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Retailers are contending with a new challenge as this year’s holiday shopping season heats up: extra shipping fees during the busiest weeks.

United Parcel Service for the first time is tacking on a surcharge on packages shipped to homes around Black Friday and the week before Christmas, hoping to convince companies to send their orders outside those peak periods — or to make more money from ones that must be delivered then.

The surcharge has prompted e-commerce retailers large and small to consider other delivery options, such as FedEx or the U.S. Postal Service, passing the additional costs to their customers, or delaying shipments to cheaper times.

United Parcel Service (UPS) acquired a pharmacy license in Georgia in a move that could broaden its business into not only shipping but relabeling drugs, CNBC reported.

UPS confirmed the move, saying the license is tied to “new and potential business engagements” handled out of its Duluth, Ga., facility.

It’s not clear how strategically significant the move might be for UPS at a time when the company faces uncertainty as Amazon.com (AMZN), a major customer, tests its own final-mile delivery service, which could be a negative both for shipping rates and volume.

 

In the cross-appeals of a $246,975,614 judgment won by New York State and New York City, amici curiae have filed briefs in support of the United Parcel Service, Inc., (“UPS”). The case is New York v. UPS, Nos. 17-1993, -2107, -2111 (2d Cir.).

The amici curiae have focused on the judgment amount and several aspects of the underlying liability determinations. As might have been expected, the most salient issue raised involves the constitutional implications of the lower court’s overwhelming award of penalties – which accounted for just under 95% of the State’s award and more than 99% of the City’s.