What Is a Shipping Surcharge? A Clear Explanation for Ecommerce Brands

Shipping surcharges are not random “gotcha” fees – they’re predictable charges tied to specific shipping conditions. In ecommerce, a shipping surcharge refers to any additional fee added on top of the base shipping rate, which is the base cost before any surcharges or additional costs are applied, for extra services or special handling. Carriers impose these fees to offset real cost factors like fuel price spikes, residential or remote deliveries, oversized packages, or weekend delivery requests. The problem is many brands treat surcharges as inevitable, passively paying them without analysis. As a result, these additional costs quietly erode profit margins and drive up shipping costs, often accounting for 20–30% of total shipping expenses for a business. These are additional costs on top of the base shipping price, so understanding both the base cost and additional costs is crucial for accurate budgeting. The good news is that surcharges can be anticipated – and managed – with the right operational and logistics strategies, which can help control both base shipping prices and surcharges. This article explains in clear terms what shipping surcharges are, common types to watch for, and how ecommerce operators can minimize these extra costs to protect their bottom line.

Understanding Shipping Surcharges

A shipping surcharge is essentially an extra charge for when a shipment requires something beyond standard service. Unlike flat-rate shipping fees, surcharges are dynamic and tied to specific scenarios. Carriers impose these fees to compensate for operational complexities – for example, delivering to a rural farmhouse takes more time/fuel than a city delivery, or handling a 70-pound odd-shaped box requires special attention. Shipping companies apply surcharges to cover specific operational costs such as fuel, remote locations, and specialized delivery requirements. The way that each carrier applies surcharges varies, which adds to the amount of information logistics managers need to keep in mind when reviewing invoices. Rather than being arbitrary, surcharges follow predictable triggers based on how a package is sized, shipped, and delivered. Key factors that commonly trigger surcharges include:

• Package dimensions & weight – Oversized, bulky, or very heavy parcels often incur additional handling or oversized package fees. In parcel shipping, surcharges are frequently applied when packages exceed certain size or weight thresholds. Carriers sometimes use dimensional weight pricing, so large-but-light boxes cost more even if actual weight is low.
• Delivery address type – Shipping to a home (residential address) instead of a business adds a residential delivery surcharge with major carriers. Shipping needs such as remote or rural destinations likewise carry delivery area surcharges due to extra distance and effort.
• Timing and speed – Urgent or off-hour deliveries can lead to fees. For instance, requiring a package delivery on a Saturday often incurs a weekend delivery surcharge. During peak holiday periods, shipping companies impose seasonal surcharges to manage high demand. Shipping processes may need to be adjusted to avoid unnecessary surcharges.
• Fuel costs – Nearly every shipment from UPS, FedEx, etc., has a floating fuel surcharge baked in, adjusted regularly to reflect current fuel prices. When fuel prices rise, these surcharges increase, affecting all shipments’ costs.
• Address accuracy or special handling – If the provided address is incorrect, carriers charge an address correction fee to fix it. Unusual packaging (like cylindrical tubes or non-conveyable items) can also trigger special handling surcharges.

In short, shipping surcharges aren’t mysterious at all – they’re cost mechanisms carriers use to cover specific extra expenses in transportation. These charges cover a range of extra services and conditions, such as return labels, oversized packages, and special handling. Understanding what these charges cover is key to managing shipping expenses. The first step to controlling them is simply understanding what they are and why they’re charged. By auditing your shipping profile (package sizes, weights, destinations, shipping volume and timing), you can predict which surcharges you’re likely paying most often and start formulating a plan to reduce them.

Common Types of Shipping Surcharges

Shipping carriers each maintain a menu of surcharge fees. While names and exact rates vary by carrier, most surcharges fall into a few common categories. Many of these surcharges are related to additional services or specific delivery requirements that go beyond standard delivery, such as liftgate service, remote area delivery, or signature confirmation. Below we break down the most common shipping surcharges, why they are applied, and how they impact ecommerce operations.

Fuel Surcharge

Fuel surcharges cover the fluctuating cost of fuel for trucks, planes, and delivery vehicles. This surcharge is typically calculated as a percentage of the base shipping cost and is adjusted weekly or monthly based on fuel price indices. These are fuel adjustments that are adjusted weekly based on the average price of diesel fuel by carriers like UPS and FedEx. Rising fuel prices directly lead to higher fuel surcharges, which means as fuel prices rise, so do your shipping costs. For example, in mid-2024 UPS and FedEx both had international fuel surcharges around 30% of the base rate. While you can’t avoid fuel surcharges (they apply universally to shipments), you can anticipate them and factor them into your pricing. Large-volume shippers may even negotiate lower fuel surcharge percentages by leveraging volume with carriers. The key is to treat fuel surcharges as a predictable cost component of transportation expenses, not a surprise fee.

Residential Delivery Surcharge

Residential surcharges are applied when a package is delivered to a home or residential address (including home-based businesses). Carriers like UPS and FedEx add this fee to each residential delivery because homes are less efficient to deliver to – fewer packages per stop, more distance between stops, and often no receiving staff. This surcharge typically adds a flat amount per shipment (often in the $4–$6 range per package for ground services). For ecommerce brands shipping direct-to-consumer, these fees can significantly add up. In fact, seemingly minor surcharges can account for 20–30% of total shipping costs when most customers are residential. Operationally, that means thinner margins or pressure to increase product prices/shipping charges. How to manage it: Some brands encourage customers to use commercial addresses or pickup locations when possible. Notably, the U.S. Postal Service does not charge a residential delivery fee, so services that hand off last-mile delivery to USPS can eliminate this surcharge.

Delivery Area (Remote) Surcharge

A Delivery Area Surcharge (DAS), sometimes called a remote area surcharge, is an extra fee for delivering packages to locations that are outside the carrier’s standard service zones. These tend to be rural towns, outlying islands, distant areas, remote locations, or rural or remote locations far from distribution hubs. The DAS exists to offset the additional mileage, fuel, and time required to reach sparse or hard-to-access areas. For example, UPS and FedEx apply delivery area surcharges to certain ZIP codes classified as extended or remote, often adding a few dollars per package. If your ecommerce business has customers in rural or remote regions, you’ll see these fees on your invoices – which can quietly eat into profitability on those orders. Shortening shipping routes can help cut down on surcharges for rural or remote locations. To soften the impact, you might partner with regional carriers or USPS for those deliveries, as they sometimes offer lower or no remote delivery fees. At the very least, knowing which orders will incur a DAS helps you budget accordingly (or consider sharing that cost with the customer when appropriate).

Additional Handling Surcharge

The Additional Handling surcharge is charged for packages that require special handling due to their size, weight, or packaging. Each carrier sets its own rules, but common triggers include: exceeding certain weight limits set by carriers (e.g. over 50 lbs), using outsized packaging (e.g. longer than 48 inches on one side), or having non-standard packaging that can’t be conveyor-belt processed. Unlike oversize fees (which we discuss next), additional handling charges often apply to moderately heavy or large parcels that are just beyond normal limits. For instance, FedEx and UPS levy a flat additional handling fee (which might range around $15 per package, depending on context) when a box is over 48″ in length or over 50 lbs, among other criteria. For an ecommerce operator, these fees directly hit orders containing bulkier products – raising the shipping cost on those items significantly. To manage this, optimize your packaging: use standard-sized cartons when possible, avoid excessive empty space, and keep package weight under common thresholds (if splitting an order into two smaller boxes eliminates a handling fee, it may save money). Carriers publish their additional handling rules, so design your packing process with those in mind to avoid paying extra.

Oversize Package Surcharge

Oversize or Large Package surcharges are hefty fees for shipments that exceed the carrier’s maximum size or weight guidelines. These are applied to very large packages – for example, UPS charges a large package surcharge when a parcel’s length + girth exceeds 130 inches, or when weight is over a certain limit, often alongside an automatic bump to billable “oversize” weight. Such surcharges can be quite steep (sometimes $100 or more per package), especially during peak season. Even USPS, which traditionally avoids many private carrier fees, will add a large package surcharge of around $4–$7 for boxes over certain dimensions (e.g. over 22″ or 30″ on a side). Oversize fees can drastically raise the cost of fulfilling large product orders – potentially wiping out your profit on a big, bulky item if you didn’t account for it. To mitigate oversize charges, redesign packaging or fulfillment where possible: could the product be shipped in two smaller boxes? Is there a way to fold or disassemble the item to ship more compactly? Also, always double-check the actual package dimensions you input – even an inch over a threshold can trigger a surcharge. Knowing carrier size limits and planning accordingly is crucial.

Address Correction Surcharge

An Address Correction fee (or address correction surcharge) is charged when the carrier has to correct or complete an address due to an error. If a customer types “123 Maple Stret” instead of “Street” or leaves off an apartment number, the parcel may be held up and require manual intervention. UPS, for instance, charges around $16+ for each address correction on ground shipments. These fees are pure waste – they don’t enhance the delivery in any way, but you pay for the mistake. Operationally, address errors can seriously add cost volatility to your shipping: a burst of bad addresses in a given week means dozens or hundreds of dollars in unforeseen fees on your carrier bill. The solution is straightforward: validate addresses upfront. Implement an address verification tool at checkout so customers can catch mistakes, or use shipping software that auto-formats and validates addresses against postal databases. Investing in clean address data prevents annoying fees and ensures packages reach the right place on time.

Weekend Delivery Surcharge

Many carriers offer limited weekend delivery services (e.g. Saturday delivery for express shipments), but they come with weekend delivery surcharges. If you or your customer requests a delivery on a Saturday or Sunday, expect an extra fee per shipment for that convenience. During peak season, even standard ground shipments delivered on weekends might incur a surcharge as carriers expand delivery days. These fees tend to be a dollar or two per package for ground services, and slightly higher for air/expedited services. While a few dollars may sound trivial, consider an ecommerce brand shipping thousands of orders during a holiday weekend – those charges add up quickly. To avoid unnecessary weekend fees, plan shipments around business days. Communicate realistic delivery timelines to customers so they aren’t expecting weekend arrival, and schedule fulfillment such that orders ship by Thursday/Friday to arrive by end of week or wait to ship on Monday if possible. By aligning operations with carrier schedules, you can often steer clear of paying for weekend delivery except when truly needed for customer satisfaction.

Signature Required Surcharge

When a shipment requires the recipient’s signature upon delivery, carriers charge a signature service surcharge. Signature requirement surcharges are applied when a delivery requires the recipient’s signature, increasing the overall shipping cost. There are variations – adult signature required (21+ years old must sign), direct signature (someone at the address must sign), or indirect (a neighbor or doorman can sign) – each with its own fee. These surcharges cover the extra handling to ensure a package isn’t just dropped off without confirmation. Signature fees are usually a few dollars per package. Ecommerce businesses typically use this service for high-value or sensitive items to protect against loss. While it adds cost, it can save money in the long run by preventing fraud and lost shipments on expensive orders. The key is to use signature requirements strategically: for a $20 item, you probably don’t want to pay $5 extra for a signature, but for a $500 item, it’s worth it. Some brands offer signature-on-delivery as an optional add-on for customers at checkout – letting those who truly want the extra security cover the surcharge themselves.

Declared Value (Insurance) Surcharge

Carriers automatically include minimal insurance (often $100 coverage) for shipments, but if your package is worth more, you can declare a higher value – incurring an insurance surcharge (also known as a declared value fee). This surcharge scales with the item’s value, covering the carrier’s liability in case of loss or damage. For example, if you ship a $1000 laptop and declare its value, the carrier will charge an additional fee (perhaps a percentage of the excess value) to insure it beyond the standard $100 coverage. Declared value surcharges ensure you can be reimbursed if something goes wrong, but they can significantly increase shipping costs for luxury or high-ticket products. The operative question for an ecommerce operator is when to buy this extra coverage. Often, it makes sense to purchase it for very expensive shipments (or use third-party insurance if cheaper) while skipping it for lower-value goods. Also, be aware of each carrier’s default coverage – as noted, many cover the first $100 by default, so you’re only paying extra if you need more protection.

Peak Season Surcharges

Peak season surcharges are temporary fees major carriers impose during periods of high demand—also known as peak periods—typically the holiday shopping season (November through late December) and other surge periods in e-commerce. During these times, shipping companies face capacity strains and increased labor/overtime costs, so they add surcharges per package (or per pound for oversized items, or even volume-based fees for very high-volume shippers) to manage capacity and offset increased operational costs. For example, during the 2024 holiday peak, FedEx and UPS tacked on additional fees ranging from $0.30 up to several dollars per package for residential deliveries and high-volume senders. These seasonal fees directly affect ecommerce shipping budgets: you might notice your shipping bills jump in Q4 even if your rates didn’t technically change. To navigate peak surcharges, plan ahead. Begin holiday fulfillment early if possible to move shipments before the peak surcharges kick in. Optimize your carrier mix – some carriers’ peak fees may be lower than others for certain services, so compare options. You can also communicate with customers about order deadlines (encouraging early orders) to flatten the last-minute surge. While you likely can’t avoid all peak season fees, anticipating them means you can budget accordingly and adjust your pricing or promotions to compensate for the higher shipping expense.

How Shipping Surcharges Impact Ecommerce Costs

Surcharges might sound small on paper, but their cumulative impact on an ecommerce operation is significant. These extra fees directly increase your transportation costs and can erode profit margins if left unchecked. For example, a $5 residential surcharge or a $15 handling fee on certain orders may not seem like much, but if thousands of your shipments incur these, the total surcharge spend can reach tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars over a year. Many growing brands discover that hidden surcharges were quietly eating up a large chunk of their shipping budget. In fact, it’s not uncommon for surcharges to make up 20–30% of an ecommerce company’s total shipping costs, which is a massive hit to your margins. Carriers often require additional resources—such as extra labor, equipment, or transportation efforts—to handle specific surcharges like remote area, weekend delivery, or peak season surcharges, which contributes to higher shipping prices.

Unpredictable or unplanned surcharges also complicate financial forecasting. If you’re not aware of them, you might underprice your shipping or products. Suddenly, a peak season or a new carrier rule change can spike your costs without warning. This volatility makes it harder to set reliable shipping-inclusive prices or offer “free shipping” promotions – you risk those promotions becoming unprofitable if surcharges pile up. Surcharges directly influence the pricing strategies of ecommerce businesses, requiring careful adjustment of pricing tactics to offset variable shipping expenses and maintain profit margins. Understanding both base shipping prices and surcharges is essential for setting effective pricing strategies. Moreover, if you choose to pass surcharges on to customers (for instance, adding a surcharge at checkout for remote delivery or fuel), you risk customer frustration or cart abandonment. Online shoppers are price-sensitive; surprise extra shipping fees have been known to increase cart abandonment rates and harm conversion. Lack of transparency around shipping surcharges can also diminish trust, especially if a customer only sees the extra fee at the final step of checkout.

In short, shipping surcharges affect more than just your carrier invoice – they influence your pricing strategy, customer experience, and competitiveness. Brands that ignore these fees often either overpay (sacrificing profit) or inadvertently overcharge customers, hurting satisfaction. The operational consequence is clear: to maintain healthy margins and happy customers, you need to actively manage and mitigate shipping surcharges rather than accepting them as a cost of doing business. The next section explores exactly how to do that.

Strategies to Minimize Shipping Surcharges

While some surcharges may be unavoidable, savvy ecommerce operators treat them as controllable costs. By making strategic adjustments to how you pack, ship, and negotiate, and by optimizing your logistics strategies and shipping processes, you can substantially reduce extra fees. Here are several proven strategies to help minimize shipping surcharges:

• Optimize Package Size and Weight: Review your product packaging and eliminate wasted space. Oversized boxes or unnecessarily heavy packaging lead to higher dimensional weight charges and additional handling fees. By right-sizing packages to fit products snugly (and staying under carrier size/weight thresholds), you can avoid many surcharges for large or heavy items. Consider packaging redesigns for bulky items and break down orders into multiple boxes only if it avoids an oversized package fee.
• Verify Addresses Upfront: Typos and incomplete addresses cost real money in correction fees. Implement address validation at checkout or in your order management system. This software cross-checks the entered address against postal databases, ensuring it’s deliverable. Correcting addresses beforehand means you won’t be paying ~$16 per mistake to UPS later. It also improves delivery success, which keeps customers happy.
• Plan Around Peak and Weekend Deliveries: Whenever possible, schedule shipments to go out early enough that they’ll arrive with standard transit times. Rushing orders out last-minute can force you into expensive next-day or Saturday delivery options (with surcharges attached), including expedited delivery surcharges for express, overnight, or weekend deliveries. Instead, communicate clearly about order cut-off times and delivery expectations. For holiday peaks, prepare well in advance – run promotions earlier and encourage customers not to wait until the last minute. Smoothing out your shipping volume can help dodge the brunt of seasonal surcharges and avoid paying extra for urgent weekend transit.
• Leverage Carrier Choices: All major carriers have surcharges, but they don’t all charge them equally. Do your research and choose carriers wisely based on your shipment profile. For instance, USPS has no residential surcharge and no fuel surcharge for domestic shipments, which could save you money if most customers are residential delivery. Regional carriers might offer cheaper delivery area fees for local zones. Internationally, some carriers might have lower remote area surcharges than others. By diversifying carriers or using a hybrid shipping strategy, you can route shipments in a cost-effective way to minimize extra fees.
• Negotiate and Re-negotiate: If your shipping volume is significant, don’t be afraid to negotiate with your carriers on surcharge costs. Understanding how carriers apply surcharges—such as for fuel, remote locations, or special delivery requirements—can help you identify areas for negotiation. Some surcharges (like fuel) may be non-negotiable for small shippers, but high-volume brands have leverage – carriers want your business and may offer discounts or cap certain surcharges in your contract. Even if you negotiated a year ago, re-evaluate your agreement regularly, especially if surcharges increase. Carriers sometimes introduce new surcharges or raise fees; pushing back and seeking concessions can yield savings. The key is to come armed with data on how those fees impact your spend (e.g., “Residential surcharges cost us $X last quarter – what can we do about that?”).
• Audit Your Shipping Invoices: Don’t just blindly pay carrier bills. Perform line-by-line audits of your invoices (or use a parcel audit service) to catch errors or unexpected surcharges. Carriers occasionally make mistakes in applying surcharges, or you might find a pattern of fees you weren’t aware of. Auditing helps in two ways: you can claim refunds for mistakes, and you gain insight into which surcharges hit you most. That data informs where to focus your reduction efforts. For example, an audit might reveal you spent hundreds on address corrections – a clear sign to improve address validation.
• Use Shipping Software for Transparency: Consider using multi-carrier shipping software or calculators that display all applicable surcharges when you get a rate quote. These tools can automatically compare carriers including surcharges so you can truly find the cheapest option for each package. They also help you set customer shipping fees appropriately. If your checkout only charges a customer the base rate, you’ll lose money – instead, use tools that incorporate average surcharge costs into what the customer pays (or at least into your cost calculations). This ensures you maintain margin on shipping. In addition, many platforms can alert you to unusual fees or help enforce rules (e.g., flag a shipment if it’s going to a remote area or is oversized, so you can adjust before it ships).

By implementing these practices, you transform surcharges from an uncontrollable headache into a manageable part of your shipping strategy. The overarching principle is proactivity – analyze your shipping data, understand where extra fees are coming from, and take action to mitigate them. Brands that treat shipping surcharges as a strategic factor (not just a necessary evil) often turn shipping into a competitive advantage, offering reliable delivery costs without constantly eating unexpected fees. In the end, controlling surcharges means more predictable shipping expenses, healthier profit margins, and often better customer satisfaction, since you’re able to keep delivery costs reasonable and transparent.

Best Practices for Shipping

Minimizing shipping surcharges and controlling shipping costs starts with adopting smart, proactive shipping practices. Here are some best practices ecommerce brands can implement to keep additional fees in check and improve their bottom line:

• Optimize Package Size and Weight: Carefully select packaging that fits your products snugly to avoid unnecessary dimensional weight charges, oversize package surcharges, and additional handling fees. Reducing excess packaging not only lowers shipping expenses but also helps you stay under carrier thresholds that trigger extra costs.
• Choose the Right Shipping Service and Carrier: Not all carriers and shipping services are created equal when it comes to surcharges. Compare options based on your typical shipment profile—if most of your orders are residential delivery, look for carriers with lower or no residential delivery surcharges. For weekend delivery needs, evaluate which carriers offer the best rates and service levels for your customers.
• Leverage Shipping Software and Tools: Use shipping software to compare rates, factor in all types of shipping surcharges imposed by carriers, and select the most cost-effective shipping strategies for each order. These tools can also alert you to changes in carrier policies or new delivery surcharges, helping you stay ahead of rising shipping expenses.
• Track and Analyze Shipping Data: Implement a system to monitor your shipping data, including which surcharges you’re paying most often. This insight allows you to identify patterns, spot opportunities to minimize shipping surcharges, and make data-driven decisions to reduce costs.
• Consolidate Shipments When Possible: Combining multiple orders into a single shipment can help reduce transportation costs and avoid repeated residential delivery surcharges or weekend delivery surcharges. Just be mindful of weight and size limits to prevent triggering oversize package surcharges or additional handling fees.
• Plan Ahead for High Demand Periods: Anticipate peak seasons and high demand periods by adjusting your shipping strategies in advance. Early planning can help you avoid last-minute expedited shipping and weekend delivery surcharges, keeping your shipping costs predictable.
• Renegotiate Carrier Contracts Regularly: As your shipping volume grows or your business needs change, revisit your carrier agreements. Renegotiating contracts can help you secure better rates on fuel surcharges, delivery surcharges, and other additional fees, especially if you can demonstrate your value as a customer.

By following these best practices, ecommerce businesses can minimize shipping surcharges, reduce overall shipping expenses, and deliver a better experience for their customers. Proactive planning, data analysis, and ongoing negotiation are key to keeping transportation costs under control and maintaining healthy profit margins.

Conclusion

Shipping surcharges are a reality for any ecommerce business, but they don’t have to be a profit drain. By understanding the different types of shipping surcharges—such as fuel surcharges, residential delivery surcharges, and oversize package surcharges—you can take control of your shipping costs and make smarter decisions for your business. Implementing best practices like optimizing package size and weight, choosing the right shipping service and carrier, and leveraging shipping software or tools will help you minimize shipping surcharges and reduce shipping expenses.

Staying informed about carrier policies, monitoring your shipping data, and planning ahead for high demand periods are essential steps in managing delivery surcharges and other additional fees. Don’t overlook the value of renegotiating contracts and consolidating shipments to further reduce transportation costs and extra expenses.

Ultimately, understanding shipping surcharges and adopting effective shipping strategies empowers your business to protect profit margins, allocate resources more efficiently, and enhance customer satisfaction. By proactively managing shipping expenses, you not only keep costs in check but also position your brand for long-term success in a competitive ecommerce landscape. Plan ahead, stay informed, and make shipping surcharges work for—not against—your business.

FAQs

What exactly is a shipping surcharge?

A shipping surcharge is any additional fee added on top of the base shipping cost for extra services or special delivery conditions. In other words, it’s a charge imposed by the carrier to cover something beyond standard point-A-to-B delivery – for example, fuel cost adjustments, delivering to a home address, or handling an unusually large package. These fees appear as separate line items on your shipping invoice.

Why do carriers charge surcharges?

Carriers charge surcharges to offset specific operational costs and challenges in shipping. If fuel prices rise, they add a fuel surcharge to cover higher transportation costs. If a package is going to a remote/rural area or a residential address, they add fees to account for the extra effort and distance. Surcharges ensure the carrier is compensated for things like special handling, out-of-the-way deliveries, or expedited service that aren’t covered by the base rate.

What are the most common shipping surcharges in ecommerce?

Some of the most common surcharges affecting ecommerce brands include fuel surcharges, residential delivery surcharges, delivery area (remote) surcharges, additional handling fees for large/heavy packages, and peak season surcharges during the holidays. Other frequent ones are address correction fees (for bad addresses), oversized package surcharges, and signature-required delivery fees. Essentially, any factor like package size, weight, destination, or special service (weekend delivery, insurance, etc.) can come with its own surcharge.

How can I reduce shipping surcharges for my online store?

To reduce surcharges, first analyze where they’re coming from – review your invoices to see which fees you pay most. Then take action: optimize your packaging to avoid oversize/overweight charges, use address validation to prevent correction fees, and schedule shipments to avoid unnecessary weekend or rush delivery fees. It’s also wise to compare carriers and use ones with fewer or lower surcharges for your needs (for instance, USPS has no residential or Saturday surcharges). If your volume is high, negotiate with your carrier for better terms on surcharges. In short, planning and operational tweaks can make many surcharges either disappear or shrink significantly.

Do all carriers have the same surcharges?

No – surcharges vary by carrier. All major carriers (UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL, etc.) have their own surcharge schedules. There is overlap in types (most charge for fuel, residential delivery, oversize packages, etc.), but the amounts and policies differ. For example, UPS and FedEx both charge residential and fuel surcharges, whereas USPS does not charge extra for residential delivery or regular fuel surcharges. Likewise, DHL may have unique surcharges for international services (like remote area or customs handling fees) that domestic carriers don’t. It’s important to familiarize yourself with the surcharge structure of the carriers you use – and if you ship enough, consider a mix of carriers to minimize fees. Each carrier’s website publishes a list of surcharges and definitions, which can be a helpful reference when planning your shipping strategy.

• Category: Uncategorized
• Tag: Shipping and Logistics, Strategy