Every year, this time of year, America's parcel delivery heavyweights FedEx (FDX -0.40%) and UPS unveil their latest plans to raise the rates Americans pay for shipping.
Two weeks ago, UPS laid out its plans for near-across-the-board rate hikes of 4.9% on its delivery services, and yesterday, FedEx followed suit. In an announcement that went out just after market-close Thursday, FedEx confirmed that it will be matching UPS's 4.9% rate hike on shipments via FedEx Ground, FedEx Home Delivery, and also FedEx SmartPost, the service where FedEx uses its own facilities to move a package close to its intended recipient, then hands the packaged off to the U.S. Postal Service for "last mile" delivery.
FedEx had previously announced higher rates and surcharges for FedEx Express shipments. Those rates are going up by an average of 3.9% for U.S. domestic, U.S. export and U.S. import shipments.
All of these rate increases are slated to go into effect on Jan. 6, 2014.
