Peak season
From Black Friday to the end of the year, networks add supplements, cap volumes, move cut-offs and slow down. Plan stock, carriers and customer messages around it in October.
The fourth quarter is when a parcel operation is tested. Volumes in the networks rise sharply from Black Friday, the last Friday of November, through to the last shipping days before Christmas, and every part of the chain runs closer to its limit. The networks respond in predictable ways, which means the season can be planned.
Network changes
Many networks add a peak charge for a set window around the end of the year, per parcel or per kilogram of billable weight, announced each autumn. Some agree a daily or weekly allocation with each shipper for the peak weeks and charge more, or refuse collection, above it. The last collection time of the day can move earlier, and the last day to ship for delivery before Christmas differs by network and by destination. Transit times stretch too; a lane that is next-day in October is often two days in December, and cross-border lanes slow most.
National holidays add their own gaps. Each country closes on different days, so a parcel crossing a border over a holiday weekend can lose two working days on one side and none on the other.
Every network slows down in December. Your plan decides whether your customers notice.
Stock first
The parcel cannot leave before the stock arrives. Inbound containers for the season need to land early enough to be received and put away before the first promotion, and receiving sites are at their busiest in November too. When the warehouse sees incoming stock about a week ahead, item by item, space and staff can be planned for it; Your warehouse or 3PL covers how that works.
Carriers second
Agree the peak allocation with each network in October, from your own forecast by lane, and keep a second carrier live on the lanes that matter most. When one network caps a lane or misses a collection, a second one already connected takes the volume the same day. On Next Horizon both can be live on one account, and the rule you set at label time decides which rate each parcel takes, so moving volume between networks is a change to the rule.
Customers third
Publish the last order dates for delivery before the holidays, by country, and set the delivery promise at checkout to the slower December transit times. Tell customers when a parcel is late before they ask: delays and carrier exceptions surface in your account as they happen, against the order, and the customers of a batch stuck at one hub can be notified in one action from the Tracking page.
Peak cost on our rates
On our rates in France and the UK, peak supplements appear at the carrier's price with zero markup, as their own lines against the parcels that carried them, so the cost of the season is visible per order rather than buried in a rate. The invoice audit checks that each supplement falls inside the carrier's announced window and applies to the parcel it was billed on.
Questions we get asked.
When do peak supplements start?
Each network announces its own window, typically from late October or November into January. The dates and amounts are published in the autumn.
What happens if we go over our agreed peak volume?
It depends on the network: a higher charge for the excess, a later collection, or a refusal. A second carrier already connected keeps the parcels moving.
Should we change our delivery promise in December?
Yes, to match the slower transit times, especially on cross-border lanes.
Can we see the peak cost per order?
On our rates, yes. Each supplement is its own line against the parcel it was billed on.
Related pages.
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