UPS peak surcharges climb Nov 22 as parcel demand rises 4%

The news

UPS’s holiday demand surcharges climb to their peak on Nov 22, when the standard charge on residential Ground and Ground Saver packages reaches $0.75. ShipMatrix expects carriers to deliver 2.4 billion parcels this holiday season, up 4% from last year.

UPS Air packages carry $2.50 surcharge each from Nov 22 to Dec 26, up from $1.35.
The projected volume would be the parcel industry’s highest since 2022.

The details

The Nov 22 increase is the second of three UPS peak periods. All its peak rates are higher than last year's. Ground and Air surcharges started at lower rates on Oct 25, and will return to those rates after Dec 26, before ending on Jan 16.

The residential Ground surcharge rises 25% from last year's $0.60 to $0.75.
The peak Air surcharge increases to $2.50 from $2.05.
Large packages carry a $117.50 surcharge, up from $107 last year. Packages that need additional handling carry $11.90, up from $10.80.

Large shippers face a separate, volume-based surcharge that replaces the standard per-package rate. It applies to customers billed for more than 20,000 packages in any week since October 2025.

UPS compares each week's volume with the shipper's average weekly volume from May 31 to June 27, 2026.
A shipper at 175% of that baseline pays $2.65 per residential Ground package during the peak period.
The highest surcharge is $8 per Ground package and $9.35 per residential Air package.

UPS is losing domestic parcel volume as more shipments move to Amazon, FedEx and smaller carriers. ShipMatrix data show UPS volume fell 5.7% in the first half of 2026, while Amazon's rose 9.7%. FedEx volume grew 4.6%, while USPS volume fell 3.1%.

In the first half of 2026, US domestic parcel volume rose 9.7% at Amazon and 4.6% at FedEx, and fell 3.1% at USPS and 5.7% at UPS.

The volume lost by UPS and USPS exceeded the gains at Amazon and FedEx.
ShipMatrix estimates that about 145 million packages shifted to retailers' own networks, including Walmart's, and alternative carriers such as OnTrac and Veho.
Amazon is hiring 300,000 seasonal workers, 20% more than last year.

Worth noting

This holiday season has one more shopping day than last year’s, helping drive the projected 4% volume increase. Thanksgiving falls on Nov 26, a day earlier in the month than last year. UPS’s top-rate window also starts a day earlier than last year’s, which ran Nov 23 to Dec 27.

What peers are doing

FedEx’s highest demand surcharges start a day after UPS’s and sit within a few cents of them. From Nov 23 to Dec 27, FedEx charges $0.80 per Ground Residential and Home Delivery package, against UPS’s $0.75. Its overnight packages carry $2.55 and its 2Day packages $2.35. FedEx’s volume-based charge for its largest residential Ground shippers reaches $8 a package.