Peak-season surcharges could make it a red Christmas for parcel customers
FedEx Corp. and UPS Inc. have a holiday message for their big customers: Prepare to pay up or prepare to pound sand.
An extraordinary year for parcel shipping will conclude with an equally extraordinary peak season. Carriers are bracing for unprecedented volumes as the normal holiday shop and ship hysteria meets the abnormal nine-month surge in e-commerce as consumers continue to avoid stores due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Just as unprecedented, however, will be the surcharges levied by the carriers to deliver all these domestic parcels. For the first time, peak surcharges to handle “standard-size” parcels, the familiar packages that carriers process through their automated conveyor systems, will be pegged to a range of shipper volumes. And it will be the big shippers, companies accustomed to leveraging their massive volumes to win rate discounts, that bear the brunt of the fees. Small to midsize customers that typically pay higher rates throughout the year will be exempt from the surcharges unless their volumes exceed thresholds that would be hard to reach even during the holidays.
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