Every year the pattern repeats: carriers announce a general rate increase, surcharges quietly expand, and another “economical” service gets discontinued or repriced. Enterprise shippers shrug — they renegotiate. Everyone else absorbs the hit.
If you’re a growing brand, the math is stacked against you by design. Let’s look at why, and then at the playbook for doing something about it.
What’s Actually Driving Your Shipping Bill Up
Duopoly pricing power. UPS and FedEx dominate US parcel, which gives them enormous leverage on rates and surcharges. If your volume isn’t big enough to matter to them, you’re a price-taker.
Carrier market shakeups. The parcel market is volatile: consolidations, restructurings, and outright exits regularly redirect huge volumes onto the remaining networks — tightening capacity and firming prices for everyone downstream.
The disappearing cheap options. USPS network changes have eliminated or restricted several of the most cost-effective workarounds, including local induction for last-mile delivery and the under-one-pound injection services that hybrid products were built on. The bargain end of the market keeps shrinking.
Surcharge creep. Fuel, residential delivery, extra handling, peak season — the base rate is only the opening bid. Surcharges are where invoices actually grow.
The Lightweight Problem
Rate pressure hits under-one-pound packages hardest. That segment leaned heavily on postal workshare services, and as those options get limited or discontinued, merchants shipping supplements, cosmetics, accessories, and small apparel are seeing some of the sharpest effective increases in the market. If most of your packages are light, carrier diversification isn’t optional anymore — it’s the whole strategy.
The Playbook
1. Diversify beyond the duopoly
Regional carriers and emerging national players often beat the big two on specific lanes and package profiles — sometimes dramatically. The hard part isn’t the rates; it’s vetting, integrating, and managing five carrier relationships instead of one.
2. Audit every invoice
Carrier invoices contain errors: inflated billable weights, misapplied surcharges, missed service refunds. At small volume it feels like pennies. Across a year, it’s real margin. If nobody’s auditing, you’re donating it.
3. Right-size your packaging
Dimensional weight pricing means you pay for space. Smaller, denser packages dodge DIM charges and oversize surcharges. It’s the one lever entirely in your control.
4. Rethink your free shipping math
Free shipping sells — but as your costs rise, yesterday’s threshold might be underwater today. Recheck it against your actual average shipping cost, and consider a threshold that nudges average order value up while covering the spend.
5. Borrow someone else’s volume
Here’s the honest truth: negotiating solo, your volume probably can’t move the needle. The alternative isn’t to give up — it’s to pool your volume with a network that already has the leverage.
Why Volume Is the Whole Game
Trellis is powered by one of the top domestic shippers in the US — thousands of merchants, tens of millions of packages a year. That scale means enterprise-level negotiating power across national and regional carriers, plus a transportation team with top-to-top carrier relationships that most brands could never justify hiring.
We analyze your shipping profile, build a custom carrier network behind a single rate card, and shift volume as the market shifts — when a carrier exits or a service gets cut, your packages reroute without you scrambling. One invoice, one dashboard, invoice auditing included. And because Trellis isn’t a fulfillment commitment, it works whether you ship in-house, through a 3PL, or via label software.
Rate increases aren’t going away. Your exposure to them can. Get a free savings analysis at shiptrellis.com — we’ll show you the numbers, no sales pitch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do shipping rates increase every year?
Carriers announce annual general rate increases (GRIs) and adjust surcharges throughout the year, driven by network costs, capacity, and — candidly — pricing power. Merchants without negotiating leverage feel the full published increase.
Are regional carriers worth it for small brands?
Often, yes — on the right lanes they can undercut national carriers meaningfully. The challenge is managing multiple carrier relationships, integrations, and invoices, which is exactly the overhead Trellis absorbs for you.
How does Trellis get better rates than I can?
Trellis aggregates the volume of thousands of merchants through one of the largest domestic shipping operations in the US, then passes the negotiated enterprise rates and terms directly to you — no volume minimums.
Do I have to change my 3PL or fulfillment setup to use Trellis?
No. Trellis layers onto your existing operation — in-house, 3PL, or label service — and integrates with tools like ShipStation, Shippo, and ShipHero. Setup is plug and play.