During the five weeks from Nov. 22 through Dec. 26, each home-delivered UPS Ground package carries a 75-cent surcharge and each air package $2.50, a step up from the 50 cents and $1.35 that apply from Oct. 25 through Nov. 21. Those per-package add-ons are billed to the businesses that ship, and they arrive on top of UPS’s regular rates during the weeks when holiday gifts, subscription boxes and online orders peak.
The three-step schedule for Ground Residential and air
UPS’s Aug. 26 demand-surcharge update sets out the schedule, published nearly three months before the Nov. 22 step, for standard-volume shippers, defined as those not exceeding 20,000 weekly packages. UPS Ground Residential and UPS Ground Saver, the service formerly called UPS SurePost, carry $0.50 per package from Oct. 25 through Nov. 21, $0.75 from Nov. 22 through Dec. 26, and $0.50 from Dec. 27 through Jan. 16, 2027. UPS Next Day Air and all other UPS air services, which the document defines to include 2nd Day Air A.M., 2nd Day Air and 3 Day Select, carry $1.35, $2.50 and $1.35 over the same three periods.
The peak step adds 25 cents to a ground package, a 50 percent increase over the October rate, and $1.15 to an air package, an 85 percent increase. The 75-cent step covers 35 of the schedule’s 84 days, running from Oct. 25 through Jan. 16, and the smaller amounts apply for the other 49.
Shippers above 20,000 weekly packages pay by a sliding scale
The same document sets a separate table for customers billed for more than 20,000 packages in any week following October 2025. The document says volume includes affiliated and related accounts as UPS determines. Their surcharge depends on weekly volume as a share of a baseline, defined as the June 2026 average or the Aug. 30 to Sept. 26 period if that is below 80 percent of June. In the Nov. 22 to Dec. 26 period, Ground Residential starts at $0.75 for volume up to 105 percent of baseline and climbs through $1.75, $2.35, $2.65 and $3.35 to $5.65 above 300 percent and $8.00 above 400 percent. Residential air starts at $2.50 and reaches $9.35 at the top tier. Commercial air stays at $2.50 across every tier.
UPS says the highest applicable amount applies to all of a shipper’s packages in that week within each service level, and that in holiday weeks that are not full operating weeks the surcharge is multiplied by the number of full operating days. The $0.75 and $2.50 figures are therefore the floor for every shipper, not a ceiling, and the document adds that demand surcharges are subject to change and demand periods may be extended.
Why a home address triggers the charge
The residential label matters because the surcharge follows the delivery address. UPS’s shipping-charge support page tells shippers to mark addresses as residential or commercial correctly and to enter accurate package dimensions, and it adds that any fraction of a pound should be rounded up to the next full pound. Ground Residential is the ground service the schedule ties to home delivery, and the schedule lists separate commercial figures only for air. The Nov. 22 step raises the home-delivery add-on for the five weeks that cover the run-up to Christmas.
FedEx’s home-delivery add-on runs a nickel higher at the peak
FedEx’s demand-surcharge page, updated Sept. 4, lists Ground Residential at $0.50 per package from Sept. 28 through Nov. 22, $0.80 from Nov. 23 through Dec. 27 and $0.50 from Dec. 28 through Jan. 17, 2027. On the air side, FedEx’s Express demand surcharges start Oct. 26 and run $1.30 to $2.55 per overnight package and $1.20 to $2.35 for 2Day and Express Saver shipments. The page describes enterprise customers shipping more than 20,000 residential packages weekly as facing variable charges of $1.70 to $9.35 per package based on peak volume above 105 percent of baseline.
FedEx also charges a residential delivery fee that is separate from its peak add-on. Its 2026 surcharge changes summary, effective Jan. 5, lists its residential delivery charge at $6.95 per package, up from $6.55 in 2025.
What the schedule adds up to across a holiday shipping list
By the schedule’s figures, ten packages sent by Ground Residential during the Nov. 22 to Dec. 26 period would carry $7.50 in demand surcharges against $5.00 in the weeks before, and ten sent by air would carry $25.00 against $13.50. The schedule is addressed to shippers and does not say whether merchants pass the charge along to buyers in shipping fees or item prices. UPS’s own shipping costs and rates page directs shippers to the updated schedule, noting it includes “Demand Surcharge rates for certain domestic shipments effective September 27, 2026.” The same page lists a $5.00 per package non-compliant label fee for UPS Ground Saver, effective Aug. 2, 2026, which sits alongside the peak add-on for shippers who use that service.
Heating, cooling and home-repair help for older households
Older households on fixed incomes carry seasonal home costs, from winter heating to summer cooling to repairs. Assistance for those bills exists, but each program opens and closes its applications on its own schedule.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit covers heating, cooling and home-repair help alongside an application log and renewal calendar.
See the help with heating, cooling and repairs in The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit.
This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
