A shop that ships fewer than 20,000 packages a week pays a fixed holiday amount on each package in 2026, set by the carrier, the service and the date. At the carriers' published figures that is 40 cents and up on a light USPS box at Commercial prices, 75 cents on a UPS Ground home delivery at peak and 80 cents on a FedEx Home Delivery box at peak. The charges that change a month's numbers are the handling tiers on big or heavy boxes, where one box can carry more than a dozen ordinary packages' worth of holiday fees.

What does each carrier add to one ordinary package?

Each carrier adds under a dollar to a light box going to a home, and the amount depends on the ship date. The table shows the published per-package amounts for the services small shops use most.

Package	Holiday amount	Dates
USPS Ground Advantage or Priority Mail, 0-3 lb, Zones 1-4, Commercial	$0.40	Oct. 4, 2026 until 12 a.m. CT on Jan. 17, 2027
USPS Ground Advantage, 0-3 lb, Zones 5-9, Commercial	$0.55	Oct. 4, 2026 until 12 a.m. CT on Jan. 17, 2027
UPS Ground Residential or UPS Ground Saver	$0.50	Oct. 25 to Nov. 21, 2026, and Dec. 27, 2026 to Jan. 16, 2027
UPS Ground Residential or UPS Ground Saver	$0.75	Nov. 22 to Dec. 26, 2026
FedEx Ground Residential or FedEx Home Delivery	$0.50	Oct. 26 to Nov. 22, 2026, and Dec. 28, 2026 to Jan. 17, 2027
FedEx Ground Residential or FedEx Home Delivery	$0.80	Nov. 23 to Dec. 27, 2026

The USPS rows come from the USPS release of August 25, 2026, read on November 12, 2026. The UPS rows come from the UPS Demand Surcharges update of August 26, 2026 and the FedEx rows from the FedEx demand surcharge page, both read on October 26, 2026. UPS says its amounts and periods are subject to change, so check the carrier's page before you set prices on them.

One difference matters for your books. The USPS amount is a change to the postage price, so it sits inside the label price. The UPS and FedEx amounts are surcharges added on top of the base rate.

How much does the USPS temporary increase add by weight and zone?

The USPS increase grows with weight and distance, from 40 cents on a light near-zone box to several dollars on a heavy box going far. These are the Commercial amounts from the August 25, 2026 release. The temporary prices have been in force since October 4, 2026 and run until 12 a.m. CT on January 17, 2027.

Weight	Priority Mail and Ground Advantage, Zones 1-4	Ground Advantage, Zones 5-9	Priority Mail, Zones 5-9
0-3 lb	$0.40	$0.55	$0.85
4-10 lb	$0.65	$1.05	$1.75
11-25 lb	$1.05	$1.75	$3.85

Commercial flat rate goes up $0.85 per package in the same release, except the Large Flat Rate Box at $1.75. Boxes over 25 lb, Priority Mail Express and Parcel Select have their own rows, set out in our USPS holiday price increase guide.

What is the 8 percent USPS transportation layer?

It is a separate, earlier USPS price change that is still in effect and ends at the same moment as the holiday increase. The USPS release of March 25, 2026 announced an 8 percent increase on base postage prices for Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage and Parcel Select, starting April 26, 2026 and remaining until midnight Central Time on January 17, 2027. USPS calls it a transportation-related, time-limited price change.

The holiday amounts in the table above sit on top of it. Example: on a hypothetical base price of 10 dollars before April, 8 percent is 80 cents, which is twice the 40-cent holiday amount on a light near-zone box. You never see the 8 percent as its own line, because it is part of the published price. It matters when you compare this December with last December, and again after January 17, 2027, when the release says the Postal Service can decide whether a different long-term approach is needed.

Which UPS and FedEx demand surcharges apply under 20,000 packages a week?

A shop under 20,000 packages a week pays the flat per-package demand surcharge and never the volume-tier tables. Both carriers publish separate, higher schedules for shippers above that weekly volume: the UPS Higher Volume Shipper tables and the FedEx Demand Residential Delivery Charge.

The flat amounts are not only for home deliveries. UPS charges them on every Air package and every Ground Saver package, and FedEx charges them on every express package in the table below except FedEx One Rate. A UPS Ground or FedEx Ground box going to a business address has no flat demand row at either carrier.

Service	Early and late windows	Peak window
UPS Next Day Air, 2nd Day Air A.M., 2nd Day Air, 3 Day Select	$1.35	$2.50, Nov. 22 to Dec. 26, 2026
FedEx First, Priority and Standard Overnight	$1.30	$2.55, Nov. 23 to Dec. 27, 2026
FedEx 2Day A.M., 2Day and Express Saver	$1.20	$2.35, Nov. 23 to Dec. 27, 2026

The full tables, the volume tiers and the end dates are on our UPS demand surcharges and FedEx demand surcharges pages, and the cross-carrier summary is on peak season surcharges.

What do the handling tiers add to a big or heavy box?

A box that triggers a handling or size surcharge also draws a separate, much larger holiday amount. These apply to every shipper at any volume, and they started in late September, a month before the per-package charges.

Charge	Outside the peak window	Peak window
UPS Additional Handling	$8.75	$11.90
UPS Large Package	$96.25	$117.50
UPS Over Maximum Limits	$530	$590
FedEx Additional Handling	$8.80	$11.85
FedEx Oversize	$95.75	$117.25
FedEx Ground Unauthorized Package	$535	$595

UPS runs these from September 27, 2026 to January 16, 2027, with the peak window from November 22 to December 26, 2026. FedEx runs them from September 28, 2026 to January 17, 2027, with the peak window from November 23 to December 27, 2026. UPS says its demand surcharges apply in addition to all other charges, so the UPS amount is added to the regular handling or size surcharge and does not replace it.

What does that add up to on 100 orders?

On a typical light mix the holiday layer averages well under a dollar an order, and one bulky box can be a sixth of the total. Example (the order mix is hypothetical; the per-package amounts are the published figures above), for 100 orders shipped between Monday, November 30 and Friday, December 4, 2026:

Example orders	Per package	Total
60 USPS Ground Advantage, 0-3 lb, Zones 1-4	$0.40	$24.00
15 USPS Ground Advantage, 0-3 lb, Zones 5-9	$0.55	$8.25
10 USPS Priority Mail, 4-10 lb, Zones 5-9	$1.75	$17.50
10 UPS Ground Residential	$0.75	$7.50
4 FedEx Home Delivery	$0.80	$3.20
1 UPS Ground Residential box with Additional Handling	$0.75 + $11.90	$12.65
100 orders		$73.10

That is about 73 cents an order. The single Additional Handling box adds more than the other 14 UPS and FedEx boxes combined. The example leaves out the 8 percent layer, which is already inside the USPS base price, and any fuel surcharge.

Three checks follow from it:

Find the orders that trigger a handling tier. Repacking one of them into a smaller box usually matters more than anything you do to the light orders.
Mark home addresses as residential when you quote, so the UPS or FedEx price you compare with USPS is the one that applies.
Price the layer into any shipping offer. Our post on holiday free shipping offers that still pay works through thresholds and rate caps.

Where GoatLabels fits

GoatLabels rate-shops USPS, UPS and FedEx on every domestic parcel, and DHL on international lanes, from one account, with one price per rate shown before you buy. Each destination has a Residential yes/no toggle that feeds the quote, and residential delivery is what the UPS and FedEx ground demand surcharges are charged on.

The limits matter here. The amounts in this post are the carriers' published figures, and the price you pay is the rate in your own quote, which depends on the weight, dimensions and address type you enter. Carrier adjustments after delivery, such as re-weighs and dimension corrections, post to the same prepaid wallet later. GoatLabels cannot use your own negotiated carrier accounts. Free: 50 shipments a month. Pro: a flat $40 a month, unlimited shipments. Label prices are the same on the Free and Pro plans; the pricing page has both.