In case you haven’t seen it, UPS has announced that their 2025 General Rate Increase will go into effect on December 23rd, 2024. On their website, UPS has posted the following statement and disclaimer–
“The Daily Rates for UPS® Ground, UPS Air and International services will increase an average net 5.9%*. This helps to support ongoing expansion and capability enhancements as we strive to maintain the high service levels you expect from UPS. More detailed rate previews will be available at a later date.
*The impact of these changes on your shipping costs will vary according to your shipping characteristics and the terms of your UPS agreement.”
We are glad that the disclaimer clearly states that shipping cost increases will vary based on a shippers actual shipping characteristics and agreements, as we have been preaching this for many years now!
UPS has not released new rate charts, or details of specific rate changes yet. We will continue to monitor and report on these details once new rate charts are released.
The announced average increase of 5.9% came as no surprise to us, and was even predicted in the blog that we released regarding FedEx’s GRI announcement in September. In that blog, we also speculated that UPS would continue to find creative ways to increase their rates, including the expansion of changes to Zonal Pairs. WELL THEY DEFINITELY DIDN’T DISAPPOINT WITH THIS!
However, what did catch us by surprise, was that UPS announced that there would be changes to Delivery Area Surcharge Zips and Zonal Pairs effective October 21, 2024! They also announced a change to Additional Handling packages effective on 10/21. This new rule will apply a 40-pound minimum billable weight to packages that qualify for the Additional Handling charge due to length, width or length plus girth. Obviously, UPS is looking to implement yet another increase in rates in 2024, in advance of peak season!
Typically, UPS will detail the changes they are making to DAS Zip codes, and we will also provide details of these changes once released. However, in the past, UPS has failed to share specifics of the Zonal changes that they have made. So, these changes have been mostly invisible to shippers. Therefore, these changes could have a major impact on a shipper’s bottom line without them even knowing it.
As in the past, we will be performing an analysis of changes to Zonal pairs once new Zone charts are released, and will report on high level findings. However, it is imperative for all shippers to download their current origin Zone chart now (Prior to October 21st, 2024). This is the only way to ensure the ability to determine the specific impact of changes to Zones.
At this time, ICC Logistics is offering to assist shippers with determining the impact of changes to their Zone charts free of charge. We will provide assistance with this if you email us with the request before the end of day on October 18th, 2024. So, please reach out to us at the following email for assistance. tbinkis@icclogistics.com.
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