FedEx Releases Peak Season Surcharges and Fees For 2021 Holiday Season
FedEx announced surcharges and fees for the upcoming holiday season as the logistics carrier prepares for another busy peak season. It’s really not much of a surprise as the company has said the use of surcharges will continue to be a critical part of their strategy.
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“As we plan for peak of fiscal year 2022, our peak surcharges will continue to play a critical role.”
Brie Carere — Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, FedEx
To be fair, the practice of using surcharges during the holiday season (peak season) has become popular among all carriers to pay for the increased operating costs during that time.
Most carriers hire temporary staff and lease additional vehicles to handle the volume and the surcharges are their way to make up for the additional expense. Even the US Postal Service has now implemented surcharges for the holiday season.
FedEx surcharges fall into two groups. One set of surcharges applies to all shippers, while another set of surcharges only applies to high-volume shippers. Most small businesses will fall into the first group, so here is a detailed look at those surcharges.
FedEx Peak Season Surcharge – All Customers
| Surcharge | Applicable Services | Amount | Effective |
| Additional Handling Surcharge * | * US Express Package Services * US Ground Services * International Ground Service | $5.95 per package | Oct. 4, 2021 to Jan. 16, 2022 |
| Oversize Charge * | * US Express Package Services * US Ground Services * International Ground Service | $62.50 per package | Oct. 4, 2021 to Jan. 16, 2022 |
| Ground Unauthorized Package Charge * | * US Ground Services * International Ground Service | $350.00 per package | Oct. 4, 2021 to Jan. 16, 2022 |
| Peak Surcharge (Period 1) ** | * FedEx Ground Economy Package Services | $1.50 per package | Nov. 1, 2021 to Nov. 28, 2021 |
| Peak Surcharge (Period 2) ** | * FedEx Ground Economy Package Services | $3.00 per package | Nov. 29, 2021 to Dec. 12, 2021 |
| Peak Surcharge (Period 3) ** | * FedEx Ground Economy Package Services | $1.50 per package | Dec. 13, 2021 to Jan. 16, 2022 |
* See the FedEx Service Guide for the criteria and characteristics of these surcharges.
** FedEx Ground Economy is a contract-only service. FedEx has three periods of surcharges for this service.
FedEx Peak Season Surcharge – High Volume Customers
The second group of peak surcharges is for customers that ship more than 25,000 packages per week. FedEx utilizes a more complicated “Peaking Factor” calculation on those.
Shippers who fall into this category can review the details on FedEx’s website or contact their FedEx representative for how it will impact their business this year.
Surcharges From Other Major US Carriers
As mentioned earlier, other carriers have been using Peak Season surcharges as well. Here is what we know so far about their plans for the 2021 holiday season.
- The US Postal Service announced surcharges a few days ago that are still subject to final approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). We expect the request to be approved.
- UPS and DHL have not released their Peak Season surcharges yet, but that is just a matter of time and both carriers are expected to make announcements soon.
Hopefully, this year’s holiday season will not turn into the same shipping chaos as last year. But one nuisance will remain, shipping surcharges will affect almost all online merchants and marketplace sellers.
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Richard Meldner
Richard is co-founder of eSeller365. He has over 17 years of experience on eBay which includes tens of thousands of sales to buyers in over 100 countries and even has experience with eBay’s VeRO program enforcing intellectual property rights for a former employer. And for about two years Richard sold products on Amazon using Amazon FBA in the US.
To “relax” from the daily business grind, for a few weekends a year, he also works for IMSA as a professional race official.