FedEx Announces General Rate Increase AND Late Payment Fee!

Well, it didn’t take FedEx too long to report their 2021 General Rate Increases after they announced a new fee for late payment of invoices.  These new rates will formally go into effect on January 4, 2021.  The overall increase is pegged at 4.9% as per FedEx, but as we know the 4.9% is an overall average and therefore some services and surcharges will receive much larger increases and some services and surcharges will receive lower increases.

Here are just a few examples:

• Ground 3 pound shipments will receive an overall 7% Increase
• Ground 25 pound shipments will receive an overall 4.6% Increase
• Priority Overnight 10 pound shipments will receive an overall 3.2% increase
• Two Day shipments, 2 pounds to 50 pounds will receive an overall 5.5% increase
• Home Extended Delivery Area Surcharges will receive a 9.3% increase
• Residential Ground Extended Delivery Area Surcharges will receive a 9.3% increase
• Ground Commercial Extended Delivery Area Surcharges will receive a 7.2% increase
• Third Party Billing Surcharges will receive an 80% Increase

To help our readers navigate these new increases and better understand the impact they will have on their own businesses, we have created comparison charts comparing FedEx’ 2020 base rates, with the 2021 base rates.  In addition, we have created comparison charts for the accessorial fees and surcharges FedEx charges again comparing the 2020 base fees and surcharges with the new 2021 base fees and surcharges.

As always, ICC has created charts to help you understand how these GRIs affect you.  Click here to download your charts for free!

In other FedEx News…

For years now FedEx’ main rival, UPS has been assessing Late Payment Penalty Fees and FedEx has now decided it’s a good thing to do. Frankly, we do not understand why it took them so long to jump on the bandwagon.  Perhaps FedEx felt not charging late fees would give them a competitive edge, but we don’t see how that’s possible.

It is however a sign of the times, with the Covid-19 Crisis still in full swing, it certainly makes sense for FedEx to implement these fees.  Kudos to them for holding off until after the first of the year for the official kick off.