Rate Increases Are Announced: FedEx Beats UPS to the Punch

Each year at the end of the third quarter, parcel shippers play a guessing game trying to determine which parcel Carrier, FedEx or UPS, will take the lead in announcing their General Rate Increases for the following year.  Well today, FedEx took the lead in announcing their 2019 General Rate Increase which will become effective on January 7, 2019. We expect UPS will announce their General Rate increase for 2019 very shortly and don’t expect any major surprises in their announcement.

Today’s FedEx announcement indicates they will be increasing their rates as follows:

• 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%. This rate change applies to eligible FedEx Freight shipments within the U.S. (including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), between the contiguous U.S. and Canada, within Canada, between the contiguous U.S. and Mexico, and within Mexico.

• FedEx will also be increasing their Surcharges on January 7, 2019

The key word in FedEx’ General Rate Increase announcement, as well as what we will see in the UPS announcement shortly is “an average” increase percentage.  The “actual” impact of these increases will depend on the level of service a shipper utilizes as well as the actual weight of the packages and zones those packages are shipped to.

Each year, (and this year will be no exception), ICC Logistics’ Analytical Team creates sample parcel shipping charts with the “actual” General Rate Increase impacts for various weights, zones and shipping services.  The FedEx charts are being prepared as we speak and the UPS charts will be prepared once we have received the General Rate Increase percentages for 2019 from UPS.  Not only that, ICC Logistics will also provide comparison charts to show the actual rate increase impact for many of FedEx and UPS’ Surcharges.  These are valuable tools for any parcel shipper to have.

To receive your copies, please e-mail us at ANuzio@icclogistics.com

We look forward to being of service to you.