Peak is the highest-stakes stretch of the shipping year, and the one shippers under-prepare for the most. This is the playbook I wish every shipper had, in eight parts, from the cost you cannot escape to the checklist you run before it starts.
Why the peak surcharge is the one increase your contract was never built to stop, and what to do about the thing you cannot negotiate away.
This year's published schedule, and the charge below the headline table that is priced off a June baseline you can no longer change.
The other carrier's 2026 schedule. Flat per-package pricing you can calculate exactly, sitting on three earlier increases from the same year.
The third 2026 schedule. Above 20,000 packages a week the tier tables replace the headline rate, and crossing a boundary reprices the whole week.
All three schedules read side by side. The prices are the least interesting part; three measurement windows decide December, and two shut before the tables existed.
If the surcharge is fixed, the leverage moves to your operation. The levers that actually move your peak cost.
Peak is shorter than it feels. The calendar reality of how many shipping days you really have between Black Friday and Christmas Eve.
The operational readiness checklist to run now, in August, while there is still time to fix what you find.
Eight angles on the same season: the cost, all three carriers' schedules and how they compare, the response, the calendar, and the execution. Peak comes every year, and so does this list.
Book a 30-minute call to walk through your surcharge exposure and your operational readiness before the season starts.
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