--- title: "A List of 2023 Holiday Shipping Surcharges From Top Parcel Carriers" description: "Despite a heightened level of planning and forethought, many merchants often forget to account for one costly line item in their fulfillment budget: Holiday shipping surcharges." language: en canonical: https://www.flex.thisisbrew.com/blog/parcel-carrier-holiday-shipping-surcharges-2023/ lifecycle: live --- # A List of 2023 Holiday Shipping Surcharges From Top Parcel Carriers Peak season presents major opportunities for businesses both big and small. With a little inventory preparation, forecasting, and marketing planning, you can reach new customers and sell through inventory, as long as you have the proper infrastructure and shipping partners in order. As you finalize your fulfillment and shipping strategies—including forecasting costs and selecting carriers—it’s important to factor in holiday shipping surcharges. Read on to learn more about what holiday shipping surcharges are, what fees you can expect from top parcel carriers when self-shipping, and how you can [avoid costly fulfillment fees altogether with Flexport Fulfillment](https://www.flexport.com/blog/no-fulfillment-surcharges-2023). ## What Are Holiday Shipping Surcharges? Holiday shipping surcharges (also known as demand surcharges or [peak season surcharges](https://www.flex.thisisbrew.com/glossary/peak-season-surcharge/)) are additional fees parcel carriers charge during high-volume shipping months, typically between October and January. This is to offset the added equipment, trucks, and labor needed to deliver a larger volume of packages in a shorter window of time. ## How to Avoid Holiday Shipping Surcharges: Partner With Flexport When your business partners with Flexport to fulfill orders during peak season, you’re able to save on residential surcharges (e.g., when an order is delivered to a home or home business), fuel surcharges, and peak fulfillment surcharges that you may incur when self-shipping with carriers or with select other third-party logistics (3PL) providers. This year, [Flexport is foregoing holiday shipping surcharges](https://www.flexport.com/blog/no-fulfillment-surcharges-2023) on top of our standard order fulfillment fees. What you’ve been paying all year in fulfillment fees will be the same costs* you see on your billing invoice during peak season months (October through December). We’re able to implement this pricing model for two key reasons: - We place inventory close to the highest levels of customer demand so shipments travel less distance. This allows us to save on shipping costs. - We absorb the entirety of peak costs associated with warehouse labor and transportation so it has minimal impact on your business. Additionally, we will be increasing our labor forces to continue to meet [on-time shipping and delivery](https://www.flex.thisisbrew.com/blog/how-to-improve-on-time-delivery/) service-level agreements and help your business maintain a positive customer experience throughout the holidays. *NOTE: These costs are relative only to Flexport fulfillment services fees. Other fees may still apply (i.e., for *[storage and inventory removal services](https://www.flex.thisisbrew.com/blog/peak-season-inventory-removals-and-storage-fees/)*). Visit our *[Help Center](https://support.portal.flexport.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011693573-What-are-Flexport-s-fees-)* to learn more.* ## A Breakdown of The Top Three Holiday Shipping Surcharges of 2023 While most holiday shipping surcharges seem minuscule at first glance, they often include several hidden fees that can add up quickly. That’s why we broke down the surcharges from three of the largest carriers below based on publicly available information so you can compare costs and plan accordingly. ### FedEx Holiday Shipping Surcharges Increase by 28% FedEx’s 2023 holiday shipping surcharges will impact key services, including FedEx Express and FedEx Ground. #### Demand Surcharges For packages shipped via FedEx Ground Economy, the surcharge amount varies based on the date when the package is sent. #### Residential Delivery Surcharges (For Enterprise Customers Only) FedEx also implements a residential delivery charge per package based on service-level volume for Ground and Express services (dynamically adjusted each week based on shipping volume). This applies to Enterprise customers shipping more than 20,000 residential and FedEx Ground Economy packages during a calculation week. **Effective:** October 30, 2023–January 14, 2024 #### Large Package and Additional Services Surcharges Oversized packages (more than 70 lbs) and those that require additional handling due to certain dimensions, weight, or packaging specifications will incur additional holiday shipping surcharges this year. You can also expect to pay fuel surcharges which are updated weekly*. Learn more about FedEx’s special handling fees and other charges [here](https://www.fedex.com/content/dam/fedex/us-united-states/services/Service_Guide_2023.pdf). ### UPS Holiday Shipping Surcharges Increase by 8% Similar to FedEx, UPS calculates holiday shipping surcharges based on your shipping volume and applies additional surcharges for packages with special handling requirements. #### Demand Surcharges This year, UPS is implementing a demand surcharge on certain UPS Air Residential, UPS Ground Residential, and UPS Surepost packages, for customers who are billed for more than 20,000 packages during a given week (dynamically adjusted each week based on each package over 105% of the baseline weekly average volume for each service level). **Effective:** October 29, 2023–January 13, 2024 #### Large Package and Additional Handling Surcharges Large packages (more than 70 lbs) and those that require additional handling due to certain dimensions, weight, or packaging specifications will incur additional holiday shipping surcharges when shipping with UPS during peak season. This applies to customers who meet one of the following criteria: - Were billed for more than 1,000 total packages in any week after February 2020; - Were billed for more than 10 combined large packages or packages requiring additional handling in any week after February 2020; or - Signed up for a new UPS account after December 31, 2020 Learn more about UPS’ special handling fees and other charges [here](https://www.ups.com/assets/resources/webcontent/en_US/daily_rates.pdf). Additionally, you can expect to pay fuel surcharges (prices are updated monthly*). **Effective:** October 01, 2023–January 13, 2024 ### OnTrac and Lasership's Additional Handling Fees Increase by 184% OnTrac and Lasership are implementing a residential delivery surcharge on packages delivered to any location that is a residential home, including a business operating out of a residential home. #### Demand Surcharges OnTrac and Lasership’s holiday surcharges are based on your baseline package volume percentage. This means during the demand period, you’ll pay a surcharge on all residential packages shipped during any weekly invoice period that exceeds 105% of your weekly average minimum package volume in June 2023. **Effective:** October 28, 2023-January 12, 2024 #### Over Max Limits, Additional Handling, and Fuel Surcharges An additional surcharge will be applied to any package that requires special handling or that weighs over 50 lbs. Moreover, you can expect to see surcharges for packages delivered to certain ZIP codes within OnTrac/Lasership’s coverage area or when an address provided to OnTrac/Lasership is incorrect or incomplete. **Effective:** October 28, 2023-January 12, 2024 *NOTE: All data points in this section were sourced directly from OnTrac’s website. See *[here](https://www.ontrac.com/surcharges/#demand)* for more information.* ## Compare 2023 Peak Season Surcharges When Self-Shipping While the specific surcharges your business incurs depend on the carrier you use, the below chart provides a comprehensive view of what peak surcharge amounts you’ll pay on top of regular package pricing when self-shipping with carriers: *Note: Surcharge amounts listed in this chart may not be inclusive of all surcharges implemented by each carrier. Additional fees may apply for other applicable services including overweight packages, additional handling fees, etc. For more information, visit each carrier’s website to see a full list of demand surcharge types.* ## Get Started With Flexport Today Ensure your peak inventory is inbounded to the [Flexport fulfillment](https://www.flex.thisisbrew.com/glossary/ecommerce-fulfillment/) network in time to take advantage of zero holiday shipping surcharges when using our fulfillment services. Sign up and [create an inbound](https://sellerportal.deliverr.com/inbounds) in your Seller Portal account now. **REMINDER: The **[deadlines](https://www.flex.thisisbrew.com/blog/updates-to-fulfillment-services-suite-during-peak/)** to inbound your inventory to the Flexport fulfillment network are November 6, 2023 for Black Friday and Cyber Monday inventory and November 23, 2023 for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa inventory.** *The contents of this blog are made available for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for any legal, business, or financial decisions. We do not guarantee, represent, or warrant the accuracy or reliability of any of the contents of this blog because they are based on Flexport’s current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions, about which there can be no assurance due to various anticipated and unanticipated events that may occur. This blog has been prepared to the best of Flexport’s knowledge and research; however, the information presented in this blog herein may not reflect the most current regulatory or industry developments. Neither Flexport nor its advisors or affiliates shall be liable for any losses that arise in any way due to the reliance on the contents contained in this blog.* --- *This is a markdown version of [https://www.flex.thisisbrew.com/blog/parcel-carrier-holiday-shipping-surcharges-2023/](https://www.flex.thisisbrew.com/blog/parcel-carrier-holiday-shipping-surcharges-2023/) for AI/LLM consumption.*