FedEx Announces 2020 Rate Hike and Peak Surcharges

FedEx announced a rate hike coming in January 2020. The average rate increase for services commonly used by online merchants is 4.9% – that applies to FedEx Ground, FedEx Express, and FedEx Home Delivery. FedEx SmartPost shipping rates will also increase.

In addition, sellers will see changes to the cost of shipping packages that require additional handling or are oversized, and there will be changes to fuel surcharges.

FedEx will not apply additional residential surcharges during the holiday season. However, peak surcharges will apply to shipments that qualify as oversize or unauthorized, or necessitate additional handling in addition to existing charges. Most peak surcharges will be in effect between October 21, 2019 and January 5, 2020.

The press release below includes more information with links to details.

Press release follows:

FedEx Corp. announced today that, for the third year in a row, the company will not apply additional residential surcharges during the holiday season, except for shipments that are oversized, unauthorized or that require additional handling. Dates for such peak surcharges vary. Details can be found at: fedex.com/peak-surcharge.

In addition, FedEx Express, FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight, all subsidiaries of FedEx Corp., will increase shipping rates and surcharges effective January 6, 2020:

• FedEx Express shipping rates will increase by an average of 4.9% for U.S. domestic, U.S. export and U.S. import services.
• FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery shipping rates will increase by an average of 4.9%. FedEx SmartPost shipping rates will also increase.
• FedEx Freight shipping rates will increase by an average of 5.9% for shipments within the U.S. (including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and between the contiguous U.S. and Canada. FedEx Freight shipping rates will also increase for shipments within Canada, within Mexico, and between the contiguous U.S. and Mexico.

The following FedEx Express, FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight surcharge changes will also take place effective January 20, 2020:

• Applicable services, criteria and pricing for FedEx Express and FedEx Ground packages that require additional handling or are oversized will change.
• There will be changes to applicable surcharges for FedEx Express and FedEx Ground fuel surcharge assessment.
• Applicable criteria for the FedEx Freight Capacity Load minimum charge will change.

The list of Delivery Area Surcharge ZIP Codes for FedEx Express, FedEx Ground and FedEx SmartPost will also be changed effective January 6, 2020.

Details of all changes to rates and surcharges are available at fedex.com/rates2020.

SOURCE: FedEx Press Release

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.