FedEx published new fuel-surcharge tables effective November 9. At matching fuel-price bands, Ground and domestic package surcharges rise 1.5 percentage points.

That is a change to the formula, not a weekly index movement. Your cost goes up without the box, service, or destination changing.

The carrier's notice shows no original announcement date. The effective date is confirmed in its November 9 rate tables.

The Same Fuel Price Costs More

Take the diesel band from $6.34 to below $6.43 per gallon. The existing Ground table assigns 29.25%. The replacement assigns 30.75%.

For domestic package services tied to jet fuel, the band from $4.61 to below $4.66 moves from 33.25% to 34.75%.

Those are comparisons at an unchanged index level, not predictions of what you pay next week.

The distinction matters when explaining a higher bill. A weekly index movement changes where your shipment falls in the table. A table revision changes the charge attached to that position. Both hit the invoice, and they can move in opposite directions.

UPS made a similar formula change effective November 2. This is FedEx's own schedule, separate from that one.

One Percentage Does Not Cover Every Service

The replacement Ground table names Ground, Home Delivery, International Ground, and pickup services. The domestic air package table also covers US-to-Puerto Rico package services. Express freight runs on a separate schedule denominated in dollars per rated pound.

None of that establishes a matching increase for every international air shipment, every LTL shipment, or every label bought through a marketplace. Keep the service names in your model aligned with what appears on the invoice.

FedEx says the customer agreement governs fuel calculations. If your warehouse buys labels through its own account, ask which terms reach your business. A public table and a negotiated bill are different documents.

Request a sample invoice showing the fuel percentage and the amount it applies to. Being told your account has a transportation discount does not tell you whether it has fuel concessions.

Run It Against Contribution

Take a package with $20 in charges subject to fuel. A 1.5-percentage-point increase adds 30 cents, assuming the basis holds.

Across 5,000 identical shipments, that is $1,500. If each order previously contributed $5 after variable costs, the extra 30 cents cuts contribution by 6%.

That does not mean FedEx raised the invoice by 6%, or by 1.5%. The first describes the effect on this example's profit. The second describes the change in the surcharge rate on eligible charges.

Use your own shipment mix. A business running cheap local parcels alongside occasional bulky orders should calculate those groups separately. An average label cost hides a much larger increase on the products already closest to losing money.

Keep Fuel and Holiday Fees in Separate Columns

Holiday demand surcharges on standard and oversized packages run on their own seasonal schedules. Do not overwrite those when updating fuel.

For your highest-volume shipping profiles, keep transportation charge, accessorials, seasonal fees, fuel basis, and fuel rate as separate inputs. That makes it possible to identify what moved when an invoice differs from the label estimate.

Before switching carriers, compare complete delivered cost using the same carton, destination, and service commitment. Moving volume can change negotiated discounts, pickup arrangements, and warehouse handling. A lower fuel percentage alone does not make a shipment cheaper.

Send your shipping provider the new table and ask for an account-specific comparison across your ten most common package profiles. Then reconcile the first invoices covering November 9 shipments, and keep a copy of the applicable schedule and contract terms so any discrepancy traces back to a specific calculation.