Fuel surcharges update every week and can add 20%+ to your base shipping rate. This tracker pulls the current EIA diesel price automatically and calculates what UPS and FedEx are charging right now — and how it's trended over the past 8 weeks.
How it works: UPS updates surcharges every Monday based on the prior week's EIA diesel price. FedEx updates every Wednesday. Both use the U.S. national average on-highway diesel price published by the Energy Information Administration.
Showing national average. Select your region for a more accurate surcharge estimate.
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Enter your base shipping rate to see what this week's fuel surcharge costs you.
| Week of | Diesel $/gal | UPS Ground | FedEx Ground | Change |
|---|
Data: U.S. EIA National Average On-Highway Diesel Fuel Price. UPS surcharges effective Monday following EIA release. FedEx effective Wednesday.
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A fuel surcharge is a percentage of your base shipping rate added to every invoice by UPS and FedEx to offset the cost of diesel and jet fuel. It's not a flat fee — it scales with your shipping spend. A $200 base rate with a 22% surcharge adds $44 to the bill. On 500 shipments per month that's $22,000/month in fuel surcharges alone.
The rate changes every week, and the carriers have updated their surcharge tables — the formulas that convert diesel prices into surcharge percentages — multiple times in 2025 and 2026. This means surcharges go up even when diesel prices stay flat. How fuel surcharge tables work →
| Service | Index used | Updates | Current range (2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPS Ground / Ground Saver | EIA On-Highway Diesel | Every Monday | 21.00–24.00% |
| UPS Air (NDA, 2DA, 3DS) | EIA USGC Jet Fuel | Every Monday | 20.75–23.75% |
| FedEx Ground / Home Delivery | DOE On-Highway Diesel | Every Wednesday | 21.50–24.50% |
| FedEx Express | DOE USGC Jet Fuel | Every Wednesday | Varies by service |
The current rate is shown live at the top of this page, updated automatically from the EIA diesel price index. UPS Ground surcharges currently range 21.00%–24.00% depending on the week's diesel price (March 2026 table).
UPS uses the prior week's EIA national average on-highway diesel price. Each diesel price band maps to a surcharge percentage in UPS's published table. Surcharges update every Monday and apply through Sunday.
Carriers update their surcharge tables — the formulas that convert diesel prices into percentages — periodically. UPS updated its table in January 2026 and March 2026, adding 1% to every band each time. This means surcharges can increase even when fuel prices stay flat.
They use the same EIA diesel index but different tables and update on different days (UPS on Monday, FedEx on Wednesday). Rates are typically within 0.25–0.50% of each other. At $3.85 diesel, UPS Ground is 22.75% and FedEx Ground is approximately 22.25%.