As Gomer Pyle used to say, “Surprise, surprise, surprise!”
FedEx has announced that they too will be increasing their ground and home rates on January 5. The price increase will be an average of 6.9%.
Wait a second, isn’t that the same as UPS?
Yes, it is. UPS and FedEx have the same base rates for ground service.
When a company named RPS started in 1985, they came out with the same base rates as UPS but with something new—a discount! To my knowledge, UPS did not give discounts prior to then, but to remain competitive began discounting as well. FedEx purchased RPS in 2000 and kept the same pricing policy. So that is why it is not surprising to see this price announcement.
However, just because they are the same, does not mean that you should not compare rates and services between carriers. I wouldn’t compare UPS Ground to FedEx Ground because a shipper will have a better discount with one of the two. So ground shipping will always be less with the carrier that provided the better discount.
I would suggest that you compare service and prices with the US Post Office, regional carriers, international carriers, and for heavier weights, Less than Truckload (LTL) carriers.
Posted by mtaylortec 
