2024 Peak Season Surcharges for USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL

Updated: November 4, 2024

Peak season is here! As merchants, this is one of the most exciting times of the year for you. Shoppers are excited to celebrate Black Friday and try new products and services for the holiday season. The end of the year is a critical time for merchants as you’ll likely see a large influx in new potential customers.

But, it’s also a busy season for all the carriers who will transport those orders. To help you stay a step ahead, we’ve compiled all of the peak surcharges you can expect from USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL for 2024.

Wait, what are peak season surcharges?

Peak season surcharges are extra fees carriers charge during their busiest months, typically from October through January. These charges are usually flat fees added on top of your shipping rate. This year, a few surcharges will last longer into January compared to previous years.

These surcharges help carriers manage increased cost due to the surge in shipping volume during the holiday season. The fees cover labor, fuel, supplies, and more, ensuring their service standards are maintained during the busiest time of the year.

The surcharge rates and application dates may change any time during this period, so we recommend staying tuned in to any communication from your carriers.

If you’re curious to see how these surcharges compare to last year’s, check out our 2023 peak season surcharge blog.

USPS

On September 5th, 2024, the USPS filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) for proposed peak surcharges for commercial and retail rates effective midnight Central on October 6, 2024 until January 19, 2025. Shippers should note which rates they use to accurately forecast the seasonal surcharges, and understand the PRC may make adjustments to these rates until October. By default, all EasyPost users should rely on the Merchant Discount pricing and commercial rates.

Commercial Priority Mail Express®

Commercial Priority Mail®

Commercial Ground Advantage®

UPS

UPS has several surcharges from October 27, 2024 until January 18, 2025 for service level, shipment origin and destination country, and additional services. Surcharges may have different rates for select periods during peak season, so be aware of fluctuations throughout the season.

EasyPost shippers using service levels under the UPS® Digital Access Program have their own surcharges separate from retail rates.

UPS DAP: UPS® Air, UPS® Ground and UPS Ground Saver Packages

The following demand surcharge will apply to all UPS® Air, UPS® Ground, and UPS Ground Saver Packages under the UPS® Digital Access Program starting November 3, 2024.

UPS DAP: UPS® Additional Handling, Large Packages and Over Maximum

A Demand Surcharge will also apply to packages that require special handling needs such as Additional Handling, Large Packages, and Over Maximum Limits. This applies to U.S. domestic, import, and export shipments with the following services: all UPS® Air, UPS® Ground, and UPS Ground Saver Packages under the UPS® Digital Access Program starting November 3, 2024.

UPS® Air, UPS® Ground Residential and UPS SurePost® Packages

The following demand surcharge will apply to all UPS Air, UPS Ground Residential, and UPS SurePost packages during the designated time period.

Additional volume-based surcharges for UPS® Air, UPS® Ground Residential and UPS SurePost® Packages

UPS will add an additional surcharge if you’re a high-volume shipper with more than 20,000 shipments and ship above your “baseline” volume during peak season. This baseline is determined by averaging your weekly UPS volume for UPS® Air, UPS® Ground Residential, or UPS SurePost®.

UPS® Additional Handling, Large Packages and Over Maximum

UPS will apply a demand surcharge to all packages that require additional handling, large packages, or over maximum limits service from January 14, 2024 until January 18, 2025. This applies to U.S. domestic, U.S. import, and U.S. export shipments.

UPS Mail Innovations®

UPS Mail Innovations® services will apply the following peak season fees from November 3, 2024 until December 28, 2024. These additional fees and demand surcharges will be included in the shipping label’s base rate.

All UPS Mail Innovations® services pieces in all mail classes will receive a $0.20 per piece fee. This applies to outbound domestic, domestic returns, and outbound international. See the table below for other additional charges that may be applied.

FedEx

FedEx will be applying the following demand surcharges from September 29, 2024 until January 19, 2025. There are several types of surcharges, so shippers should be sure to read through all the tables to see what could apply to their shipments.

FedEx Package Demand Surcharges

Additional Demand Surcharges

FedEx U.S. Export Demand Surcharges

FedEx will apply an export demand surcharge in the U.S. to the following destinations:

• Canada: Calgary, Hull, Kitchener, Montreal, Niagara, Oshawa, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Windsor, Winnipeg, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Yukon
• Anguilla; Antigua; Aruba; Bahamas; Barbados; Barbuda; Bermuda; Bonaire; British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands; Curacao; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Haiti; Jamaica; Martinique; Montserrat; Saba; St. Barthelemy; St. Croix (U.S. Virgin Islands); St. Eustatius; St. John (U.S. Virgin Islands); St. Kitts and Nevis; St. Lucia; St. Maarten/St. Martin; St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands); St. Vincent; Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos Islands; U.S. Virgin Islands
• Argentina; Belize; Bolivia; Brazil; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Ecuador; El Salvador; French Guiana; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Nicaragua; Panama; Paraguay; Peru; Suriname; Uruguay; Venezuela

^{Parcel minimum charge: $1 per shipment. Freight minimum charge: $15 per shipment.}

FedEx Delivery Charge Demand Surcharges

FedEx will apply a dynamic surcharge that is recalculated each week to customers with high shipping volume. Your surcharge is based on your shipping volume and “peaking factor” during your “calculation week” and is then applied during your “application week” two weeks after. For more information please see the FedEx website.

Delivery Charge per Package by Peaking Factor

^{*Excluding FedEx One Rate packages}

Delivery Charge Calculation and Application Week Schedule

DHL Express

DHL Express will be applying the following demand surcharges from September 15, 2024 until January 31, 2025.

Impacted service levels:

• DHL Express Worldwide
• DHL Express 12:00
• DHL Express 10:30
• DHL Express 9:00
• DHL Express Envelope
• DHL Economy Select
• DHL Medical Express
• DHL Breakbulk Express
• DHL Breakbulk Economy

DHL Express Demand Surcharges

DHL eCommerce

DHL eCommerce will be applying the following peak surcharges from October 27, 2024 until January 18, 2025.

DHL eCommerce SmartMail Domestic Product Peak Surcharge

DHL eCommerce SmartMail Return Product Peak Surcharge

Additional Domestic Product Peak Surcharge

Zone 1-4

Zone 5-8

DHL eCommerce International Product Peak Surcharge

DHL eCommerce Canada to U.S. Product Peak Surcharge