UPS announced it will begin levying peak surcharges for packages shipped to homes during the busiest periods of the holiday shipping season.

Sandy Springs-based UPS's surcharges will add 97 cents per packages shipped via second-day air residential service Dec. 17-23.

For next day air residential service, there will be an 81 cent surcharge per package Dec. 17-23.

And packages sent via ground to residences will cost an extra 27 cents if shipped Nov. 19-Dec. 2, or Dec. 17-23.

UPS said the peak surcharges are aimed at covering extra costs it incurs during volume surges, including the cost of adding air and truck cargo capacity, temporary facilities and staff.

"UPS flexes its delivery network to process near double our already massive regular daily volume, and that creates exceptional demands," UPS chief commercial officer Alan Gershenhorn said in a written statement.

The shipping giant is also adding peak surcharges for larger, heavier or unusually shaped packages that "create even greater operational complexity during high-demand periods," with UPS encouraging customers shipping such items to use UPS Freight instead of its package shipping service.

About the Author

Keep Reading

Blue heron are just one of the hundreds of kinds of animals and plants that call the Okefenokee Swamp home. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Featured

The renovation of Jekyll Island's Great Dunes golf course includes nine holes designed by Walter Travis in the 1920s for the members of the Jekyll Island Club. Several holes that were part of the original layout where located along the beach and were bulldozed in the 1950s.(Photo by Austin Kaseman)

Credit: Photo by Austin Kaseman