Overnight delivery fees going through the roof?

[Thump553]

Anyone else noticing that overnight delivery fees are going through the roof? I do lots of them in my business but nearly all are prepaid by the clients (who deliver me the shipping labels) so I don't know much about the fees. A few times a year I ship something billed to my account, which ordinarily ran $25-30 for regular next day delivery for less than one pound of documents in FedEx or UPS packaging. I today priced a (less then) one pound envelope and got the following quotes for CT to SC, Friday to Monday: UPS $93.44 (deliver by noon), $85.xx for delivery by 8PM. FedEx, where I supposedly have a special billing rate was $58.10 (noon). Even second day was high-$37 to almost $40.

Anyone else experiencing this? I don't how such high charges will be sustainable in the long run.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Going to guess it has to do with carbon tax, inflation, and oil/gas politics going on right now.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I don't how such high charges will be sustainable in the long run.

Get in you car and drive it there yourself. Tell us what that costs.


Or be more patient.

 

[pete6032]

Going to guess it has to do with carbon tax, inflation, and oil/gas politics going on right now.

Can you tell me which carbon tax you are talking about specifically? Thanks!

 

[dlerious]

I noticed shipping costs getting too high for me - especially international. When it costs more to ship a few CDs than it does for the CDs themselves, I gave up. For example, I wanted to buy a 3-CD set for 20 euros, but shipping was 21 euros (UK to US).

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

but shipping was 21 euros (UK to US).

VVVVVV

Get in you car and drive it there yourself. Tell us what that costs.

 

[pete6032]

I used to next day ship documents for work and it would usually be between 50 and 100. Haven't had to send anything recently.

 

[deadlyapp]

Wait until you have to send a dedicated truck 8 hours to pick something up that weighs a few thousand pounds. Jeeeeez.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Can you tell me which carbon tax you are talking about specifically? Thanks!

Carbon tax has been around for a while, recently hiked April 1st. Unless it's only here in Canada?

 

[deadlyapp]

Carbon tax has been around for a while, recently hiked April 1st. Unless it's only here in Canada?

Doesn't exist in the US. At the state level they can impose a tax on fuel and some of it could go to carbon offsets, but most all states (even California) uses most fuel taxes purely for road maintenance.

 

[pete6032]

Carbon tax has been around for a while, recently hiked April 1st. Unless it's only here in Canada?

There is no carbon tax in the U.S.

 

[MrSquished]

Overnight delivery usually requires planes, that's way more expensive than ground transportation as far as fuel goes so it's going to be hit the hardest by the war in Ukraine inflation

 

[Scarpozzi]

Is there not a carrier that does overday delivery instead? I would think that if you ship it during the off-times, it might be cheaper.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

About ten years ago, I worked for FedEx. I'm sure things have changed (a lot) but, iirc, the cutoff for a standard envelope was a half pound? (more than 8oz would cost more.)

Also, there was a fuel surcharge built into the rate which varied (usually updated every couple days.) That might be a big chunk of what you're seeing.

Finally, if you're only shipping a few packages a year, you probably don't have a discount, per se, just an invoiced account. (Unless you work for an airline and get an interline discount.)

You should check w/ the post office - they have overnight, tracking, etc. with Priority Mail services, and it's almost always cheaper than FedEx/UPS.