Your Solution to UPS’ 2017 Holiday Season Surcharge
This week, UPS announced it will be charging retailers a surcharge on residential packages being delivered during the peak 2017 holiday season, including the days surrounding both Black Friday and Christmas.
With the rise of online shopping, UPS handles around 30 million packages a day during their peak season, versus 19 million packages on an average day. UPS says that the new surcharges are necessary to offset the additional costs of handling the holiday influx, including having to add additional planes, trucks, and seasonal staffers.
UPS Ground shipments will see a 27-cent per package charge increase from November 19 through December 2 and again from December 17 through the 23rd. Additional surcharges will apply to Air and 3 Day Select deliveries in the days leading up to Christmas. The surcharges apply to “last mile” deliveries to residences. This means that consumers may bear the brunt of the increases if retailers choose to pass on the costs by raising shipping fees.
The Wall Street Journal reports, “Patrick Gill, chief executive of the high-end fishing gear site TackleDirect.com, said news of the surcharge was frustrating since it is going to be applied when his site needs lower rates to compete against Amazon.com, Wal-Mart Stores and others.”
Gill commented, “This will add up to be another unaccounted for expense during the holiday season.”
As a retailer, it can be a real challenge to either eat these increased shipping costs or pass them onto consumers at a time when retailers are trying to be as competitive as possible. That’s why it’s important for retailers to find an alternative solution, especially for local, last mile deliveries.
Dropoff’s same-day delivery service offers a convenient and flexible solution. Especially since 89% of consumers are concerned about their holiday gifts arriving on time and last-minute shoppers are 74% more likely to purchase from a retailer that offers same-day delivery, according to a survey Dropoff conducted.
Dropoff’s feature-rich API connects to your e-commerce site or platform so that you can easily offer customers a “same-day delivery” option directly at checkout, similar to how you would offer 2-day or standard delivery.
After an order has been placed, both you and your customers can track the progress on a live map and receive a signature verification email so that you all know the purchase arrived by the specified time and in perfect condition.
Rest easy knowing that Dropoff never tacks on hidden fees or surcharges. The price quoted is the price you will pay.
Additionally, all Dropoff drivers are background-checked, insured, uniformed, and have extensive customer service experience. So you can take comfort in that fact that your customers will never have to worry about the professionalism of the delivery driver showing up at their door.
As large package delivery companies continue tacking on fees and surcharges year after year, the time is now to start offering a more convenient, flexible and transparent delivery service to your customers.
