After its costs soared during the recent disappointing holiday shipping season, UPS said it's applying surcharges for residential packages.
The Atlanta-based company had mobilized more workers and equipment for an anticipated surge in holiday packages, according to Reuters, but the extra business failed to materialize. The additional costs primarily affected the company's domestic ground package unit.
As a result of a poor quarter, UPS Chief Executive Officer David Abney said on a conference call that the company would apply surcharges for residential packages in particular. The additional charges will be applied over several years as contracts with major customers are renegotiated.
"These pricing strategies will be designed to ensure we are properly compensated for the value we provide," Abney said.
UPS went through a second consecutive challenging peak season. In 2013, the company was caught off-guard by a late rush of online packages that left an estimated 1.3 million parcels undelivered on Christmas Eve.
UPS spent $500 million last year on network improvements and worked closely with retail customers to prevent a repeat of the miscues in late 2013, but the rising popularity of e-commerce made forecasting volumes a moving target.
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