Supply Chain Shakeup  //   May 25, 2026

Brands are getting creative as fuel costs raise shipping fees

By Melissa Daniels
A package sits on a doorstep while a dog can be seen barking through the window
Ivy Liu

Major carriers are implementing new fuel surcharges, pushing more e-commerce brands to get creative with their shipping options.

Effective last week, UPS now has surge emergency fees for goods coming from India, China and Hong Kong to the United States. There’s also a $0.32-per-pound fee for goods shipped internationally from the United States and a $1.50-per-pound fee for those going to Israel or the United Arab Emirates. The fees are in effect until further notice. In late April, the U.S. Postal Service implemented a temporary 8% fuel surcharge that will stay in place until at least January 2027.

Josh Steinitz, chief strategy officer at shipping and logistics company Auctane, said fuel surcharges are a way carriers can adjust for their own higher costs of doing business without affecting base rates. It’s particularly common at USPS, where there are legal regulations on what kinds of price hikes can be made.

To help mitigate costs, Steinitz said e-commerce companies are shopping around more before selecting a carrier. They’re taking into account not only rates but also delivery speed, as well as the bulk requirements that may be necessary for larger-volume orders.

“This has really made logistics a strategic choice and point of differentiation, as opposed to a commoditized function you plug in at checkout,” he said.

Steinitz said ShipStation, a shipping software company for brands owned by Auctane, is also seeing increased usage of AI-powered tools to help automate fulfillment more efficiently. Some brands may be willing to subsidize faster shipping for higher-priced items, for example, while choosing slower speeds and user-paid shipping for lower-value orders.

Higher fuel costs also mean that companies are shipping more inventory to the United States ahead of forecast demand, Steinitz said. It’s a strategy that’s become more common since the end of the de minimis exemption, which let packages up to $800 be sent into the United States duty-free.

But with no clear end in sight to higher fuel costs due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Steinitz said there could be further impacts to brands beyond the latest surcharges. Carriers operate with around 15% margins, he said, which could get quickly eaten away if fuel costs continue to spike.

“It’s no longer the kind of thing where you can set it and forget it, and just do one deal with my one carrier,” he said. “It’s really forcing merchants of all types and sizes to think strategically about how they optimize this.”

The week in tariffs

  • Walmart is among the thousands of companies that have applied for tariff refunds through the new online U.S. Customs and Border Protection portal. As NPR reports, the retailer says it may put the proceeds toward lowering prices as its brands and vendors grapple with higher operational costs. But as we’ve reported, the math may not work for smaller brands that didn’t have the balance sheet to absorb higher tariffs last year.
  • The European Union and the United States finally reached a trade deal agreement, reports AP, that will cap tariffs on most E.U. exports at 15%. The deal also says tariffs on U.S. industrial goods will be reduced to zero.

What we’ve covered

Walmart warns it may have to raise prices due to fuel costs

MR’s Mitchell Parton reports that Walmart is warning of potential price hikes due to higher fuel prices and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. CFO John David Rainey said these have “real impacts to cost of goods sold for us and our suppliers,” with the retailer itself absorbing about $175 million in unanticipated fuel prices in its global distribution and fulfillment operations.”

“If the current elevated cost environment persists, we expect somewhat higher retail price inflation in Q2 and the second half of the year,” Rainey said.

Brands are finally bringing resale into stores

The resale world has boomed thanks to online platforms like Poshmark, ThredUp, Mercari and eBay. More recently, brands are getting a cut of the resale pie with their own branded resale operations online. Now some are starting to put the goods in stores.

MR’s Julia Waldow reports that Pacsun brought its resale concept, PS Vintage, to 16 of its retail stores across the U.S. The concept, which is located in a separate part of the floor from full-price merchandise, has already seen a 20% sell-through rate in top-performing stores.

Meredith Blechman, vp of marketing at Archive, a resale technology platform that works with partners like The North Face and Faherty, said it’s the natural next step for the sector. “I’m talking to pretty much all of our brands about that now. … That wasn’t necessarily even a conversation we were having a year ago.”

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