Every peak season, the same pattern repeats: carrier rate increases stack on top of peak surcharges, fuel surcharges, and handling fees, and the businesses that didn’t plan for it end up eating the difference in margin. The businesses that did plan for it walk in able to say yes to the volume, because they already know what it’s going to cost them.
Here’s what’s driving shipping costs up, and what you can actually do about it.
Why Shipping Costs Keep Climbing
Carrier capacity and labor costs tightened during the pandemic and never fully unwound. Demand has settled closer to pre-pandemic norms, but carriers have been slow to give back the margin they gained — and surcharges, especially during peak, are how they protect it. If you ship a meaningful volume of packages, those surcharges compound fast.
What Ecommerce Businesses Can Do
Every business feels these increases, but not everyone has the same leverage to push back. Here’s where to focus.
1. Know Your Actual Shipping Costs
You can’t protect a margin you can’t see. Get granular on what you’re paying per order — by carrier, by distance, by package type — so you know exactly where the money’s going. If your fulfillment center isn’t giving you that visibility, that’s a sign to find one that can.
2. Distribute Your Inventory
Splitting inventory across multiple fulfillment locations shortens the distance to your customer, which means cheaper regional and last-mile shipping and faster delivery. A 3PL with multiple locations makes this possible without you managing multiple warehouses yourself.
3. Minimize Packaging
Dimensional weight pricing rewards small, efficient packages. Look closely at your packaging and materials — every bit of unnecessary bulk is money spent on a DIM weight charge you didn’t need to pay.
4. Negotiate With Your Carriers
Use your own shipping data to negotiate fees based on your actual volume and package profile. Ask specifically about reducing or waiving accessorial charges, and revisit your rates regularly rather than assuming last year’s deal still holds.
5. Broaden Your Carrier Network
A single carrier means zero leverage. Working with more than one carrier — or with a 3PL that already ships at scale across multiple carriers — gives you flexibility and negotiating power you can’t get alone.
6. Use Section 321 If It Applies to You
If your products are made outside the US and shipped directly to US customers, Section 321 can meaningfully reduce duties, tariffs, and fulfillment costs on shipments under the value threshold. ShipMonk’s near-border fulfillment center in Mexico was built specifically for this.
7. Ship Inventory Ahead of Peak
Inbound freight gets hit with peak surcharges too. Ordering and shipping inventory to your fulfillment center before the season ramps up avoids paying a premium on top of a premium.
Leverage the Buying Power of a 3PL
A large 3PL ships high volume across many carriers every day, which translates directly into savings you can’t access on your own:
- Discounted Shipping Rates — ShipMonk’s volume earns deep carrier discounts, passed on to clients.
- Virtual Carrier Network — Our VCN automatically selects the best carrier and method for each order based on capacity, rate, and delivery window, so you’re not manually rate-shopping every shipment.
- 2-Day Shipping — With fulfillment centers across the continental US, ShipMonk clients can offer affordable 2-day delivery nationwide, often well below standard 2-day carrier rates.
- Distributed Inventory — US, European, UK, Mexico, and Canada fulfillment centers let you position inventory close to your customers and manage all of it from one platform.
- International Shipping — We ship to 180+ countries and treat international orders the same as domestic, without hidden fees stacked on top.
- Freight Shipping — Air, ocean, or DHL Express options to move inventory into our network at the same volume discounts you get on outbound orders.
Shipping costs aren’t going to stop climbing on their own. The brands that come out ahead this peak season are the ones who already know what it costs to say yes to the volume — because their fulfillment partner already worked it out for them. Contact ShipMonk for a quote and a timeline before the season ramps up.
