempts delivery up to three times before the package goes back to the shipper.
A shareable code: the recipient can pass the code to a household member, a leasing office or a mailroom. It expires after 45 days, and after that the shipper has to reship.
FedEx calls it a paid upgrade but has not listed a fee. The closest comparison is its signature options, which run $7.15 a package, or $10 for Adult Signature.
FedEx is going after packages that go missing between the truck and the buyer. SafeWise counted 104.3 million packages stolen from US doorsteps in the past year, and the average one was worth $143, up 8% from the year before. The total fell 13% from 2024, the first drop since SafeWise began tracking. FedEx has not published a number of its own on theft, misdelivery or claims.
The pattern
FedEx is not the first to try this. It is the second express carrier in 13 months to put a QR code at the door.
DHL Express launched Verified Delivery in August 2025 with the same mechanism, a unique QR code sent ahead and scanned by the courier, with no signature needed. It is now live in 24 countries including the US, with more than 100 planned, per DHL’s release. DHL also aimed it at electronics and luxury goods.
Amazon has asked for a one-time password on higher-value orders in India since 2018 and in the UK since at least 2022. The courier reads a six-digit code before handing over the package.
UPS offers a PIN-based Verified Delivery option in its shipping systems, though it has never announced it as a new service, so it may predate both.
USPS and Canada Post, meanwhile, offer nothing like it, even though they carry most of the low-value home parcels that make up the theft count.
The counter
For most shippers, FedEx is still pushing the opposite move. Its own signature page recommends a waiver for the bulk of home deliveries, because a package that needs a person at the door fails more often on the first try. Each failed attempt costs about $17 a package in re-delivery and customer service, per Statista. Authenticated Delivery adds a step that even Adult Signature does not have: no neighbor can sign, no building manager can sign, there is no hold at a store, and after three tries the box comes back.
The code does not stop every theft either. Which? found UK Amazon couriers asking for the one-time password, marking the parcel delivered and then keeping it, while some customers who gave the code correctly were still refused refunds. So far, no carrier has published a number showing that a code at the door cuts theft or item-not-received claims.
What’s next
The price and the service list come first, since FedEx names only “select expedited services” and has not said which. After that, peak is the test. It will show whether shippers of phones, watches and trading cards put the code on those SKUs this holiday, and how many of those packages come back after three attempts. FedEx has not published a first-attempt rate for the option, so the return-to-shipper count is the number that will tell whether the tier holds.
