Amid a surge of demand for deliveries from e-commerce companies like Amazon, Walmart and Target, United Parcel Service is adding a new surcharge aimed at those high-volume shippers and those that ship oversized items.
Reports by the Wall Street Journal and Reuters said the new surcharge will take effect May 31, though the specifics of the additional fee weren’t stated. The reports said UPS considering the surcharge as a “peak season” fee to help it manage a flood of shipments expected this summer as considerably more people rely on e-commerce purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on deliveries of non-essential items are lifted.
Parcel logistics providers like UPS and FedEx typically add a surcharge during the October-December holiday shopping season.
In UPS’ 2020 first quarter earnings report, the company said home deliveries comprised about 70 percent of its total shipments, considerably more than 50 percent throughout 2019.
