Dive Brief:
- UPS is providing discounts ahead of the peak shipping season for small- and medium-sized businesses through an agreement with American Express, the delivery giant announced Wednesday.
- The offer, which expires Feb. 28, 2026, is available for merchants in American Express' Business Savings Suite. Savings apply to base transportation rates on several ground, air and international shipping options, with discounts increasing the more businesses ship with UPS.
- Beyond rate cuts, UPS is also offering 50% reductions through the initiative on certain fees, including residential and fuel surcharges on domestic air and ground shipments.
UPS discounts via American Express Business Savings Suite
| Average weekly shipping volume | UPS Air services | UPS Ground | UPS International Express services (Export) | UPS International Express services (Import) | UPS Standard Export to Mexico | UPS International Standard Export to Canada |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-15 | 64% | 42% | 65% | 53% | 65% | 32% |
| 16-30 | 68% | 46% | 71% | 55% | 71% | 34% |
| 31+ | 72% | 50% | 74% | 58% | 74% | 37% |
Note: Offer expires Feb. 28, 2026.
Dive Insight:
The discount program marks another way UPS is attempting to woo more SMB shippers into its network. SMB customers are often more profitable on a per-package basis than high-volume clients, resulting in UPS and FedEx competing to gain share in the space.
“UPS is making strategic investments in areas important to SMBs like industry-leading service, flexible returns and seamless integration with our end-to-end smart logistics network," said Matt Guffey, UPS’ chief commercial and strategy officer, in the announcement.
For SMB shippers, the discounts could help blunt the impact of heightened peak season surcharges from UPS and other carriers on their bottom lines. Some of UPS' holiday fees will start kicking in as early as Sept. 28 and run until Jan. 17, 2026. The carrier has also enacted various surcharge adjustments, including higher fuel fee calculations.
In the American Express arrangement, minimum charges will still apply in some instances for UPS Ground and 3-Day Select shipments, in addition to UPS Standard shipments to and from Canada. For example, Ground shippers will pay the greater of the net package charge post-discount or the published rate for a one-pound, Zone 2 package after a 10% discount is applied.
Drawing in more SMB shipping activity has been difficult of late for UPS amid new tariffs and an uncertain demand environment. The carrier saw lower-than-expected average daily volume growth in Q2 among SMB customers.
"While our customers who have scale may be able to thwart the impact of rising costs due to tariffs, many of our SMB customers may not," CEO Carol Tomé said on a July earnings call.
However, SMB shippers are still becoming a larger piece of UPS' customer mix as the carrier aggressively reduces the volume it delivers for Amazon. EVP and CFO Brian Dykes said on the call that SMBs made up 32% of UPS' U.S. volume in Q2, up 230 basis points year over year.
