Just a few weeks ago, it was summer. And just a few weeks from now, the holidays will be upon us. Not only that, but we are facing our second holiday shopping – and shipping – season in the middle of a global pandemic. According to Deloitte, e-commerce volumes are expected to grow between 11% and 15% compared to 2020’s blockbuster figures, and major carriers are now forecasting that peak demand will exceed capacity by millions of packages.
All this means that FedEx, UPS and the US Postal Service will have earlier holiday shipping deadlines than ever this year, making it important for retailers to plan ahead for shipping products for the 2021 holiday sales season. And particularly for larger volume shippers, holiday shipping surcharges continue to increase. Let’s take a look at how you can plan ahead for this busiest season ever.
2021 shipping deadlines
This year, holiday shipping cutoff dates run as early as December 9, with increasingly expensive shipping options as you get closer to December 25. Here is a rundown of estimated holiday shipping deadlines:
USPS
Service | Shipping Cutoff Date |
---|---|
Retail Ground™ | Wednesday, December 15th, 2021 |
First Class Mail® | Friday, December 17th, 2021 |
Priority Mail® | Saturday, December 18th, 2021 |
Priority Mail Express® | Thursday, December 23rd, 2021 |
FedEx
Service | Shipping Cutoff Date |
---|---|
FedEx SmartPost® | Thursday, December 9th, 2021 (with exceptions) |
FedEx Ground® | Wednesday, December 15th, 2021 |
Home Delivery® | Wednesday, December 15th, 2021 |
Express Saver® | Tuesday, December 21st, 2021 |
2Day® Services | Wednesday, December 22nd, 2021 |
Overnight® Services | Thursday, December 23rd, 2021 |
UPS
Service | Shipping Cutoff Date |
---|---|
Ground® | Wednesday, December 15th, 2021 |
3 Day Select® | Tuesday, December 21st, 2021 |
2nd Day Air® Services | Wednesday, December 22nd, 2021 |
Next Day Air® Services | Thursday, December 23rd, 2021 |
Shipping surcharges
The only things certain in life are death, taxes, and … holiday shipping surcharges. And with demand far exceeding supply this holiday season, FedEx and UPS are coping by continuing a recent trend: holiday surcharges, particularly for high-volume shippers.
This article breaks down current fees for 2021. Here is a quick rundown of some of the key ones – in both cases, as per-package surcharges for shippers with previous weekly volumes over 25,000 packages:
FedEx
Service | Surcharge |
---|---|
SmartPost | $1.50 – $3.00 |
Ground Economy | $1.50 – $3.00 |
Ground Delivery | $1.15 – $5.00 |
Home Delivery | $1.15 – $5.00 |
Express Residential | $2.15 – $6.00 |
UPS
Service | Surcharge |
---|---|
SurePost | $1.15 – $5.15 |
Ground Residential | $1.50 – $3.00 |
Express Residential | $2.15 – $6.15 |
These surcharges apply during the holiday shipping period, starting November 1 for FedEx and October 31 for UPS. There are also additional holiday surcharges for additional handling and oversize packages, the latter of which ranges as high as $62.
Address Correction Fees
In addition to surcharges, FedEx and UPS will charge additional fees when address corrections are required, which also negates their on-time guarantees. These fees take the form of an audit fee that’s applied for any shipping address corrections. Many shippers see these as a part of doing business, but address correction fees are ones that can be prevented.
When a shipper inputs an incorrect address, the carrier will attempt to correct this address for a hefty fee, see below:
Carrier | Address Correction Fee |
---|---|
USPS | none |
FedEx | $18.00 |
UPS | $18.00 |
Notably, these surcharges have all increased substantially from their 2020 rates, in some cases nearly doubling from 2019 levels. By all indications, these fees are here to stay and will continue to increase in the future.
A friendly reminder
The important thing to remember for this holiday season is that holiday surcharges, address correction fees and missed deadlines can often be avoided. Some retailers are using multiple carriers to avoid volume-based shipping charges, setting realistic ordering and shipping deadlines for customers, and optimizing shipments – and everyone can benefit from planning ahead.
Finally, as always, accurate shipping data is more important than ever for avoiding missed delivery deadlines and address correction fees – and of course, we can help with that. Happy holidays!