What To Know About FedEx Peak Season Prices This Year

Every fall and winter, Americans embrace different traditions such as decorating their houses, traveling to see family, or just simply eating way too much. One of those end-of-year traditions that e-commerce merchants have come to accept is an annual increase of peak season prices from carriers, including FedEx.

While it can be the most wonderful time of the year for consumers, it’s undoubtedly the busiest time of the year for those in the e-commerce and shipping industries.

The 2021 FedEx peak season prices have already been announced and updates regarding holiday shipping through FedEx are continuing to be announced. 

FedEx Peak Season Prices And Effective Dates

Given the surge in shipping last holiday season and the anticipated increase in shipping volume this year, FedEx is bringing back peak season price increases. They are steeper than last year, but follow much of the same timelines.

Here are the FedEx peak season prices and dates as last updated by FedEx on August 13, 2021:

One service you may have noticed was missing from this list was the FedEx peak season prices for residential delivery. The rules for how FedEx plans to apply peak season shipping prices on these packages in 2021 are a bit more complicated.

There are a couple of key aspects to note:

1. The total time frame for these specific price adjustments will last from November 1, 2021 through January 16, 2022. But, prices may shift for certain businesses during that time frame.
2. These peak surcharges are focused more towards enterprise level businesses who are shipping more than 25,000 packages every two weeks during the season.
3. These FedEx Shipping prices are not static. Instead they are calculated based on shipping levels taking place this peak season and shipping levels in February of 2020.

With that in mind let’s break down the key dates to keep in mind when shipping with FedEx this holiday season.

• November 1, 2021 through December 12, 2021 will be the first window of FedEx Peak Season price increases for Residential Delivery and FedEx Ground Economy. It will be assessed on businesses who’ve shipped out more than a weekly average of 25,000 packages from October 4, 2021 through October 17, 2021. FedEx will then take the weekly average amount of packages shipped using these services from October and divide them by the weekly average of packages shipped from February 3, 2020 through March 1, 2020 and then multiply that by 100. This percentage will then be used to find out the exact peak season shipping price.
• December 13, 2021 through January 16, 2022 will be the second window for FedEx holiday shipping price increases for Residential Delivery and FedEx Ground Economy. This time the weekly average will still be more 25,000 shipments or more but the time frame will be used from November 15, 2021 to November 28, 2021. The price adjusted to close out the year will be calculated by taking the weekly average from November, dividing that by the weekly average from February 3, 2020 through March 1, 2020, and then multiplying that by 100. 

Another important piece of information to take into consideration is that the amount charged will be different for FedEx Express and FedEx Ground. Once those percentages are calculated, the cost increase for FedEx Ground Residential or FedEx Express Residential will fall into one of four categories seen below. 

Beginning on January 17, 2022, FedEx Express and FedEx Ground U.S. domestic residential packages (excluding FedEx Ground Economy and FedEx One Rate packages) will incur an additional $0.60 cents per package fee. An end date to these charges has not been announced.

How To Prepare For FedEx Peak Season Prices

With consumers and e-commerce merchants expecting holiday season shipping constraints. similar to last year, both are preparing sooner than ever. 

With that in mind, e-commerce merchants should:

1. Start forecasting sales and expenses as soon as possible. Tracking some of your most popular products over the year and seeing how promotions affect sales of that product will give you insight into your possible costs of shipping over the next few months.
2. Be transparent with your customers when it comes to shipping costs and delivery times. Carriers may not stand by their SLA delivery guarantees during peak season. 
3. Ask as many questions as necessary to the Shippo Customer Support team. Simply set up a free account and direct any and all shipping-related questions to Shippo’s live support team to get answers specific to your business in a timely manner. 

To learn more about how to prepare for shipping during peak season and during the holidays, visit our holiday shipping center.