Fuel surcharges spike again
FedEx and UPS fuel surcharges have spiked and are drawing fresh scrutiny from shippers after a record quarter for ground delivery costs, while diesel prices above $5 a gallon are straining trucking budgets and prompting some fee increases. These cost pressures are likely to change how enterprise shippers evaluate landed cost and surcharge transparency. (supplychaindive.com) (myjournalcourier.com)
FedEx and UPS have both pushed fuel surcharges higher again this spring, adding to parcel bills just as diesel-linked shipping costs stay elevated. (fedex.com) (ups.com) UPS said its U.S. Ground Domestic and UPS Ground Saver fuel surcharge changed effective March 9, 2026, and its current domestic fuel flyer shows a ground surcharge table effective April 13, 2026. The carrier says the charge is adjusted weekly from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s national on-highway diesel average. (ups.com) (assets.ups.com) FedEx says its Ground, Home Delivery and International Ground fuel surcharge also resets weekly from the same federal diesel benchmark. On its current U.S. table, FedEx says the surcharge steps up by 0.25 percentage point for every 9-cent move in diesel once the price is $3.55 a gallon or higher. (fedex.com) The benchmark both carriers use is still high. The Energy Information Administration put the U.S. average on-highway diesel price at $5.608 a gallon for the week of April 13, 2026, with California at $7.559 and the West Coast average at $6.822. (eia.gov) Fuel surcharges are not base rates; they are percentage add-ons that rise and fall with fuel indexes. Because they sit on top of transportation charges and other accessorial fees, they can move a shipper’s all-in parcel cost even when the published base rate has not changed. (fedex.com) (ups.com) That has become a bigger issue for large shippers after a costly parcel year. Pitney Bowes said U.S. parcel volume rose to 22.4 billion shipments in 2024, up 3.4%, while total revenue grew 2.7%, and it said first-quarter 2025 data showed continued pricing pressure across carriers. (investorrelations.pitneybowes.com) FedEx has also layered in other 2026 fee changes beyond fuel. The company said some residential delivery surcharges shifted from per-shipment to per-package on January 12, 2026, a change that can raise invoice totals on multi-piece orders. (fedex.com) UPS and FedEx both say their fuel programs are index-based and subject to weekly adjustment, and both note that surcharge tables and thresholds can change. For shippers comparing carriers in April 2026, that means the advertised transportation rate is only one part of the number that lands on the invoice. (assets.ups.com) (fedex.com)
