{"id":9613,"date":"2020-12-05T13:30:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-05T13:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/?p=9613"},"modified":"2020-12-05T13:30:01","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T13:30:01","slug":"indirect-signature-required-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/indirect-signature-required-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Indirect signature required&#8221;: Here&#8217;s What It Means"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>img#mv-trellis-img-1::before{padding-top:150%; }img#mv-trellis-img-1{display:block;}<\/style><p>Common words are sometimes used in combinations that seem contradictory.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Exquisitely vicious&rdquo; is one example that shows up sometimes in fiction.<\/p>\n<p>However, even the most poetic flight of fancy is no match for this article&rsquo;s topic, the confusing phrase &ldquo;indirect signature required.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>How can a signature be indirect? Read on to find out.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>What does &ldquo;indirect signature required&rdquo; mean?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The phrase &ldquo;indirect signature required&rdquo; is only used by Fed Ex. In short, it means that somebody other than the intended recipient signed a statement agreeing to receive a package or other piece of mail. The signature itself is not indirect, in other words, but rather the signature was made by someone other than the &ldquo;direct&rdquo; recipient of the delivery. While the exact phrase is not used by other delivery services, some may offer similar types of signature requirements.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>What is a signature?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>A signature is essentially a type of written name which formally identifies the person writing.<\/strong> <strong>It differs from printed writing, where the purpose is to create letters in a uniform, easily legible way. However, it also differs from an autograph, where the uniqueness is primarily there for artistic purposes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The purpose of a signature is more forma, in other words. It serves as proof of the signer&rsquo;s identity. For this reason, signatures are often required when receiving important mail, when signing contracts and in other cases <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-before-whereas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">where<\/a><\/strong> it is essential to confirm the identity of the signer.<\/p>\n<p>According to a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/groups.csail.mit.edu\/mac\/classes\/6.805\/student-papers\/fall97-papers\/fillingham-sig.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">paper<\/a><\/strong> from MIT, signatures are first mentioned in the Talmud, the central text of Jewish religious law and theology, in roughly the year 500 CE.<\/p>\n<p>Technology such as telegraphs and the Internet have complicated what does and does not count as a signature, and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-after-today\/\">today<\/a><\/strong> signatures may be electronic as well as handwritten.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>What is an &ldquo;indirect signature&rdquo;?<\/h2>\n<p>At first glance, this phrase makes no sense. You can either write a signature or you can <em>not<\/em> write a signature.<\/p>\n<p>The idea that a signature might be &ldquo;indirect&rdquo; is definitely counter-intuitive. To understand what &ldquo;indirect signature required&rdquo; means, it&rsquo;s necessary to look at the only place which seems to use this phrase, FedEx.<\/p>\n<p>FedEx is an international delivery service, although it operates primarily in the United States of America.<\/p>\n<p>Because FedEx, like all delivery services, is often tasked with sending valuable items and important documents from one person to another, they offer a variety of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fedex.com\/en-us\/delivery-options\/signature-services.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">signature options<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>One of these options is &ldquo;indirect signature required.&rdquo; To select this option, the actual recipient of a delivery must log into FedEx&rsquo;s management system and grant somebody else the ability to sign for the package.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, what &ldquo;indirect signature required&rdquo; means is just that the signature belongs to somebody other than the recipient of a package or other delivery.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase &ldquo;alternative signature required&rdquo; would seem to make more sense, as it&rsquo;s not the signature that is indirect so much as the person signing for it is different.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/comma-before-or-after-however\/\">However<\/a><\/strong>, you can think of the recipient as still indirectly authorizing the signature by signing into the FedEx management system and granting this other person the ability to sign.<\/p>\n<p>Viewed in that light, it makes sense that the signature could be considered indirect.<\/p>\n<p><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9623\" src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update.jpg\" alt=\"Indirect Signature Required Meaning Update\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-735x1103.jpg 735w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-223x335.jpg 223w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-231x347.jpg 231w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-347x520.jpg 347w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-427x640.jpg 427w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-512x768.jpg 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update.jpg\"><\/noscript><img loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9623 eager-load\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201000%201500'%3E%3Crect%20width='1000'%20height='1500'%20style='fill:%23e3e3e3'\/%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" alt=\"Indirect Signature Required Meaning Update\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1500\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update.jpg\" id=\"mv-trellis-img-1\" data-src=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update.jpg 320w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-735x1103.jpg 735w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-223x335.jpg 223w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-231x347.jpg 231w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-347x520.jpg 347w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-427x640.jpg 427w, https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Indirect-Signature-Required-Meaning-Update-512x768.jpg 512w\" data-svg=\"1\" data-trellis-processed=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Does anyone else use the phrase &ldquo;indirect signature required&rdquo;?<\/h2>\n<p>Written English pertaining to mail and deliver is often confusing and highly specialized, and this phrase is no exception. Unlike more common <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/address-line-1-meaning\/\">phrases<\/a><\/strong> like &ldquo;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/address-line-1-meaning\/\">address line 1<\/a><\/strong>,&rdquo; however, this one is rare.<\/p>\n<p>No other delivery company seems to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/with-that-being-said\/\">use this particular phrase<\/a><\/strong> to describe their signature options for deliveries, but you may still see it in other places.<\/p>\n<p>Many online shops, for example, allow customers to request an indirect signature when entering the delivery options they would like to use when placing an order.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, these other uses often say that it will only work if it&rsquo;s supported by the carrier (that is, the company delivering the item).<\/p>\n<p>Given that FedEx seems to be the only major delivery service which does support an indirect signature, you probably don&rsquo;t need to worry overly much about encountering the phrase elsewhere, or asking what &ldquo;indirect signature required&rdquo; means in other contexts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Common words are sometimes used in combinations that seem contradictory. &ldquo;Exquisitely vicious&rdquo; is one example that shows up sometimes in fiction. However, even the most poetic flight of fancy is no match for this article&rsquo;s topic, the confusing phrase &ldquo;indirect signature required.&rdquo; How can a signature be indirect? Read on to find out. &nbsp; What &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable-in-feed":false,"article-schema-type":"Article","disable-critical-css":false,"_convertkit_action_broadcast_export":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[230,231],"class_list":["post-9613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","tag-indirect-signature","tag-indirect-signature-required"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9613"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9624,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9613\/revisions\/9624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}