UPS has announced its 2026 Demand Surcharges, adding new peak-season costs that can materially affect residential, air, oversized, and high-volume parcel shipments. Beginning as early as September 27, 2026, these fees will layer on top of existing transportation charges, fuel, accessorials, and contract minimums—making it critical for shippers to model their true cost exposure before peak invoices arrive.

FedEx’s 2026 holiday Demand Surcharges begin in late September and rise sharply during the core peak window of November 23 through December 27. Residential deliveries, express shipments, additional-handling packages, and oversize shipments face added costs—often on top of existing fuel and accessorial charges. ShipTrim helps shippers quantify their true peak exposure, identify cost-control opportunities, and review contract protections before holiday invoices arrive.

Small and mid-market shippers can achieve meaningful parcel savings without a Fortune 500-sized team—if they negotiate from data, not headline discounts. ShipTrim helps clients analyze shipment profiles, identify the cost drivers that matter most, model carrier proposals against real spend, and negotiate stronger terms on minimums, DIM, surcharges, and contract flexibility.

A strong UPS or FedEx contract is only the beginning. Annual rate increases, growing surcharges, minimum-charge changes, billing errors, and shifts in your shipping profile can quietly erode negotiated savings over time. ShipTrim provides ongoing audit and compliance oversight to measure actual performance, recover missed credits, and help ensure your parcel agreement continues to deliver value long after it is signed.

FedEx has consolidated its separate international export and import fuel surcharge tables into one unified schedule for international air services, effective June 22, 2026. The change is expected to raise fuel costs for U.S. export shipments by about 3.5% on average, while providing modest relief for imports. For export-heavy shippers, it is another layered cost increase on top of 2026 rate and surcharge actions—making now the right time to model the impact and review available contract offsets.

Parcel advice should be aligned with your savings—not a reseller’s margin. Unlike rate resellers that may control carrier contracts, data, and markup, ShipTrim acts as a carrier-agnostic advisor on your side of the table. You keep direct carrier relationships while ShipTrim identifies savings opportunities, supports negotiations, and is compensated based on verified results.

True parcel-spend visibility goes beyond a dashboard. It gives finance, operations, and procurement a clear view of what is being spent, where costs are coming from, and whether carrier invoices align with contracted rates. By centralizing and cleaning invoice, shipment, and contract data, ShipTrim helps uncover the real impact of dimensional weight, minimums, fuel, and high-cost surcharges—then turns those insights into practical savings opportunities.

AI can help small and mid-sized shippers turn messy parcel data into practical savings opportunities—without a major IT project or in-house data science team. From invoice auditing and surcharge detection to contract scenario modeling and spend forecasting, ShipTrim combines AI-enhanced analysis with experienced, carrier-agnostic guidance to help clients make smarter sourcing decisions and control parcel costs.

A parcel contract can show impressive discounts yet still cost far more than it should. The biggest savings leaks often hide in minimum charges, DIM rules, fuel treatment, surcharge tables, refund waivers, and restrictive commitment language—not the headline rate discount. ShipTrim reviews these overlooked terms against your actual shipment profile to identify where your agreement may be quietly giving savings back.