Each year, the number of parcel shipments spike during the fall and into the holiday season. That surge puts pressure on carriers’ operations, who respond by making adjustments and flexing their delivery networks. Pickup schedules may shift, capacity gets stretched, and most importantly, rates go up.
In order to offset temporary workers’ increased wages, and to maximize profitability, UPS, FedEx, and other shippers impose "peak" surcharges, now often referred to as "demand" surcharges. The result is higher-dollar shipping invoices through the holiday rush. Even the U.S. Postal Service has announced proposed temporary "price changes" (read: increases).
Carriers say these surcharges are necessary to 'continue providing our customers with the best possible service.'
For instance, when asked about peak season pricing, UPS CEO Carol Tomé confirmed the standard playbook and tied it to guidance: "As you know, the carriers tend to issue a holiday demand surcharge for peak. That certainly supports the guidance that we've given." She also said UPS is modeling a roughly 24% sequential volume lift from Q3 to Q4, "much like it did last year." CFO Brian Dykes added that "the pricing remains rational" and that UPS expects to "price accordingly for the demand."
Defending the surcharge strategy, Brie Carere, EVP & Chief Customer Officer at FedEx called peak fees a "win-win,” stating, "It lets them sell at Christmas and it allows us to bring on the resources profitably to do that."
Here's What You'll Learn Today
Important FedEx and UPS Peak season surcharge effective dates for 2026-2027
Peak surcharge details
Who is most likely to be impacted by peak surcharges
Planning for Peak season
Ship dates for Christmas Day delivery
How to mitigate package surcharges
Peak vs Demand Surcharges - What's the difference?
In simple terms, “Peak” refers to the predictable shipping rushes each year—usually around the holidays—when volumes climb sharply. Demand, on the other hand, means any period when carriers face higher-than-usual shipping requests. In practice, unless there's some extraordinary event driving demand, these periods often line up. That's why the two terms are often used interchangeably.
UPS makes this explicit in its 2026 Rate and Service Guide, where it states that the term "Demand Surcharges" includes both "peak/demand surcharges" and "peak surcharges," and that the terms are interchangeable. FedEx has taken it a step further: as of September 4, 2023, they dropped the word "peak" altogether and now only use "demand" to describe these surcharges.
Why the name change? Could it be that carriers are leaving room to tack on more surcharges? By using "demand" instead of "peak," they can define their own high-demand periods, rather than sticking only to the well-known, industry-wide peak season dates.
Latest Announcements on FedEx and UPS Peak Surcharges
Recently, on August 26, 2026, UPS updated their Demand Surcharges, getting shippers ready to pay more for the privilege of using its network during peak season. FedEx made its update earlier, on July 22, 2026.
Shippers should not dismiss these surcharges or resign themselves to the fate of higher fees. They must study them closely, understand the potential impact, and develop the best strategies for mitigation.
Peak Season Timelines for 2026-2027
The peak shipping period for 2026–2027, as in most years, falls during the holiday season, running from late October through early January. However, UPS and FedEx don't wait that long to implement additional fees. Their demand surcharges kick in at the end of September and extend into mid-January.
2026-2027 UPS & FedEx Peak Season Demand Surcharges
FedEx and UPS Demand Surcharge Comparison
The following is a side-by-side comparison of the UPS and FedEx demand surcharges that apply to the services shown on the outlined dates.
Ground Commercial shipments are not subject to additional service-level Peak fees, but Surcharge/Size-related fees like AHS do apply to Commercial Ground shipments.
FedEx Peak Season Size and/or Weight Related Surcharges
FedEx Demand — Residential Delivery Charge
This surcharge works differently from most others. Instead of a flat fee, it's dynamic, changing week by week based on the customer's shipping volume.
Who It Applies To
Enterprise-level customers who ship more than 20,000 residential* and FedEx Ground Economy packages (U.S. domestic) in a given "calculation week."
Important to Note: The Demand – Residential Delivery Charge is applied in addition to the standard Residential Delivery Charge, not as a replacement. That means:
Both surcharges may apply to the same shipment.
Any discounts or caps in your contract for the standard Residential Delivery Charge do not apply to the Demand – Residential Delivery Charge.
How It Works
The process involves two parts: a calculation week and an application week.
Step 1: During the calculation week, FedEx measures how many residential and Ground Economy packages you shipped.
If that week has a holiday, FedEx adjusts your volume to account for the one less operating day. Example: say you ship 17,000 packages in a 4-day week (because of a holiday). FedEx will normalize it like this:
17,000 5 (days)4 (days) = 21,250
So even though you only shipped 17,000, they treat it as 21,250 for that week, which means instead of staying under the threshold, you now get hit with the surcharge.
Step 2: A peaking factor (PF) is then calculated using this formula:
PF = No. of Residential* and FedEx Ground Economy packages shipped during calculation weekWeekly average Residential* and FedEx Ground Economy packages shipped between June 2, 2026-June 29, 2026100
Step 3: The peaking factor, shown as a percentage in the table below, is used to determine the surcharge amount for the application week, which comes two weeks later. The amount charged depends on which FedEx service was used.
*FedEx One Rate packages are excluded.
Demand — Residential Delivery Charge per Package by Peaking Factor
In the 2026-2027 peak season, the FedEx Demand — Residential Delivery Charge can range from $1.70 per package up to $9.35 per package.
To get more details on FedEx peak surcharges, visit FedEx.com here.
UPS Peak Season Size and/or Weight Related Surcharges
UPS Demand Surcharge
This demand surcharge applies to all UPS Air, UPS Ground Residential, and UPS Ground Saver (formerly UPS SurePost) shipments, as outlined below.
For UPS customers billed for more than 20,000 packages in any week after October 2025, the standard surcharge rates don't apply. Instead, they're charged under the "Higher Volume Shipper" demand surcharge rates in the tables below.
Higher Volume Shipper Table, Demand Period: October 25–November 21, 2026
Higher Volume Shipper Table, Demand Period: November 22–December 26, 2026
Higher Volume Shipper Table, Demand Period: December 27, 2026–January 16, 2027
These higher-volume surcharges are applied weekly. Each week during the demand period, UPS calculates the number of packages a customer shipped as a percentage of their baseline weekly average.
% of Baseline Volume= Weekly shipping volumeBaseline* volume 100
(*Baseline volume is the shipper's average weekly shipments for June 2026 (May 31–June 27). If their average volume from Aug 30–Sept 26, 2026 is less than 80% of that June average, then the Aug–Sept average becomes the baseline instead.)
That percentage determines which surcharge amount from the "Higher Volume Shipper" tables applies—and that amount is charged on every package for that service level that week.
With this UPS surcharge, the percentage is calculated separately for each service level and applied only to that service to get the surcharge amount. (This is unlike the FedEx Demand – Residential Delivery Charge, where the peaking factor is based only on Residential and Ground Economy shipments and then applied across all services to calculate their surcharge amounts.)
To get more details on UPS peak surcharges, see UPS.com.
Strategies & Planning for Peak/Demand Surcharges
To control and reduce shipping costs during the holiday peak season, preparation is key. Regardless of your shipping carrier:
Create a free Lojistic account to verify contracted rates, surcharges, and fees.
Plan ahead by meeting with carrier reps to discuss logistics like late pickups and capacity needs.
Initiate early shopping campaigns to stimulate pre-holiday buying.
Consider diversifying with additional regional and national carriers.
Opt for multiple fulfillment centers to cut down on transit times and zone density.
Scrutinize peak season surcharges and other controllable costs, such as address corrections and third-party billing fees, that can eat into your margins.
Stock up on essential shipping supplies in advance to avoid material scarcity and inflated prices.
Lojistic offers year-round cost reduction technology and verifies invoice accuracy and on-time delivery, especially important given the high volume of packages during the holiday season. For more info, contact Lojistic at 800.783.5753 or [email].
Key Statistics: Looking at Past Peak Shipping Seasons
One of the best ways to prep for peak shipping season is to look back at your shipping data from years past. With Lojistic it's easy to compare time periods to see your peak season costs vs typical 'non-peak' costs AND year-over-year peak season costs. Just use Compare Mode to help illuminate what went well...and where there's room for improvement, including:
Information like total shipping costs
Surcharge impact
Total number of shipments
Shipments per carrier
Shipments per service level
Billed weight vs actual weight
Look back, learn, and move forward. With Lojistic, you're equipped to make the best possible decisions during peak season and beyond. And if you tap into the Lojistic API, you can integrate all your shipping data with the other systems you're already using to run your business. The Lojistic API is free and unlimited.
Check out our video on key data points to look out for; watch it on our YouTube page.
Mitigate Peak Season Surcharges with Lojistic
There are plenty of reasons to use our platform for managing surcharges: automatic carrier connections, great pricing, and everything unlimited—users, carriers, API, data, and more. Plus, with features like Spend Overview, you’ll be able to easily compare your peak vs non-peak shipping characteristics.
And if you need additional help understanding your cost reduction opportunities, our support team is here to help. Give us a call at 800.783.5753, ask us a question here, or send us an email at hello@lojistic.com.
Sources:
Author
Christine Basile
Christine Basile
Director, Rate Services
Christine Basile brings over two decades of hands-on experience in shipping and supply chain operations, with a career spanning 3PL, shipper, and carrier-aligned organizations. She has held strategic leadership roles at Apple, Kenco Group, AutoZone, and RR Donnelley, where she negotiated and managed contracts totaling over $1.3 billion in annual shipping spend.
Her background in building scalable shipping strategies, leading RFPs, and implementing enterprise-wide cost control initiatives makes her a trusted advisor to shippers of all sizes navigating an increasingly complex logistics environment.
As Director of Rate Services at Lojistic, Christine applies her deep expertise to help clients reduce costs, streamline operations, and optimize performance across their shipping networks.