The WSJ reports: “A 36% rise in retail gas prices since early December is causing delivery companies, cruise lines, taxis, electric utilities, garbage collectors, landscapers, pizza chains and numerous other businesses nationwide to either tack on extra fees to the basic consumer price or to increase existing fuel surcharges.
“United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. this week boosted add-on fees for packages delivered by ground to 3.75% of the shipping rate from the previous 3.5%. FedEx also raised its U.S. air-shipment fuel surcharge to 13.5% of the shipping rate, up from 12%. The increases affect roughly 19 million shipments a day, and consumers now pay an extra $2 on each air delivery and about 25 cents on ground items because of fuel surcharges by UPS and FedEx. Yesterday, the U.S. Postal Service proposed a three-cent increase in the price of a 39-cent stamp, partly because of rising fuel costs. The post office doesn’t use fuel surcharges. A-1 Limousine Inc. in Princeton, N.J., lifted its fuel surcharge to 12% from 10% a week sooner than planned after gas prices jumped more than 20 cents a gallon in a week.”
Airlines are also raising fees: “Last month, AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and Delta Air Lines increased add-on fees on many international flights by $10 to $19 each way. ” For background read “The Oil Crisis and its Impact on the Air Cargo Industry”