Important 2018 Carrier Rate Changes

Carriers like FedEx, UPS, and USPS have announced price increases for 2018. We’ve compiled a summary of the price changes below.

USPS 2018 Pricing – effective January 21, 2018

USPS announced they will be increasing prices for 2018 starting on January 21st, after the busy holiday season. Since prices are changing in late January, businesses can continue to take advantage of their 2017 rates for return shipments.

On average, there will be an increase of approximately 3.9% across all service levels, compared to 4.9% for both FedEx and UPS. This includes Priority Mail, First Class Package Service, and Priority Mail Express.

Details of the price increase can be found here.

FedEx 2018 Pricing – effective January 1, 2018

FedEx announced they will be increasing prices on New Year’s Day in 2018. On average, rates will increase about 4.9% across all services. To see more details, head over to the FedEx website for their rates changes and surcharge and fee changes that take place on New Year’s Day.

On January 22, 2018, there will be more changes to surcharges and charges. These include the Third Party Billing Surcharge, Additional Handling, Oversize and Ground Unauthorized Surcharges.

Pricing Formula Change

FedEx SmartPost will apply dimensional weight pricing, which puts the pricing in line with FedEx Express and FedEx Ground shipping calculations.

Going forward, SmartPost will be calculated as: L x W x H / 139

Make sure to sign up and get up to 29% off on FedEx through Shippo so that you can continue to save even with the increased rates. If you are a US-based merchant, contact our sales team at sales@goshippo.com to learn more.

UPS 2018 Pricing – effective December 24, 2017

UPS announced they are increasing prices the day before Christmas.  Rates will go up on average 4.9% across U.S. Ground services, U.S. Air, and International Services. See other changes here, which include the following:

Large Package Surcharge will apply to any U.S. Domestic package with a length greater than 96 inches, or Length + Width greater than 130 inches.

Packages that are less than or equal to one cubic foot in size (1,728 cubic inches) will fall under the dimensional weight calculation: L x W x H / 139

Aside from those, UPS will increase prices for several surcharges, including the Large Package Surcharge, Address Correction, Over Maximum limits, Returns, and more. See the full list of changes here.

Remember that these will all occur before Christmas, so make sure to budget for any changes in cost for shipping out and returning packages.

Compare Rates to Optimize Your Shipping Costs

Shipping rates have increased nearly every year, so these announcements shouldn’t be a surprise. Review the rate increases and see if you need to make any changes to help with any increased costs.

Whether it’s offering free shipping, returns or insurance, make sure you look at multiple carriers before sending out any orders. Shippo’s dashboard allows you to see all your carrier accounts in one place. You can always make sure you’re getting the lowest rate by comparing rates for every order before shipping. Sign up on Shippo today and get your account live in less than five minutes!

Shippo is a multi-carrier API and web app that helps retailers, marketplaces and platforms connect to a global network of carriers. Businesses use Shippo to get real-time rates, print labels, automate international paperwork, track packages and facilitate returns. Shippo provides the tools to help businesses succeed through shipping.