Fulfill Team·November 1, 2026·Add Fulfill as a preferred source on GoogleThis guide covers what a parcel contract sets, what FedEx's list rates did from 2022 to 2027, how to negotiate, what changes when your 3PL ships on its own carrier account, and Freight & Fulfillment Optimization Advisors (FFOA), a Fulfill.com partner that negotiates carrier and 3PL contracts.
Both carriers publish rates anyone can read. FedEx publishes its Standard List Rates each year. UPS says its daily rates apply if you have a scheduled UPS pickup or a UPS contract that provides daily rates, and its retail rates if you ship from a UPS location or ship infrequently. A carrier contract changes what your account pays against those published rates.
FedEx's guidance for small businesses says a FedEx account may qualify you for discounted rates, and that a business that ships frequently might qualify for deeper volume discounts through its account rep or pricing agreement. Its Service Guide says you must use your FedEx account number to obtain any discount applicable to your account, and it refers to earned discounts on an account's charges. UPS puts it this way in its 2027 rate notice: the impact of the changes "will vary according to your shipping characteristics and the terms of your UPS agreement."
Read these terms line by line, because each one moves what you pay:
A discount is only as useful as the rate it comes off. We read FedEx's Standard List Rates for every year from 2022 to 2027 and tracked two charges on a FedEx Home Delivery parcel: the FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery rate for a 5 lb package to zone 5, and the residential surcharge FedEx adds to each Home Delivery package.
| Year | Effective | 5 lb package, zone 5 | Home Delivery residential surcharge |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | January 3, 2022 | $14.73 | $4.75 |
| 2023 | January 2, 2023 | $15.85 | $5.15 |
| 2024 | January 1, 2024 | $16.64 | $5.55 |
| 2025 | January 6, 2025 | $17.56 | $5.95 |
| 2026 | January 5, 2026 | $18.53 | $6.45 |
| 2027 | January 4, 2027 | $19.73 | $6.90 |
Over those five increases the 5 lb rate rose 33.9% and the residential surcharge rose 45.3%. The 2027 step alone is 6.5% on the 5 lb zone 5 rate and 7.0% on the surcharge, against FedEx's announced average of 5.9%, and across zones 2 to 8 the 5 lb rate rises between 6.3% and 6.7%.
Two lessons follow. An announced increase is an average across services, weights and zones, so price the increase on your own shipments. And a percentage discount off a list rate rises with that list rate, so the surcharges and minimums in your contract matter as much as the headline discount.
Your rates depend on what you ship, so start with the data:
If your 3PL ships on its own carrier account, the price you negotiate is the 3PL's, not the carrier's. Fulfill.com's 3PL pricing guide describes shipping as carrier rates passed through, sometimes with a markup or a discount from the 3PL's negotiated rates.
The two setups put the contract in different hands. On your own account, you hold the carrier contract and negotiate it, and the 3PL ships under your account number; FedEx's terms let charges be billed to the sender, the recipient or a third party whose FedEx account number is on the shipment. On the 3PL's account, the 3PL holds the contract, and you negotiate its shipping rates in your 3PL agreement. Ask the 3PL:
Put the answers in your agreement, next to the service level agreement.
Freight & Fulfillment Optimization Advisors (FFOA) is a Fulfill.com partner that works on both sides of that line. It describes itself as a performance-based, data-driven cost savings consultancy and technology firm specializing in supply chain optimization for ecommerce merchants and 3PLs. Its Fulfill.com profile lists it in Dallas, Texas, founded in 2025, and FFOA says its founder, Steve Givens, has more than 30 years of experience in fulfillment and logistics.
FFOA lists five services:
FFOA says that if its services do not yield measurable savings, there is no fee. For its fulfillment optimization work, it says there are no upfront charges for its opportunity assessment or its RFP and RFQ process management, and that it is normally paid solely from realized savings. Ask how savings are measured before you sign, because that measure sets the fee.
FFOA says its clients are typically ecommerce merchants or brands that outsource fulfillment, and the 3PLs that support them, and that most of those brands are small and midsize businesses with little or no in-house fulfillment expertise or small parcel experience. For 3PLs, it says it brings new client fulfillment opportunities and helps cut their own ocean, international air, small parcel and LTL/FTL freight costs.
You do not need an advisor to negotiate: FedEx points frequent shippers to their account rep for volume discounts, and doing it yourself costs your team's time and needs the data above. FFOA says it brings market pricing benchmarks and long-standing carrier and 3PL relationships, and its performance-based fee ties its pay to the savings. A GPO or reseller rate trades a negotiation for a preapproved rate, so compare it with what your own shipping profile could win.
You can ask. FedEx says an account may qualify you for discounted rates, and that frequent shippers might qualify for deeper volume discounts through their account rep or pricing agreement. UPS offers shipping discounts when you answer a few questions about your shipping needs.
FedEx package standard list rates rise an average of 5.9% on January 4, 2027. UPS daily rates for Ground, Air and International services rise an average net 5.9% on December 21, 2026. Your own increase depends on your services, weights, zones and agreement.
Not by itself. A percentage discount off a list rate rises with that list rate. In FedEx's 2027 list rates, a 5 lb Ground package to zone 5 rises 6.5%. Ask how your contract treats the next general rate increase.
It prices a package by its size. FedEx multiplies length, width and height in inches and divides by 139; when that exceeds the actual weight, FedEx may charge by it. A box that fits the product can lower it.
On your own account you hold the contract and negotiate it with the carrier. On your 3PL's account you negotiate the 3PL's rates, markup and surcharge pass-through instead. Either way, ask for each shipment's carrier charge so you can check it.
A group purchasing program for shipping rates. FFOA describes access, through group purchasing organizations and freight resellers, to preapproved rates across most national and regional carriers without individual negotiations. FedEx's Alliance program offers discounts to members of select industry groups.
Shipping terms are one line to compare when you choose a 3PL, next to storage, service and price. Tell us what you sell and where it ships, and we will match you with 3PLs that fit.
How we read the rates. Both charges come from the FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery table in FedEx's Standard List Rates for each year, read October 30, 2026, before any account discount. FFOA's descriptions come from its website and its Fulfill.com profile, also read October 30, 2026. Sources:
Disclosure: Freight & Fulfillment Optimization Advisors is a Fulfill.com vendor partner. Fulfill.com is paid when readers click through to its website.
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