UPS has announced a new peak delivery charge which the company will apply during selected weeks in November and December this year for US residential, large packages and packages over maximum limits.
The company says the charge will help to offset some of the additional expenses it incurs over peak. Because of the demand it says these charges often include shorter-term premium rates for resources such as additional air and truck cargo capacity, temporary facilities and additional sorting and delivery personnel.
“We’re focused on helping our customers achieve success during some of their most important selling seasons,” said Alan Gershenhorn, UPS chief commercial officer. “To meet their requirements, UPS flexes its delivery network to process near double our already massive regular daily volume, and that creates exceptional demands.”
“Our goal is to help every customer obtain the delivery capacity they need, combined with predictable and timely service they count on from UPS, even when there is limited capacity in the UPS network.” Gershenhorn continued.
The new charge mainly kicks in during the last week of the December holiday season (December 17 to 23) when demand can be at its highest.
From November 19 through December 23, UPS will also apply peak surcharges to large packages and packages that exceed maximum size limits. The fee is in addition to normal surcharges applicable to such packages.
During the 2016 holiday season, the company’s average daily volume exceeded 30 million packages on more than half of the available shipping days, compared to 19 million packages on an average non-peak day. 2016 saw UPS hire about 95,000 seasonal employees during the peak shipping period.
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