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UPS peak surcharges for the 2025 holiday season

UPS is temporarily imposing holiday surcharges on domestic shipments starting 10/26/2025, and is increasing three additional surcharge amounts starting 9/28

Updated this week

Starting October 26th, UPS is imposing surcharges on all domestic shipments. The surcharges will last until January 17th, 2026, and will vary depending on when you buy your label and the UPS service you use.

  • Domestic UPS services only: The following peak surcharges only apply to domestic UPS services. International UPS services such as UPS Standard, UPS Worldwide Expedited, UPS Worldwide Economy, UPS Worldwide Saver, and UPS Worldwide Express won't be affected.

Peak surcharges for domestic UPS services

Service Level

Oct 26 - Nov 22

Nov 23 - Dec 27

Dec 28 - Jan 17

UPS Ground Saver

$0.40 per package

$0.60 per package

$0.40 per package

UPS Ground

$0.40 per package

$0.60 per package

$0.40 per package

UPS Air* services

$1.10 per package

$2.05 per package

$1.10 per package

*Note: UPS Air services include UPS 3 Day Select, UPS 2nd Day Air, and UPS Next Day Air.

UPS is also temporarily increasing three existing surcharges starting September 28th

  • Temporary increase to Additional Handling, Large Package, and Over Maximum Limits surcharge amounts: In addition to imposing the above surcharges on domestic shipments, UPS is also temporarily increasing the amount for the following existing surcharges:

    • Additional Handling

    • Large Package Surcharge

    • Over Maximum Limits

  • The temporary increases to these three surcharges take effect starting September 28th and will end on January 17th, 2026.

Here's a table displaying the increases to the total amounts of those surcharges:

UPS Surcharges

Sep 28 - Nov 22

Nov 23 - Dec 27

Dec 28 - Jan 17

Additional Handling

$8.25 per package

$10.80 per package

$8.25 per package

Large Package Surcharge

$90.50

per package

$107.00

per package

$90.50

per package

Over Maximum Limits

$485.00

per package

$540.00

per package

$485.00

per package

There will be no temporary surcharge increases for international UPS shipments

  • No increases for international UPS shipments: Again, international UPS shipments won't see any price increases during the holidays. These temporary surcharge increases only apply to domestic UPS services.

Our software automatically applies these temporary increases when you buy labels

  • No action needed on your part: You don't need to remember all the details of these increases! Our software applies these UPS surcharges automatically at checkout to qualifying packages, and will display them on the "Buy Label" page when you're ready to make your purchase.

You'll still get the best discounts on Pirate Ship with the holiday surcharge increases

  • These temporary UPS surcharges are not unique to Pirate Ship: Temporary surcharge increases for UPS shipments aren't just happening on Pirate Ship. UPS imposes them everywhere, but you're still getting the best discounts on the Seven Seas by shipping with us!

    • To see how much you'll save, plug your package's information into our Rates Calculator 💰

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