Fuel surcharges assessed by the private carriers have hit an all-time high. As of May 2008, the fuel surcharge at FedEx and UPS is a whopping 25% for Express and 7.75% for Ground. Of course, this means that a $20 shipment now costs you $25, and probably more since many other add-on fees are assessed the fuel surcharge. While we may not like these added costs, they are understandable. It takes a lot of fuel to run an airline and fleet of trucks. With its recent earnings announcement, FedEx reported fuel costs of more than $3.2B (U.S.) in the past 9 months. As another example, costs to the U.S. Postal Service and its 230,000 vehicles increase $8M for every penny increase in the price of fuel!
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