What Does Fedex’s “Delivery Option Requested” Status Mean?

Sometimes when you are expecting a Fedex shipment you will look up the tracking number only to find a delay or some sort of unclarity around what’s happening with your shipment right now. That lack of clarity often has to do with a shipping status of, “Delivery option requested.”

What does this Fedex status mean, and do you need to do anything to get your package to arrive more quickly?

The short answer to this question is that “Delivery Option Requested” (DOR) means that either the shipper or the receiver has requested a change to the original shipping instructions and now Fedex is updating their logistics systems in order to accommodate those changes.

Here is a scenario where you might see the DOR status:

  • You bought something from Website123 and told them to ship it to your home.
  • You find out that you won’t be able to be home that day due to unforeseen circumstances.
  • Then — while the package was en route — you told Fedex to instead ship it to your vacation home on the other side of the state, where you would be staying at the time.
  • Fedex then updates their system, changing the destination from Old Address to New Address
  • The status of the shipment temporarily changes to “Delivery option requested” while the logistics are arranged. The item status at the nearest shipping center while a new label is created, space is allocated on trucks, and so forth
  • The receiver, if they have a Fedex account and notifications enabled will receive an email saying “FedEx Shipment 123456789012: Some of your packages are delayed.”
  • The package gets an updated label and resume its trip to the new destination
  • The status will again turn to “In transit” until the item is out for delivery and is dropped off

Seems simple enough, right? Unfortunately that’s not always the case…

My Package Is Stuck On “Delivery Option Requested”! What Should I Do?

A popular complaint with Fedex is that a shipment with a mid-transit change can become stuck at the DOR status for hours or even days. This happens a lot around the holiday seasons where package volumes are high and complex changes like this can mean serious delays. Unfortunately sometimes packages just become tangled up in the system and one small change is enough to disrupt things, causing them to get stuck in place for days.

Initially, there is nothing to do when you see this status. In fact, it’s actually good news because the DOR status means that the change you put in as been received and Fedex is responded to it by updating the route.

If you feel that your package is stuck — which tends to mean it’s been at this status for over 24 hours — then you should login to your Fedex account and then to your Delivery Manager and try to get more details about the shipment. If no good details exist then you can call Fedex or call the shipper in order to get more details about the status.

Sometimes giving Fedex a nudge over email, phone call, or online chat is what it takes to move the process along.

It might be frustrating, but even though you can call/email/chat, the best thing to do is often to wait. You’d introduced additional complexity to the shipping system and it needs some time to sort it out.

And if you do seem to have an extended DOR situation, be sure to check into the tracking number’s Travel History (look up the tracking number and then scroll down on the page). The item can be in DOR in the abbreviated tracking history, but you can get more granular data in the extended history, which will give you the details you want.

In this example the item might say “IN TRANSIT, Delivery option requested” at the top, but in the full travel history you can see that the reason for the DOR was because an alternate destination as requested and the shipment is being sent on its alternate path.

Why Am I Seeing “Delivery Option Requested” Status?

While a change in the destination is the most popular reason why you’d see this status, it’s not the only one. Here is our full list of reasons why your package might be on DOR…

  • Change in delivery destionation
  • Cancelled by sender
  • Request to hold the package at a local Fedex location instead of leaving at the final destination (this could be a Fedex office, Walgreens, Walmart, etc.)
  • The address was incorrect or missing information (like an apartment number)
  • The delivery date was changed
  • The delivery instructions were changed (Ex: leave on back porch instead of by front door)

If you are seeing this status but you didn’t request any changes then it means that a change was made by the shipper. This could be the addition of shipping instructions that were added later, like a delivery note that initially was missed when the shipment was created. Sometimes the shipper can also add a hold to the shipment or adjust the delivery date in order to match the receiver’s instructions.

Hopefully this helps you get that package! Anything we missed? Send us a note.