350+
Companies Served
$150M
Saved For Customers
25.2%
Average Cost Savings
A UPS Incentive Reaches the Base Rate and the Charges Your Agreement Names
UPS's Tariff and Terms and Conditions of Service, Sections 41 and 42, state that no waiver, discount or reduction of any type applies to Demand Surcharges or Surge Emergency Fees unless UPS agrees in writing, with specific written reference to that named surcharge.
Section 40 applies the same specific-written-reference requirement to UPS Simple Rate. The incentive agreements UPS publishes follow the pattern: incentives apply to base transportation rates, and surcharges are discounted only where the agreement lists them individually.
UPS Runs the Demand Surcharge and the Surge Fee as Two Separately Named Mechanics
UPS names two separate mechanics: the Demand Surcharge and the Surge Fee, which it also calls the Surge Emergency Fee. Its own schedule states that Demand Surcharge, Peak/Demand Surcharge and Peak Surcharge are used interchangeably. Section 42 states that Surge fees apply in addition to any other applicable charges, including but not limited to one or more Demand Surcharges, so the two can land on the same package.
The two mechanics differ in duration. Demand Surcharge periods are dated windows UPS sets in advance. Surge Emergency Fees run per lane on their own effective dates, and several of those lane rates are published to remain in effect until further notice. Under the Demand Surcharge, a package that draws Additional Handling, Large Package or Over Maximum Limits charges draws the surcharge on its own characteristics, whatever service it moves on. Surge Emergency Fee attribute charges are gated to a closed list of designated international services.
The Demand Surcharge's volume-keyed schedule turns on a one-time test, not a running weekly condition. UPS's Demand Surcharge document states that once the combined volume of Ground Residential, Ground Saver (formerly UPS SurePost), Next Day Air Residential and All Other Air Residential packages has exceeded 20,000 packages in any week after October 2025, the Demand Surcharges apply until further notice to all service levels. UPS states that volume is aggregated across affiliated and related accounts, as determined by UPS in its sole and unlimited discretion. The Additional Handling, Large Package and Over Maximum Limits charges are unaffected: they stay flat per package regardless of volume.
What Replacing Association Pricing With a Direct UPS Agreement Returned
A consumer products distributor bought its UPS transportation through an association that aggregated UPS spend. ShipSigma modeled the company's own shipment profile and showed what a direct agreement with UPS supported at that spend level.
The engagement returned $864,425 in annual savings and a 20.3% reduction in cost, with no carrier change and under four hours of client time across six weeks.
Nearly 25% out of shipping cost for a clothing retailer.
We thought we had the best rates. We were told we had the best rates. ShipSigma got us better rates.
Brad M., Chief Operating Officer, Clothing Retailer
The Rate You Negotiate Is Applied to Weights and Dimensions UPS Determines
UPS's Tariff, Section 40, states that where any aspect of the shipment information a shipper provides is incomplete or incorrect, as determined by UPS in its sole and unlimited discretion, UPS may adjust charges at any time. The same section notes that package dimensions may also change in transit, which changes the dimensional weight used to assess size-related charges.
Section 52 sets out the audit right behind that. UPS reserves the right to audit any package, shipment or invoice, to weigh and measure by any method it deems appropriate, and to increase, adjust or assess charges on the result. It also reserves the right to bill on the characteristics the shipper submitted whether or not UPS audited them, and states that an audit fee may be assessed for shipping charge corrections.
A negotiated rate is worth what the record says it was applied to. Modeling what your agreement should deliver starts from what UPS actually billed, package by package.
Where a Shipment Sits in UPS's Lineup Changes Which Charges Apply
UPS names surcharge families twice, once rated per package and once rated per hundredweight. Delivery Area Surcharge and Delivery Area Surcharge CWT are separate named charges, and the same pairing runs through Remote Area Surcharge and Residential Surcharge. UPS Hundredweight Ground and Air are named services of their own.
UPS keeps a multi-package shipment tier inside its own network. Small-package rates apply up to 150 lb per package. UPS Ground with Freight Pricing rates a shipment of 150 to 1,000 lb total, with every carton between 10 and 50 lb, on freight terms: it assigns freight class automatically from the data entered at shipment setup and holds package-level tracking on every carton. Traditional LTL sits above that.
At the low end, UPS Ground Saver, renamed from UPS SurePost, hands the final mile to UPS or the U.S. Postal Service depending on destination. UPS states that delivery photo confirmation is available only for packages UPS delivers.
Each of those boundaries carries its own rating basis and its own surcharge set. Where your packages fall against them is a pricing question before it is an operations question.
UPS Publishes Its Rates. It Does Not Publish What Yours Should Be.
The Daily Rate and Service Guide, the Retail Rate and Service Guide, the Tariff and a schedule for every surcharge named above are all public. What a shipper at your volume and shipment profile should be paying is in none of them.
ShipSigma models your own UPS shipment data against live market data and produces the figure your agreement should support. The free analysis ends there, with a number and the detail behind it.
The paid engagement is carrier contract negotiation. ShipSigma's analysts build the case and support your stakeholders through it, your own team negotiates with UPS, and the fee comes out of savings delivered. ShipSigma does not contact UPS on your behalf.
How the Analysis Works
Step 1
You export your UPS invoice and shipment data from your carrier portal and send it once.
Step 2
ShipSigma rebuilds your cost at the line-item level and models what your rates should be at your volume and shipment profile.
Step 3
You receive a quantified savings figure drawn from your own numbers, with no commitment attached.
Who This Is For
The work fits companies spending $1.5M to $200M a year on parcel, with UPS as a primary carrier. Below that band the analysis returns less than it costs to run.
Nothing moves. The analysis is built around keeping the carrier and the service levels you already run.
What You're Committing To
The analysis is no-cost and no-obligation. ShipSigma does not contact your carrier, renegotiate anything, or make any changes to your shipping operations. The analysis tells you what's available.
You decide what to do with that information.
If ShipSigma identifies savings and you engage, the fee structure is performance-based: ShipSigma is paid from savings delivered, not from a flat retainer.
See What Your Carrier Hasn't Shown You
Questions Buyers Ask
Do I have to change carriers to improve a UPS agreement?
No. The analysis is built around keeping UPS and your current service levels. The result above came with no carrier change.
Do you negotiate with UPS for me?
No. ShipSigma does not contact UPS. ShipSigma's analysts build the case and support your stakeholders through the negotiation, and your own team sits across from the carrier.
Does this include reviewing my UPS invoices?
Yes. The analysis rebuilds your cost from your own invoice and shipment data at the line-item level. That is where misapplied surcharges and billing errors surface, and it is what makes the savings figure specific rather than an estimate.
What does it cost?
Nothing upfront. The fee structure is performance-based, paid from savings delivered. If no savings are identified, there is no fee.
What do you need to run the analysis?
Your UPS invoice and shipment data, pulled from your carrier portal. Turnaround is a matter of days once it arrives.
Can a UPS agreement discount Demand Surcharges or Surge Fees?
UPS's Tariff and Terms and Conditions of Service, Sections 41 and 42, state that no waiver, discount or reduction applies to Demand Surcharges or Surge Emergency Fees unless UPS agrees in writing with specific written reference to that named surcharge. The analysis shows what those charges cost you and what your current agreement names.