UPS SurePost 2025 Rate Increase: What Shippers Need to Know

As the shipping landscape continues to shift, the latest updates from UPS offer a glimpse into the challenges and changes ahead for high-volume e-commerce retailers and other parcel shippers. Beginning January 13, 2025, UPS SurePost is set to undergo a significant rate increase that stands apart from the carrier’s standard annual general rate increases. Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming changes and how they may impact your operations and bottom line.

A More Significant Increase than the Standard GRI

While UPS traditionally implements annual general rate increases (GRIs) across its service portfolio, the adjustments slated for SurePost in 2025 will be notably larger than the usual year-over-year hikes.

Why is this happening? SurePost relies on the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for last-mile delivery, and UPS must align its rates with USPS changes and other market factors. With the USPS making its own adjustments and considering operational shifts, UPS is taking proactive steps to protect service quality and revenue, leading to these heftier SurePost rates.

Key Takeaways from the 2025 SurePost Changes

1. Hefty Rate Hikes on Lightweight Packages:
   SurePost shipments within the 1-9 lb. range will see a 9.9% increase over current rates. This category, often favored by ecommerce companies shipping lighter items, faces one of the largest year-over-year jumps UPS has ever implemented.

2. Moderate Increases for Heavier Packages:
   SurePost packages weighing between 10-70 lbs. won’t escape the changes either. Although the increases are smaller—ranging from approximately 5.9% to 7.1%—these still represent a significant cost escalation for shippers sending heavier items via SurePost.

3. Surcharges Surge Drastically:
   SurePost Delivery Area Surcharges (DAS) and SurePost Delivery Area Surcharge Extended (DAS Extended) are seeing some of the most dramatic hikes:

   • DAS: Up roughly 61.8%, increasing from $3.80 to $6.15

   • DAS Extended: Up roughly 69.4%, rising from $4.90 to $8.30

For ecommerce sellers reaching customers in more remote locations, these surcharges could drive up shipping costs at a rate outpacing the base transportation charges themselves.

Why Is UPS Raising These Rates So Significantly?

While UPS has not explicitly outlined the rationale behind such steep increases, several factors could be at play. Rising transportation and labor costs, fuel fluctuations, and the evolving structure of UPS’s partnership with the USPS for final-mile delivery likely influence the new pricing. The heightened surcharges also signal an effort to realign pricing models with the true cost of servicing rural and remote areas.

For many shippers, SurePost has historically offered a sweet spot of cost savings, particularly for lighter packages traveling the “last mile” through the USPS network. With 2025’s changes, however, this equation becomes more complex. Every ecommerce business that relies on SurePost—especially those shipping lightweight goods—must take a hard look at its current shipping strategy.

What Should Shippers Do Next?

1. Evaluate Your Shipping Profile:
   Take a deep dive into your shipping data. Understand where you’re incurring the highest surcharges, identify the weight segments that will feel the most pain from these increases, and forecast how these new rates will impact your profit margins.

2. Explore Alternatives and Diversify Carriers:
   While UPS is a key player, it’s not the only game in town. Consider comparing service levels and costs across multiple carriers. Investigate alternatives like FedEx Ground Economy, or review whether regional carriers might provide more stable rates and transit times in certain areas.

3. Reassess Negotiation and Contract Terms:
   If you have contracts coming up for renewal—or if your shipment volumes are high enough—this is the right time to start conversations with your carriers. Negotiate more favorable terms, leverage your shipping volume where you can, and seek out incentives or discounts that can help offset these increases.

4. Leverage Analytics and Cost-Saving Tools:
   Insight is key. Access to a platform or a set of analytics tools that bring together carrier data, historical shipment information, and cost scenarios can help identify opportunities to mitigate the impact. This data-driven approach makes it easier to decide which approach will have the greatest impact on reducing costs.

Control and Reduce Your Shipping Costs with Lojistic

As carrier rates rise and the parcel shipping environment grows more complex, having the right support and insights can make all the difference. The Lojistic platform helps you monitor your shipping activities in real-time, consolidate critical data from all of your carriers, and pinpoint opportunities for significant savings. By leveraging Lojistic’s analytics and tools, you can navigate the 2025 UPS SurePost rate increases more confidently, ensuring that your business can maintain cost efficiency without sacrificing delivery quality.

Author

Bryan Van Suchtelen

Bryan Van Suchtelen

Corporate Director of Parcel Rate Services

With more than 34 years of parcel experience, Bryan Van Suchtelen is the Corporate Director of Parcel Rate Services at Lojistic, one of the nation’s top logistics and transportation cost management companies.

Prior to joining Lojistic in 2015, Bryan enjoyed a 26-year career with UPS where his roles included Pricing, Field Sales and Director-level Sales Management of some of UPS’s largest customers.

At Lojistic, Bryan leverages his wealth of experience/expertise to identify and execute supply chain cost management solutions for parcel shippers of all sizes. Bryan has helped his customers reduce their shipping spend by tens of millions of dollars.