UPS announced its surcharges for the 2022 peak season on Friday, which will impact high-volume shippers expecting elevated home delivery demand during the holidays.
Beginning Oct. 30, customers billed for more than 20,000 packages any week after October 2021 will see a “Peak/Demand Surcharge” applied to certain UPS Air Residential, Ground Residential and SurePost shipments, according to the carrier. The fee will be active until Jan. 14, 2023.
The surcharge is applied on a weekly basis to all packages over 105% of the baseline volume for each service. The baseline volume is the customer's average weekly volume from June 5 through July 2 for the applicable shipping service. But UPS will use the average weekly volume from Sept. 4 to Oct. 2 instead if it is less than 80% of the June-July period's volume.
UPS per-package peak surcharge, based on shipments over shipper's 'baseline volume'
| >105% to 125% | >125% to 150% | >150% to 200% | >200% to 300% | >300% to 400% | >400% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UPS SurePost | $1.25 | $1.75 | $2.00 | $2.50 | $4.25 | $6.00 |
| UPS Ground Residential | $1.25 | $1.75 | $2.00 | $2.50 | $4.25 | $6.00 |
| UPS Next Day Air Residential | $2.25 | $2.75 | $3.00 | $3.50 | $5.25 | $7.00 |
| All Other UPS Air Residential | $2.25 | $2.75 | $3.00 | $3.50 | $5.25 | $7.00 |
NOTE: Surcharge is active from Oct. 30 until Jan. 14, 2023.
UPS will charge shippers the highest applicable surcharge they reach. For example, if a customer ships 175% of their baseline shipping volume for the Ground Residential service in a given week, they will be charged $2 for all packages that go above 105% in baseline volume.
UPS is also raising its per-package surcharges for additional handling (from $3.50 to $6.50), large packages ($40 to $70) and packages in excess of its maximum shipping limits (no charge to $400) on qualifying customers. The new prices for these surcharges are active from Oct. 2 until Jan. 14, 2023.
UPS' surcharge reveal follows fellow parcel delivery giants FedEx and the Postal Service, which both announced cost hikes of their own. Amazon is also rolling out its inaugural peak season fee on its fulfillment services for third-party sellers.
