How UPS and FedEx fuel surcharges are calculated, with a worked example
The short version
- Fuel is a weekly percentage, set from a recently published government fuel price. UPS describes using the most recently released EIA price, and both carriers publish each week's percentage on their fuel pages.
- Ground indexes to on-highway diesel; domestic air indexes to US Gulf Coast jet fuel. The two move independently and are published as separate percentages.
- The percentage applies to the net transportation charge after your incentive, and to most surcharges. Unless your agreement says otherwise, fuel calculated on the undiscounted list rate is a billing error.
- Carriers can change the index tables themselves, not only the fuel price. A table change raises the surcharge at the same fuel price, and both carriers reserve the right to change tables or thresholds without prior notice.
- Fuel is negotiable: as a discount off the published percentage, a cap, or a different table.
A UPS or FedEx fuel surcharge is a percentage added to your shipping charges, reset every Monday from a published fuel price. Ground services are indexed to the US Energy Information Administration's national average on-highway diesel price, and air and express services to the US Gulf Coast jet fuel price. Each carrier publishes a table that converts the fuel price into a percentage, and under the carriers' published terms the percentage is applied to the net charge after your discount, unless your agreement provides otherwise. In the week of September 28, 2026, the ground surcharge was 29.75% at FedEx and 30.25% at UPS.
Because the percentage is applied after the discount, a better discount lowers the dollars of fuel you pay and can offset a rise in fuel dollars, but it does not change the published percentage. And because fuel applies to most surcharges as well as to transportation, it scales almost every other line on the invoice.
How the weekly percentage is set
Each carrier publishes a step table for each service group. Each row is a fuel price band, a few cents wide, and the surcharge percentage for that band. UPS's ground table in September 2026, for example, sets 29.75% for a diesel price of at least $6.34 and less than $6.43 a gallon, and 30.00% for $6.43 to $6.52. Each week the carrier reads the published fuel price, finds its band, and that band's percentage applies to shipments that week.
Two kinds of change move your fuel cost. The fuel price moving from one band to the next is the routine one, and it moves the percentage a quarter of a point at a time. The second is the carrier revising the table, shifting every band so that the same fuel price produces a higher percentage. That is a price increase in its own right. It does not appear on any rate card, and it can take effect without advance notice.
A worked example
A 20 lb FedEx Ground package to zone 6 lists at $31.99 on the 2026 FedEx Ground list rates. With a 50% incentive the net transportation charge is $16.00. In the week of September 28, 2026 the FedEx Ground fuel surcharge was 29.75%.
| Calculated correctly, on the net | Calculated in error, on the list rate | |
|---|---|---|
| Transportation charge | $16.00 | $16.00 |
| Fuel base | $16.00 | $31.99 |
| Fuel at 29.75% | $4.76 | $9.52 |
| Total | $20.76 | $25.52 |
The correct fuel charge is $4.76. Calculated on the undiscounted rate it would double to $9.52, which is why the base is the first thing to check on an invoice. The percentage itself moves the figure much less: FedEx Ground fuel was 25.00% in the week of July 6, 2026, when the same package would have carried $4.00, so the climb to 29.75% by late September costs $0.76 on this package.
Scale that up. At $250,000 a year of fuel-assessable ground charges, measured before fuel, every percentage point of fuel is about $2,500 a year. The fuel surcharge tracker shows the current FedEx and UPS percentages side by side, thirteen weeks of history, and that estimate for your own spend.
FedEx and UPS fuel surcharges compared
The two carriers index to the same fuel prices and publish tables of the same shape, but the tables are not the same, so the same diesel price produces different percentages. Over the thirteen weeks from July 6 to September 28, 2026:
| Ground | Domestic air | |
|---|---|---|
| UPS above FedEx | 10 weeks | 11 weeks |
| Equal | 2 weeks | None |
| FedEx above UPS | 1 week | 2 weeks |
| Typical gap since late July | 0.50 points | 0.50 points |
| Average gap over the period | 0.40 points | 0.38 points |
| Week of September 28, 2026 | FedEx 29.75%, UPS 30.25% | FedEx 33.00%, UPS 33.50% |
Half a point sounds small. On $1,000,000 of net ground transportation charges it is about $5,000 a year, on the same packages at the same net rates. That is not a reason to move carriers on its own, because the percentage applies to each carrier's own net charges, which differ by more than half a point, and either carrier can revise its table at any time. It is a reason to compare carriers on the fuel-inclusive cost of your packages rather than on base rates, and to treat fuel as a term to negotiate with whichever carrier you use. The tracker keeps the side-by-side up to date each week.
What to check on an invoice
- Find the ship date and the carrier's published percentage for the week containing it, for the right service group.
- Confirm the billed percentage matches.
- Confirm the base: fuel should be calculated on the net transportation charge after your incentive, not the list rate.
- Check which surcharges carry fuel. Most do, and an error in a surcharge is also an error in the fuel calculated on it.
- If your agreement discounts or caps fuel, confirm the discount or cap was applied, and applied from the right date.
What the tracker does not account for
The tracker reports the carriers' published percentages and estimates fuel as a percentage of spend. It does not know your incentive or which of your surcharges carry fuel, so its dollar estimate is a sense of scale, not a reconciliation. It covers ground and domestic air; international and freight percentages are published separately. A negotiated fuel discount or cap changes everything downstream of the percentage, and only your agreement says whether you have one.
Our parcel audit reconciles fuel on every line against the published index and the right base each week, and fuel terms are one of the first things our contract negotiation work looks at, because a fuel discount applies to every package you send.
Frequently asked questions
How is the UPS or FedEx fuel surcharge calculated?
The carrier takes a published fuel price, diesel for ground services and US Gulf Coast jet fuel for air, finds the band it falls in on the carrier's published table, and applies that band's percentage to shipments for the week. The percentage is multiplied by the net transportation charge after your discount, and by most surcharges.
Is the fuel surcharge applied before or after my discount?
After. It is calculated on the net charge, so a 50% incentive halves the dollars of fuel on the transportation charge. Unless your agreement provides otherwise, a fuel charge calculated on the list rate is an overcharge.
How often do fuel surcharges change?
Every week, on Monday. Both carriers publish the coming week's percentage in advance and keep a history of past weeks on their websites.
Why is UPS's fuel surcharge different from FedEx's in the same week?
Each carrier publishes its own table, and the tables differ, so the same diesel price produces different percentages. In the week of September 28, 2026 the ground surcharge was 29.75% at FedEx and 30.25% at UPS. A carrier can also revise its table at any time, which changes the gap.
Is the UPS or FedEx fuel surcharge higher?
In most recent weeks, UPS. Over the thirteen weeks from July 6 to September 28, 2026, the UPS ground percentage was above FedEx's in ten weeks, level in two and below in one, typically by half a point. Domestic air followed the same pattern. The percentages apply to each carrier's own net charges, so the fuel dollars on a package depend on the base rate as well as the percentage.
Can fuel surcharges be negotiated?
Yes. Agreements can carry a discount off the published percentage, a cap on it, or a different table. Because fuel applies to nearly every package and most surcharges, a fuel term is often one of the most valuable items in a renegotiation.
Sources
- FedEx, fuel surcharge and historical fuel surcharge pages, for the FedEx Ground percentage for the week of September 28, 2026, retrieved September 27, 2026.
- UPS, fuel surcharges, for the UPS Ground percentage, the ground index table and the two-week lag, retrieved September 27, 2026.
- FedEx, Standard List Rates, effective January 5, 2026, FedEx Ground, for the zone 6 list rate.