This guide answers frequently asked questions to help you navigate the challenges of peak season. You can find information about current peak season surcharges in Peak and Other Carrier Surcharges.

Peak surcharges

Q: What are peak surcharges, and how do they work?
A: Peak surcharges are additional fees that carriers apply during high-demand periods. These surcharges help carriers manage capacity constraints during the busiest shipping season and include demand, residential delivery, large package, and additional handling surcharges. Windows vary by carrier, and some run past January; current windows are listed in Peak and Other Carrier Surcharges.

Q: How are peak surcharges calculated and applied?
A: Surcharge calculation varies by carrier. Some carriers use fixed fees applied to all shipments, while others use tiered pricing based on your volume compared to baseline (a baseline period set by the carrier). Different surcharges may apply to different service levels.

Q: How do I manage tiered pricing for peak season surcharges?
A: Some carriers, like UPS and FedEx, use a tiered pricing model for peak season surcharges based on your shipping volume. Update your volume tier weekly in the Shipium Console, in your fulfillment context settings for the carrier contract. The tier determines which volume-based peak surcharges apply when Shipium rates your shipments.

Q: How can I minimize peak surcharge costs?
A: Strategies to reduce surcharge impact:

Use ground services when possible; they typically have lower surcharges than express services.
Optimize packaging to avoid dimensional weight penalties.
Diversify carriers to take advantage of competitive pricing.
Consider regional carriers, which may have lower peak surcharges.

Q: When do peak surcharges start and end?
A: Dates vary by carrier and service level, and some carriers run different windows for different surcharges within the same season. Current windows for each carrier are listed in Peak and Other Carrier Surcharges.

Q: How do I opt out of peak surcharges?
A: Generally, peak surcharges are mandatory fees from carriers and cannot be opted out of. However, some carriers offer negotiated rates that include flat pricing, and regional or alternative carriers may have different (or no) peak surcharges. In addition, consolidating volume with preferred carriers may qualify you for better peak pricing. Your carrier representatives can discuss any available options for your account.

Configuration and setup

Q: How do I set up my carrier accounts for peak season?
A: Follow these steps:

Verify all carrier credentials are current and haven't expired.
Test each carrier integration with sample shipments.
Configure backup carrier options; see Carrier Integration and Shipping Labels for how failover works.
Set up appropriate shipping rules and cost optimization preferences.
Review and update any carrier-specific settings (pickup times, cutoff times).

Q: How do I configure shipping rules for holiday operations?
A: To optimize for peak season:

Update your carrier selection rules to account for increased transit times.
Configure service level priorities based on expected carrier performance.
Set appropriate cost vs. speed trade-offs for your business needs.
Review and update any address validation rules.
Configure Saturday delivery options if needed.

Q: How do I account for holidays and changed cutoff times during peak?
A: Your origin schedule sets shipping days, weekday and weekend shipping cutoffs, and the holidays observed at that fulfillment center. A carrier schedule sets the pickup days, cutoff times, and holidays for a specific carrier at that origin. Where a carrier schedule is configured, it overrides the origin schedule for that carrier rather than adding to it. Where no carrier schedule applies, the origin schedule is used. See Origins and Carrier Schedule.

Q: Can I cap how much volume goes to a carrier during peak?
A: Yes. Shipium supports shipment count limits, dynamic shipment count limits, and shipment cost limits. See Schedule and Shipment Limits.

Q: How should I test my setup before peak?
A: Test mode lets you exercise carrier selection and label generation without creating real labels. Requests go to the carrier’s sandbox and no postage is charged. You can set test mode in an individual API call, or on a carrier method for a carrier account in the Shipium Console. Before peak, check that no carrier method has been left in test mode in the Console: those methods are not considered for selection on production calls. See Label Test Mode.

Q: How do I void or cancel a label?
A: You can find information about label voiding in Cancel a Shipment.

Q: I'm getting authentication errors. What should I check?
A: Authentication failures typically indicate expired carrier account credentials, incorrect credential format or configuration, carrier account status issues (suspended, inactive), or third-party billing configuration problems.

Steps to resolve:

Verify credentials directly in your carrier account.
Re-enter credentials in the Shipium Console if needed.
Check that your carrier account is active and in good standing.
Contact Shipium Support if the issue persists after verification.

Carrier integration and shipping labels

Q: What should I do if I'm experiencing label generation failures?
A: Label generation failures during peak season are often caused by:

Carrier API timeouts or errors. Carrier systems can become overwhelmed during high-volume periods.
Incorrect carrier credentials. Ensure your carrier account credentials are up-to-date and properly configured.
Third-party billing configuration issues. Verify your third-party billing settings if applicable.

Q: Why am I seeing "NO_CARRIER_FOUND" errors?
A: This error typically occurs when:

No carrier service methods are configured for your shipment origin.
Your carrier credentials are not properly linked to the shipping location.
The destination address falls outside the carrier's service area.
Carrier service method configurations have been changed or removed.

Solution: Verify that your fulfillment contexts have appropriate carrier accounts configured and that service methods are properly mapped.

Q: How can I reduce the risk of carrier API failures during peak?
A: Best practices include:

Process shipments earlier in the day when carrier systems are less congested.
Implement retry logic in your integration to handle temporary timeouts.
Monitor for alerts from Shipium about carrier service disruptions.
Have backup carrier options configured, with Allow Label Failover enabled for the carriers you want covered.
Test your integration thoroughly before peak season begins.

Q: What happens if a carrier has an outage during peak?
A: If you have enabled Allow Label Failover for a carrier, Shipium can produce the label with another carrier when something prevents the first-choice carrier’s label from being produced. Failover can result in using a more expensive carrier than the one originally selected, and the shipment’s label record shows which carrier actually shipped it. See Carrier Failover. You can also subscribe to per-carrier status and maintenance notices at Shipium Service Status.

Shipium Console

Q: Why isn't my dashboard data updating?
A: Dashboard data can lag during periods of high volume. If the data you are seeing looks out of date and does not catch up, contact Shipium Support.

Q: I can't log in to the portal. What should I do?
A: Login issues are usually caused by:

Browser cache or cookies issues. Try clearing browser cache or using incognito mode.
Password expiration. Use the "Forgot Password" option to reset.
Account access changes. Contact your company administrator.
Browser compatibility. Ensure you're using a supported browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari).

Q: What are the busiest times, and how can I avoid them?
A: Congestion builds during end-of-day processing, on Mondays after weekend order accumulation, and on the final shipping days before major holidays.

Best practices:

Process shipments throughout the day rather than in bulk batches.
Start label generation early in your operational window.
Stagger large batch processes when possible.

Data and reporting

Q: Why do my shipment counts not match between different reports?
A: Discrepancies can occur due to different time periods or date ranges in report filters, data aggregation timing differences, status changes that occurred between report generations, or different filtering criteria (e.g., test mode shipments included/excluded).

Best practice: For reconciliation, export raw shipment data and use consistent date ranges and filters.

Q: How can I download a report of all my shipments?
A: You can find information about exporting shipment data in Export Shipment Data.

Q: What data should I monitor during peak season?
A: Key metrics to track:

Daily shipment volume and processing rate
Carrier performance and on-time delivery rates
Label generation success rates
Manifesting completion status
Cost per shipment and total shipping spend
Failed or error shipments requiring attention

Manifesting and end-of-day processing

Q: What is manifesting, and why is it important?
A: Manifesting (also called end-of-day processing) is the process of closing out the day's shipments with each carrier, generating pickup lists and paperwork, confirming which packages will be picked up, and completing carrier billing reconciliation.

Q: What time should I complete manifesting?
A: Best practices:

Complete manifesting before your carrier pickup time.
Allow at least 30-60 minutes before pickup.
Earlier is better during peak season to avoid processing delays.
Some carriers require manifesting by specific cutoff times.

Automated manifesting: Shipium can automatically manifest shipments at scheduled times; you can configure this in your account settings.

Q: What should I do if manifesting fails?
A: Manifest failures during peak typically result from carrier API timeouts during high-volume periods, individual shipment errors preventing batch completion, or network connectivity issues.

Immediate actions:

Check the manifest error details for specific shipment issues.
Correct any problematic shipments.
Retry the manifest operation.
Contact Shipium Support if failures persist for more than 15 minutes.

Critical: Don't let unmanifested shipments go to carrier pickup, as they may be rejected.

Q: Can I manifest multiple times per day?
A: Yes. You can manifest:

As frequently as needed throughout the day.
Separately for different carriers.
Separately for different origin locations.
On-demand via the console or API.

Peak season tip: Manifesting in smaller batches throughout the day can reduce the risk of end-of-day bulk processing failures.

Q: How do I know if my manifest completed successfully?
A: Successful manifests show:

"Completed" status in the console.
All shipments moved to "Manifested" status.
Manifest documents available for download.
Confirmation numbers from the carrier (for some carriers).