Premium "peak" pricing

The Driver

I drive.
Does UPS charge a premium on all of their services for all shippers for any shipping done during the month of December?

Would this be a good idea to try to capture some more revenue while also lowering our overall volume somewhat or would this be just too confusing and bad for competition and our brand? Thoughts?
 

scooby0048

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Does UPS charge a premium on all of their services for all shippers for any shipping done during the month of December?

Would this be a good idea to try to capture some more revenue while also lowering our overall volume somewhat or would this be just too confusing and bad for competition and our brand? Thoughts?
With the epic fail we are about to have, and the failure of 2013, could you imagine how pissed the customers already are by having service failures then to be told we are jacking up the prices? The court of public opinion would shred us.
 

zubenelgenubi

I'm a star
Does UPS charge a premium on all of their services for all shippers for any shipping done during the month of December?

Would this be a good idea to try to capture some more revenue while also lowering our overall volume somewhat or would this be just too confusing and bad for competition and our brand? Thoughts?

This is business 101. Supply and demand. When supply of shipping capacity is diminished due to greater demand, price should go up. This allows for more investment in infrastructure in order to increase capacity. But, you always have to be aware of competition. When shipping prices go up, they attract investors looking to get a piece of the larger pie. More competition means more capacity, which means supply outpaces demand and prices drop. There are also limiting factors, such as bottlenecks that cannot be eliminated due to regulatory constraints, or contracts we have with shippers.
 

zubenelgenubi

I'm a star
With the epic fail we are about to have, and the failure of 2013, could you imagine how pissed the customers already are by having service failures then to be told we are jacking up the prices? The court of public opinion would shred us.

Increasing prices is the best way to ensure service commitments are met. There is an optimal amount of capacity that we can handle. Once we go past that, we run into diminishing returns. It costs us more to deliver more than a certain amount of volume. If we charge the same amount, we lose money, and cannot invest in increasing capacity in order to keep prices down.
 

scooby0048

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Increasing prices is the best way to ensure service commitments are met. There is an optimal amount of capacity that we can handle. Once we go past that, we run into diminishing returns. It costs us more to deliver more than a certain amount of volume. If we charge the same amount, we lose money, and cannot invest in increasing capacity in order to keep prices down.

Well, it's not working.
 

Wally

BrownCafe Innovator & King of Puns
With the epic fail we are about to have, and the failure of 2013, could you imagine how pissed the customers already are by having service failures then to be told we are jacking up the prices? The court of public opinion would shred us.
I'm not sure the customers, meaning the final destination, know the shipping cost? The shipper does.
 

Poop Head

Judge me.
Does UPS charge a premium on all of their services for all shippers for any shipping done during the month of December?

Would this be a good idea to try to capture some more revenue while also lowering our overall volume somewhat or would this be just too confusing and bad for competition and our brand? Thoughts?
Charge the little guys more. Charge amazon less
 

scooby0048

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I'm not sure the customers, meaning the final destination, know the shipping cost? The shipper does.
The people at the end are not who I'm thinking of. I'm thinking of the equipment company who is shipping a 149 lb sprocket for some mining drill EAM, or the title company shipping documents NDA for Saturday.
 

Wally

BrownCafe Innovator & King of Puns
The people at the end are not who I'm thinking of. I'm thinking of the equipment company who is shipping a 149 lb sprocket for some mining drill EAM, or the title company shipping documents NDA for Saturday.
Those prices might be different for sure.
 

Sissy Brown Short Shorts

Well-Known Member
I think even a few cents surcharge on small and residential packages would not be unreasonable. But I have noticed a lot less "large" packages than in previous peaks. They've been able to fit 450 pieces into my pc this year, whereas that would not have been the case last year. They may be on the right track.
This and last years peak I delivered zero iregs.
 
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