Fedex And Ups Rates Fill Your Noggin With Current Logistics News.

FedEx announced a limited reinstatement of its Money Back Guarantee effective April 6, 2021. This comes days after UPS’s limited delivery guarantee reinstatement that went into effect April 5, 2021. The timing isn’t the only sim...

UPS just announced its plan for a (limited) reinstatement of service guarantees effective April 5, 2021. Although it’s a step in the right direction, don’t cheer just yet. According to the fine print, this ‘reinstatement’ is only applicable to UPS Next Day Air and UPS Worldwide Express services, and it comes with extended delivery times. UPS Service...

FedEx SmartPost has been rebranded as FedEx Ground Economy. There’s more to this rebranding effort than just a simple name change. The naming evolution also means that FedEx will no longer use the US Postal Service (USPS) to fulfill its last mile delivery volume, in most cases. By making this change, FedEx is replicating the model that UPS currently uses with its ...

There's been lots of conversation about guaranteed deliveries and a shipper's ability to file for credits in 2020 and this year. And if that doesn't quite make sense right now, it will. UPDATE March 29, 2021: Shippers still do not have the ability to file for refunds for late deliveries. Both UPS and FedEx have given no i...

Comparing shipping rates, or performing a shipping rate comparison, is essential for shippers who want to maximize their budgets. Why Comparing Shipping Rates Matters Let's say two people operate similar ...

Lots of shippers would benefit from some negotiation tips for getting better UPS and FedEx contracts. We've helped countless companies optimize contracts and negotiate better rates with UPS and FedEx. One of the m...

The future of FedEx service guarantees and delivery policies are in flux right now. And it's important for shippers to know what's happening to leverage that information to make good business decisions. The Futur...

Refund recovery is an extremely important topic for shippers. What is Refund Recovery? Refund recovery involves reaching out to the carriers to request money back for any carrier invoice errors discovered...

FedEx has been making some significant investments into its infrastructure. Today we'll examine how those investments will (or won't) create a “FedEx weekend advantage” over the competition. What is the FedEx...

Reevaluating sourcing options is an important topic today. Many shippers who have come to rely on UPS and FedEx are feeling a bit handcuffed. The carrier networks are completely overwhelmed right now because of th...

Many shippers think that they have to rely on one or both of the big two carriers, UPS or FedEx, but there are other regional carriers and courier options available. Benefits of Contracting with Regional Carriers...

It’s important for shippers to understand early term language and how it works in our industry. What is Early Term Language? Early term language is a contractual language that the carriers include in th...

If your business relies on UPS & FedEx, chances are your ‘spidey’ senses are tingling. With demand (packages needing to be shipped) far exceeding supply (UPS’s and FedEx’s ability to deliver packages while honoring service guarantees), limited options, and a lack of competition, the small parcel industry is in the throes of a carrier’s market. With ...

Have you heard about the FedEx price increase for 2021? On September 14th, 2020, FedEx announced their annual rate increase. As usual, it goes into effect the first week of the New Year. In this case, that’s January 4th, 2021. ...

Amazon recently announced that Prime Day 2020 will be Prime Day(s)…as in plural. Set an alert and mark your calendar because Prime Day 2020 is Tuesday, October 13 AND Wednesday, October 14. The annual shopping holiday will grow from a one-day event to a two-day spending spree for millions of global deal seekers. ...

FedEx and UPS both recently announced new surcharges. Depending on your shipping profile, these new surcharges may impact your business. FedEx has continued the trend of applying surcharges to all International Services originating in Asia. UPS announced several new seasonal surcharges applicable to all Air Residential, Ground Residential and SurePost packages for all U.S. Origins and de...

Today we’re discussing some of the top misconceptions keeping shippers from a best-in-class carrier agreement. Let’s start by defining what a best-in-class carrier agreement is. What is a Best-in-C...

Publisher's Note: This post has been updated with new links and content. Original Publication Date: December 10, 2015 Today we’re going to take a look at the details of annual rate increases. Let’s begin with how rate increases are typically rolled out. ...

Publisher's Note: This post has been updated with new links and content. Original Publication Date: May 1, 2017 In this post, we’ll help you understand how to become a FedEx and UPS power user. Let's start at the beginning with what FedEx and UPS power users are. ...

Editor's Note: This post has been updated with new links and content. Original Publication Date: October 26, 2015 This post will explain a fee that UPS and FedEx rolled out a few years ago. As a matter of fact, what they really did was drop a bomb on drop shippers. But before we get into what that is, let’s discuss the three bi...

The global novel coronavirus pandemic has created great uncertainty all over the world. The disruptions to travel and commerce has led UPS and FedEx to suspend all service guarantees for Express, Ground and Freight for both Domestic and International shipments immediately and until further notice. This means that UPS and FedEx will no longer honor their promise to give you a refund when your s...

UPS and FedEx 2020 rate increases were recently announced. And as in years prior, it's an average 4.9% rate increase across the board. That's for the service level rates themselves. If you look at the UPS and FedEx 2020 rate increases, however, you'll see a different impact that you may not be so happy about. Most surcharges have gone up about 3 1/2 to 4%. But some of them, includ...

Peak shipping season is here and to ensure your packages are delivered in time for the Holidays, download our Holiday Shipping Deadline Calendar below. In addition, please be aware of this year’s Peak Season surcharges. On October 1, 2019, UPS implemented the following Peak Season surcharges: Peak Season Large Package Surcharge* = Additional $31.45 per package Peak...

It's that time of year once again. UPS & FedEx are dishing out another costly general price increase to small parcel shippers effective December 29, 2019 for UPS and January 6, 2020 for FedEx. It is important to understand that the announced UPS & FedEx rate increases are only averages and the impact on your company could vary greatly. Over the past decade (2010-2020), UPS and Fed...

The FedEx Dimensional Weight Explained The FedEx dimensional weight can cause a lot of problems for customers. As a company that processes a tremendous amount of shipping data, we see a lot of issues with this. One of the common issues we see is being billed at dimensional weight versus actual weight. So what does that even mean? To be able to understand how carrier pricing work...

Negotiated Rates Affect Your Business Negotiated rates with UPS and FedEx could help your business and I am here to explain why that is. What I'm answering is the question of, what is a negotiated rate with UPS and FedEx? Inconsistent pricing from FedEx and UPS is something many companies are dealing ...

FedEx Waivers Cause The Company To Lose Customers FedEx waivers are something that people often overlook and can cause you to lose money. For those of you shipping with FedEx, I want to inform you of a recent contractual trend that's on the rise. It jeopardizes your right to late delivery refunds...

FedEx and UPS Carrier Exceptions Can Save You Money Alright, today we'll be talking about the different carrier exceptions. In particular, I'm going over carrier exceptions for both FedEx and UPS. They're very similar so I'll kind of go over them all in the same bucket. First, we'll talk about pick up exceptions. Sometimes no packages were picked up and pick up is not rescheduled. They...

UPS and FedEx Billing Insights from the Pros Hey, guys, Rich with Lojistic here. I'm here to talk about UPS and FedEx billing with any of you that are still on paper invoices. Federal Express and UPS both offer online services. This will allow you to build in so...

Lowering UPS Shipping Rates: First Steps The best way for lowering UPS shipping rates is to get detailed reports on your current shipping. This should include all the relevant characteristics. It should be things like your average cost is by service level and your average discounts. Take a look at those, especially if your last negotiated contract was about six to nine months ag...

UPS Shipping Rates Versus FedEx UPS shipping rates are similar when you compare them to FedEx shipping rates. There aren't any certain rates that are different between UPS and FedEx. This is unless you are looking at some of the surcharges. UPS and FedEx ...

FedEx Shipping Rates: Important Tips to Keep in Mind There aren't unique shipping charges or surcharges in FedEx shipping rates compared to UPS. They actually both have very similar charges and surcharges. The main thing that you want to take into account are the differences in those charges. UPS might call somethi...

Lowering Shipping Rates: Some Basics to Remember Here are some things to keep in mind about lowering FedEx shipping rates. The clearest, easiest way is to renegotiate the contract. So, to do to lower your FedEx rates is to take account the timeframe in which you last negotiated your contract. As long as it's within a si...

Freight Bill Audit Benefits There is a primary benefit of using a freight bill audit. That is to understand exactly where you are spending your money. Your more reputable auditors will offer GL coding as well. So within your accounting, you can make sure that you divi...

UPS Quantum View Keeps Your Money So as you can imagine, UPS looks down on the parcel auditing industry. Now, why might this be, you ask? It's because auditing services, like Lojistic, returns money to the shipper or custo...

FedEx InSight: Why They Made It Hey guys. So as you can imagine, FedEx looks down on the parcel auditing industry. Now, why might that be? Well, auditing services like what Lojistic provides put money back in the shipper's pocket. FedEx Insight would otherwise allow FedEx to keep this money. So, as you can imagine, FedEx does everything that they can to deal with this. They co...

FedEx Contracts Have Changed FedEx contracts have changed like UPS. In fact, FedEx calls it over-max fee while UPS calls it unauthorized charge fee. It's the same thing. It's for packages that are heavy and lar...

FedEx Service Guarantee Basics FedEx service guarantee agreements work similarly to those from UPS. They actually call their FedEx service guarantee clause, "The Money Back...

UPS Contracts: Changes to Know UPS contracts changed in 2019. I would say some of the most notable impacts have been in some of the surcharges. So, in 2018, UPS took a massive increase in their over-max fee. That's when you're shipping very large packages, whether it be long or heavy. That fee went from $300 to $650 by the end of the year. This year that fee is still in effect. This is...

Rate Negotiation Considerations Rate negotiation is an important thing for customers to understand. Customers ask, "What's the difference between the different types of negotiations?" And there is one specific term that we like to use sometimes and that's a rate ...

FedEx business customers spending around $60,000 or more annually can expect to see a waiver of their “Money Back Guarantee” in their next FedEx Agreement revision, assuming a waiver isn’t already there.  A waiver of the FedEx Money Back Guarantee eliminates a customer’s right to a refund when FedEx fails to meet their time in transit commitment (aka guar...

In a global economy you have internal/external pressures to maintain high levels of performance at the same time managing the costs between customers and carriers. The challenge is managing your parcel shipping costs while continuing to reflect the capabilities that makes your company truly unique and drive its value. These capabilities stand out as true different...

These five rules apply to everything from negotiating the price you’ll pay for your next car to getting a better deal on the donuts you’re bringing into the office on Friday.  When applied to negotiating your parcel carrier contracts however, following these rules may save you enough to buy a fleet of cars, or enough donuts for your whole office building....

“I’m a really bad negotiator”, said no one ever.  Especially in logistics. Case in point, I was on a sales call last week and the gentleman responsible for negotiating the existing UPS and FedEx contracts for his company was VERY confident in his shrewd negotiation skills.  “My new parcel rates are amazing. I just negotiated a 9% savings with my incumben...

It's that time of the year again! Gather ye e-commerce retailers and all happy package senders...For the holiday shipping season is upon us. But to get those presents or boxes of coal to all the little boys and girls on time, we have to ship them by these deadlines! Also, we have to be mindful that service level guarantees will be suspended according to the schedule below. UPS...

Let's start right at the beginning. Most people don’t know what a parcel audit is. A parcel audit is the task of going through each and every shipping invoice to look at carrier service errors you can be refunded for. The process is extremely tedious and time consuming. This is where 3rd party parcel audi...

You have the achy feeling that somehow, someway, your parcel shipping is draining your company of valuable revenue. Every month you see profits melt away with ever increasing shipping invoice bills that you have no idea if they are correct or just plain filled with mistakes and lost saving opportunities. What are you missing in terms of savings and knowledge abou...

UPS Peak Surcharges Arrives in the Parcel World *Updated with SurePost Peak Surcharge After experimenting on several high-volume peak shippers last year, UPS announced on Monday that it is implementing Peak Surcharges on select packages tendered bet...

Parcel Forum 2017 has just announced their conference line-up. Our very own parcel analytics gurus Bryan Van Suchtelen and James Matthews will be proudly representing Lojistic at the Forum this year. ...

The 2017 UPS and FedEx rate increase announcement is now behind us. But are you aware of how big the impact may be to your company’s bottom line? It can be super challenging to quantify how the rate increases will affect your business, and even more difficult to visualize those changes when drilled down into each and every service level your business utilizes. Unfortunately, not a ton ...

During a discussion about the various iterations of dimensional weight in our presentation at the 2016 Parcel Forum in Dallas, I made the (ahem… dare I say ‘bold’) prediction that at some point the carriers will align the domestic and international dim divisors rather than having unique divisors for each. Little did I know that just one week later, FedEx would proclaim that very change in...

A detailed analysis of the rate increases from our experts will be coming next week. In the meantime, check out the news straight from rates.ups.com: Effective December 26, 2016*, the published rates for our services will increase. This supports the ongoing investments we continue to make in the speed, scope and coverage of our transportation network. While we continuously search out opp...

You know that it’s coming. It happens every year without fail. No, I’m not talking about parcel rate increases (not this time, at least). Nope, this time I’m talking about April Fools’ Day. Maybe it’s just me (though I suspect not), but I am keenly aware of and anticipate April Fools’ Day. I expect to be pranked. My spider senses are on unusually high-alert, yet every year ...

Not many shippers know that almost all UPS and FedEx service levels have time in-transit delivery guarantees. Crazy, right? Even ground services have a guarantee to be delivered within a certain time frame.  If a shipment is even one minute late, you are most likely entitled to a refund. While a parcel audit will find an...

Carrier shipping rates have been on the rise for years. Quickly compare their increase to common household goods with our super helpful infographic. ...

Changes are afoot once again with the FedEx and UPS fuel surcharges. On March 7th, the FedEx fuel surcharge for Air and International will be 0% (yes, you read that right!) and Ground will decrease from 3.75% to 3.25%. On that same day, the UPS fuel surcharge for Air and International will go from 3.0...

It’s a bummer that by now we’re all used to near-constant price increases from FedEx and UPS. Just last February, UPS announced it would be increasing their fuel surcharge indices, despite a barrel of crude oil being at a near 10-year low. Well, as of today, a barrel of US crude oil has hit a 12-year low, briefly tra...

The 2016 Fedex and UPS General Rate Increases are now in effect, and we’ve updated our GRI Whitepaper to reflect the changes to come. Need a quick refresher? We’ve got you covered. On Wednesday, September 16, FedEx announced its annual general rate increase (GRI). Effective January 4, 2016, rates will be impac...

When booking a shipment, it makes sense to assume that two-day air would be the best choice to get a package where you need it in two days. And the carriers are probably happy that overnight air would be your first choice! But, depending on what zone you’re shipping to/from, other, cheaper options may be available to get your shipment where you need it, when you ne...

Update: The USPS has postponed its rate increase that was scheduled for 4/26/2015, and FedEx has followed suit.  FedEx has just announced the second SmartPost rate increase of 2015. Effective April 27, SmartPost rates will increase by 8.3%. The increase was brought about by a recent postage increase announcement by USPS. Shippers who have negotiated a general rate incre...

In the wake of the dimensional weight announcements earlier this year, both carriers have recently announced their General Rate Increases for 2015.  The high level changes are as follows:   FedEx - Effective January 5, 2015 Express (package and freight) standard list rates will ...

Six weeks ago FedEx announced what will likely be the single largest rate increase on record for many shippers.  As predicted, UPS announced that they are following FedEx’s lead.  Effective Monday, December 29, 2014, UPS will impose dimensional weight (DIM) pricing on all Ground packages. To varying degrees, this change w...

Shipping comparison is one of the most important ways that you can save money on your logistics needs, but that does not mean it is easy to do an enterprise-wide shipping cost comparison. When you compare shipping costs, it is important to be methodical and ensure that you are taking all the pertinent factors into account. That being the case, you might wonder if the investment of time and effo...

Shipping solutions can sometimes feel like more trouble than they’re worth. We know it, and so do you; but this doesn’t have to be the case for the upstart or the entrepreneur. Since the world has grown into an increasingly digital marketplace, more and more solutions to shipping woes are emerging. The legacy ...

Many businesses are hesitant to complain to the shipping giants responsible for getting their customers’ orders delivered to them on time. They may be aware of the fact that auditing their invoices for mistakes or attempting to renegotiate their carrier contract may save them s...

If you haven’t heard yet, FedEx announced a mid-year rate increase by 6.9% on July 9th, 2012.  This rate increase is not uncommon, happening already at the beginning of the year with rate increases from both major carriers.  However, the question that is sure to appear on many people’s mind is how this rate increase will affect their business.  In past years, these rate increases heavily...

UPS and FedEx announced their January 2012 general price increases (GPI). Why is this important? For any company that ships parcels, the GPI will affect your overall shipping costs! As the 2011 GPI showed, there can be substantial impacts on shipping costs resulting from changes to accessorial charges and dimensional weight formulas. The 2012 increases are only announced as averages and can ...

In the current, uncertain economic environment, when fuel costs are constantly fluctuating, corporations can overspend thousands of dollars with national carriers like UPS and FedEx. Many executives are unaware that they can achieve substantial costs savings simply by monitoring and challenging UPS and FedEx on-time delivery guarantees and taking advantage of FedEx and UPS discounts. An...

In the world of small parcel shipping there are largely only two service providers in the United States, UPS and FedEx. Many businesses feel strongly (often based on a prior negative experience) that the service of one carrier is far superior to the other. On the other hand, there do remain some businesses that are relatively neutral in the consideration of a UPS and FedEx service comparison....

Every year, UPS and FedEx announce their respective general price increases (GPI). Shippers, both large and small, scramble to determine the effective impact on their shipping costs. Since the announced increases are only averages, the true impact for any given business can vary greatly. In January 2011, the carrier’s GPI had a very substantial impact on accessorial charges, such as:...

Editors note: This post was originally published July 23, 2011 and most recently updated August 2020. Dimensional weight (DIM) is a volumetric standard that is calculated by multiplying the length by width by height of a package and then dividing by a factor/divisor. Via dimensional weight charges, carriers like UPS and FedEx have the ability to rate lo...

Accessorial charges that are assessed while a shipment is in-transit or upon its delivery can present an important cost management issue for businesses. Since many companies charge their customer for shipping when an order is placed, it is problematic when the actual shipping charges exceed expectations due to accessorial fees. With shipping costs that exceed the associated revenue collected fr...

UPS and FedEx are among the world’s largest small-package carriers, both by revenue and volume. When you compare UPS and FedEx, both offer ground, air, and ocean freight shipping and shipping-related services. FedEx and UPS ship over 10 million packages daily for businesses and individual customers worldwide. A consideration of ...

Every January UPS and FedEx tariff rates change. When comparing FedEx vs UPS rates, one has to consider contracted incentives relative to the carrier’s annual price increase. Your contract incentives will more than likely carry over from one year to the next; however, the incentives will now be ap...

You'll find revenue-based incentives in most small parcel shipping contracts. UPS uses the term Portfolio Tier Incentives. FedEx refers to them as Earned FedEx Discounts. Basically, they amount to nothing more than a quantity or volume discount. Some shippers don't like revenue-based incentives; yet, managed properly, they can be fairly advantageous. Carriers like them because in decades...

Parcel shipping contracts are becoming increasingly complex. Many of these contacts are written to confuse shippers and protect the carrier. The wording, created by lawyers, is designed to obfuscate the reader to the point where they simply give up, trust the oral explanation and the promised impact of any proposed freight discounts. It's no wonder so many shippers have engaged freight auditing...

The link below provides a historical chart of the FedEx and UPS fuel surcharge rate. Of note, the UPS and FedEx surcharges (air and ground) are linked to their respective indices with a two month lag (i.e. the surcharge reflects the average fuel price from two months ago). In addition, the indices are typically recalibrated in conjunction with the FedEx and UPS annual rate increase. For example...

To reduce shipping costs, you need to be mindful of address correction charges. These bill-backs can quickly add tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to your freight cost. Major carriers like UPS or FedEx will impose address correction charges for incorrectly-formatted or improperly addressed mail and packages. This...

Shipping companies like UPS and FedEx are caught between a "rock and a hard place."  The rock is ever-rising fuel prices, which some economists say will top $4 per gallon for diesel and gas.  The "hard place" is eating that cost or passing it on to clients and customers who are themselves fighting a prolonged recession. Sure, UPS and FedEx can add surcharges to cover fuel costs--but their cus...

These days, cheap shipping rates are scarcer than feathers in a cuckoo clock. Recent changes to both FedEx rates and UPS rates were bitter to swallow. Both companies announced increases to small package shipping rates that began with the New Year. Adding salt to the wound was a key change in how both FedEx and UPS now calculate ...

Shipping costs are headed higher than a New York City skyscraper. No thanks to the high price of energy, which contributes to rising transportation costs.  Record high oil prices have offset decades of trade liberalization efforts. When you consider the rising cost of shipping raw materials and finished goods, distance to market and ...