FedEx 'remote surcharge' applies to Wrangell, much of Alaska

Shoppers who have items shipped via FedEx can probably assume higher charges come the end of the month.

On Jan. 30, a surcharge of $13.25 per package will be added to any delivery the company has deemed “remote.” The fee applies to FedEx Express and FedEx Ground services and covers Wrangell and most of Alaska outside of Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Ketchikan.

Rival delivery company UPS last year instituted its own remote-area surcharge, which increased to $13.05 per package in the Lower 48 on Dec. 27, up from $12 last year, and as much as $38 to remote areas of Alaska, an increase from $34 last year.

The FedEx remote surcharge is one of several increases implemented in the company’s overall list of fees for 2023. About 3 million people reside in roughly 4,000 ZIP codes in the U.S. that the company has placed in the remote category. Of the 235 ZIP codes in Alaska, 210 are in the remote category.

Both residential and commercial deliveries will be charged the remote fee.

It will be up to each shipper whether to pass on all or some of the surcharge to its customers or to absorb the added expense. In addition, some large-volume shippers may have provisions in their contracts with FedEx that address surcharges, such as limiting their application, a company spokesman said Saturday.

It also is unclear from the FedEx announcement how the surcharge might apply to packages brought by FedEx to Juneau or Anchorage — not considered remote — and then turned over to the U.S. Postal Service for delivery to a final remote destination, such as Wrangell.

FedEx did not respond to Sentinel questions for more information.

Separate from the remote surcharge, FedEx and UPS both raised their general rates 6.9% for 2023, their largest annual increase ever.

The rate hikes are due to inflation driving up fuel and other costs, cited in a Sept. 22 FedEx earnings call by CEO Raj Subramaniam: “We did not anticipate … the tremendous inflation of costs that hit us squarely last year.”

Though businesses in the Lower 48 may sometimes have alternative shipping companies to FedEx and UPS, those are often the only two outside of the U.S. Postal Service that deliver to most Alaska communities.