Peak season 2025 is approaching fast, and the stakes have never been higher for shippers. With consumers expecting faster delivery times and carriers facing unprecedented capacity constraints, preparation isn’t just recommended—it’s essential for peak season (and long-term) success.

Last year’s peak season taught us that reactive shipping strategies lead to costly surprises. Shippers who waited until the middle of November to address capacity issues faced service disruptions, skyrocketing costs, and disappointed customers. 

This year, shippers face unique challenges, including economic uncertainties, evolving consumer behaviors, and a continued strain on logistics networks. However, with the right preparation strategy, you can turn these challenges into competitive advantages. Here are 6 ways UPS and FedEx shippers can prepare for peak season 2025.

What is Peak Season?

Peak season is characterized by a surge in shipping volumes, primarily driven by holiday shopping and year-end business activities, typically spanning mid-October through early January.

This volume surge creates significant capacity constraints across the shipping network. Major carriers implement peak season surcharges, adjust service commitments, and may limit package acceptance from high-volume shippers. Understanding these dynamics early allows you to develop strategies that minimize disruptions and control costs.

The 2025 peak season also introduces new variables, including updated carrier pricing structures, evolving delivery expectations, and potential supply chain disruptions that could extend peak conditions beyond traditional timeframes. Let’s dive into 6 tips to streamline shipping for peak season.

Get A Clear Picture of Your Shipping Profile

Understanding your shipping profile becomes critical during peak season when every package and every dollar counts. Your shipping profile encompasses everything from package characteristics and destination patterns to service level preferences and cost drivers. Without this baseline knowledge, you’re essentially flying blind through the most expensive shipping period of the year.

Start by analyzing your historical peak season data from the past two years. Look beyond basic metrics like total packages shipped and examine the details that carriers use to price your business. 

  • What are your average package weights and dimensions? 
  • How are your shipments distributed across residential versus commercial deliveries? 
  • What percentage of your volume goes to zones with the highest costs?

Peak season amplifies existing inefficiencies in your shipping profile. If you typically ship heavy packages to remote zones, expect those costs to escalate dramatically when peak surcharges apply. If your packages consistently exceed dimensional weight thresholds, those penalties become even more expensive during high-demand periods.

Negotiate Surcharges and Demand Fees

One of the most effective ways to limit peak season fees is to secure surcharge discounts or waivers from carriers through direct negotiations. While many shippers assume peak surcharges are non-negotiable, carriers often provide concessions to retain valuable customers and maintain shipping volumes.

The key to successful negotiations lies in timing and leverage. Start conversations with your carrier representatives well before peak season begins, when carriers are planning capacity allocation rather than scrambling to manage demand.

Focus your negotiations on the surcharges that will impact you most significantly:

  • Peak season surcharges on ground and air services
  • Large package surcharges for oversized items
  • UPS demand surcharges that fluctuate based on capacity constraints
  • Residential delivery fees, which often increase during peak

Present your shipping volume commitments as negotiating power. Carriers want predictable volume during peak season, and they’re willing to offer rate concessions in exchange for guaranteed shipments. If you can commit to specific weekly volumes or agree to ship during off-peak days, you strengthen your position considerably.

Prepare For Delays

Peak season delays are inevitable, but smart shippers plan for them rather than react to them. 

Build buffer time into your shipping schedules well before peak season begins. What normally takes 2-3 business days for ground delivery may require 4-5 days during peak periods. UPS and FedEx typically suspend service guarantees during their busiest weeks, meaning you can’t rely on standard transit commitments.

It’s not always carrier capacity that can delay shipments—weather events compound peak season challenges significantly. Winter storms that might cause minor disruptions during normal periods can create week-long backlogs when carriers are already operating at capacity. Monitor weather forecasts closely and adjust shipping schedules proactively rather than waiting for service alerts.

Amp Up Your Technology

Peak season demands more than basic shipping software—you need advanced technology that can adapt to rapidly changing conditions and optimize decisions in real-time. Parcel Spend Management 2.0 represents a fundamental shift toward data-driven shipping strategies that leverage artificial intelligence and predictive analytics.

Key technological capabilities for peak season success include:

  • Real-time carrier performance monitoring and service level adjustment insights
  • Predictive modeling to showcase how cost changes can impact spend
  • Profitability analysis at the SKU, product, or order level, to pinpoint exactly which items are incurring unexpected fees and surcharges

Reveel’s PSM 2.0 platform combines these capabilities with modeling and simulation tools that allow shippers to test different scenarios before peak season begins. You can also compare carrier agreements side by side to ensure you choose the best agreement. 

Diversify Your Shipping Carrier Mix

Relying on a single carrier during peak season is like putting all your eggs in one basket—when capacity constraints hit, you have nowhere to turn. A diversified carrier strategy provides flexibility to adapt when your primary carriers reach volume limits or experience service disruptions.

Alternative carriers can become your safety net during peak season. Regional and emerging carriers, such as Veho and OnTrac, have significantly expanded their capabilities and coverage areas in recent years, allowing you to stay within budget and satisfy your customers.

Evaluate and Review Shipping Performance

Peak season generates massive amounts of performance data that most shippers never fully analyze. This data contains insights that can transform your shipping strategy for the following year and identify immediate opportunities for improvement during the current peak period.

On-time delivery performance becomes your most critical metric during peak season, but don’t stop there. Track these additional key performance indicators:

  • Cost per package
  • Damage and claims rates
  • Time in transit
  • Carrier performance consistency

Reveel’s shipping intelligence software can evaluate both your on-time delivery performance and these additional metrics to model optimized alternatives. Advanced analytics can identify patterns that aren’t immediately obvious, such as specific days of the week when certain carriers consistently underperform or service levels that deliver minimal customer benefit relative to their cost.

Peak Season Success Starts With Preparation

Peak season 2025 will challenge even the most experienced shipping operations, but preparation separates successful shippers from those who struggle with disruptions and cost overruns. 

Don’t wait to implement these shipping strategies! Peak season preparation should begin now, giving you time to analyze data, negotiate agreements, test alternative carriers, and optimize your technology stack before the holiday rush begins. 

Take peak season by storm with Reveel’s Parcel Spend Management 2.0 technology. Request a demo with our team here.