The UPS rate increase mirrors the company’s adjustments in 2023 and 2024, though the effective date arrives slightly earlier than the usual post–peak-season window. In addition to base international shipping rates, UPS will lift select surcharges—including residential delivery, additional handling, and delivery to remote areas—reflecting a broader industry move that competitor FedEx plans to match with a 5.9% adjustment in January.

What's changing

• Average general rate increase (GRI): 5.9% across UPS Ground, Air, and International services.
• Surcharges: Residential delivery, additional handling, large/oversize dimensions, and remote area delivery fees will rise in tandem with the GRI.
• Contract-level impact: The actual effect varies by shipper based on service mix, lanes, dimensional profiles, and negotiated discounts or minimums. Review your agreement’s minimum charge tables and any carrier-specific rebate or tier clauses to understand your net change.

Why carriers are raising prices

UPS cites continued investment in network capacity, aircraft and ground operations, and technology as key drivers. Industry-wide cost pressures—labor, fuel, and last-mile complexity—are also at play. FedEx’s parallel move to implement a 5.9% increase in January underscores the alignment of major integrators’ price strategies and the normalization of parcel surcharges that intensified over the last several peak seasons.

What shippers should do now

1. Model the true impact. Reprice your historical shipments under the new tariffs to quantify the lift by service, zone, and package profile (weight vs. DIM).
2. Tighten packaging and DIMs. Revisit carton right-sizing, inner packs, and void fill to avoid breaching additional-handling and large-package triggers.
3. Optimize service mix. Shift non-urgent flows from premium air to deferred or economy services where transit and promise still meet customer expectations.
4. Consolidate and plan. Use multi-line consolidation, ship-to-store, or regional fulfillment to reduce stop density penalties and residential surcharges.
5. Negotiate intentionally. Seek relief on surcharge caps, minimum charge floors, or dimensional divisors; benchmark both integrators and qualified regional carriers.
6. Strengthen cross-border compliance. For international shipping rates, total landed cost (duties, taxes, clearance, and brokerage) often exceeds the base freight increase—standardize HS codes, leverage DDP where conversion benefits justify it, and audit return flows.

Implications for e-commerce and marketplace sellers

• Promise design: Update checkout delivery estimates and shipping tables before December 22 to avoid margin erosion or missed expectations.
• FBA and 3PL alignment: Coordinate inbound cutoffs and replenishment to prevent unexpected premium service use during the GRI transition.
• SKU and channel strategy: Heavier or bulky items will feel the surcharge lift most—consider channel-specific assortments, kits, or pre-packed units that ride lower-cost tiers.
• Data hygiene: Accurate product weights and dimensions in your WMS/cart prevent overcharges and reduce claims.

The bottom line for 2025 planning

A synchronized 5.9% GRI from the major integrators signals continued firmness in parcel pricing. The shippers who fare best will treat this as a catalyst to harden their cost models, reduce dimensional penalties, diversify carrier mixes, and align service levels with what customers truly value—not simply speed for speed’s sake.

Rate resets are now a recurring feature of the parcel landscape. Treat them less as surprises and more as planning milestones: refresh your landed-cost models, clean up packaging and data, and re-align promises to margin. If your supply chain begins in Asia, a large share of savings often sits upstream—choice of incoterms, consolidation strategy, and the first mile into the integrator network.

As an international freight forwarder, Global Vertical Shipping helps businesses optimize end-to-end logistics—moving your cargo from China to destinations worldwide via cost-effective ocean, air, rail, and DDP solutions, then handing off to parcel networks on your terms. We’ll benchmark routes and international shipping rates, trim avoidable parcel surcharges, and keep your customer promise intact while protecting margin.