Season: Managing Shipping Peaks with GLS
Parcel shipping – like many industries – is subject to seasonal fluctuations. Especially in certain months, such as around Christmas or in spring, parcel volumes increase significantly. These so-called peak periods present challenges for both senders and logistics providers. To ensure your parcels arrive on time and reliably even during high-volume periods, GLS provides maximum flexibility and capacity. Learn how we tackle seasonal challenges together – and why the seasonal surcharge is a fair solution for maintaining a stable service.
Seasonal Shipping with GLS: Flexible. Reliable. On Time.
Whether it's seasonal goods, promotional campaigns or parcel and goods shipping at Christmas – with GLS you are well equipped even during high-volume periods. We safeguard your delivery capability with flexible resources, ensuring your customers receive their deliveries on time. Rely on a partner who stands by your side reliably, even during seasonal fluctuations.
Understanding the Seasonal Surcharge
Seasonal fluctuations in shipping volumes are a well-known challenge in the logistics sector. Especially during the main season in spring and autumn, additional capacities in personnel, vehicles and infrastructure must be made available at short notice. At GLS, our commitment remains the same: to deliver your parcels quickly, safely and reliably – even when volumes suddenly surge.
What is the Seasonal Surcharge?
The seasonal surcharge is a moderate additional fee applied during clearly defined seasonal periods to offset the increased logistical effort caused by seasonal shipping peaks. For business customers, this mainly provides planning security: even when parcel volumes rise sharply during the season, GLS ensures that sufficient capacities – whether additional staff, vehicles or sorting performance – are available.
This allows companies to guarantee timely deliveries to their customers without having to invest in short-term, expensive logistics solutions themselves. The seasonal surcharge helps maintain GLS’s high service quality even during peak times – a fair solution to ensure smooth shipping processes, especially when it matters most.
Shipping Peaks in the Parcel Industry
Whether it’s Christmas deliveries, seasonal promotions or special campaigns – typical shipping peaks in the parcel sector can be planned, but still pose challenges for companies every year. The pre-Christmas period and seasonal peaks in spring, in particular, lead to significantly increased shipping volumes, especially in e-commerce and retail.
Business customers should incorporate these phases into their logistics planning early to maintain stable supply chains and ensure customer satisfaction. The reasons for these peaks include not only the classic Christmas deliveries but also seasonal product offers and events such as Black Friday.
Spring Peak Season: 1 April to 31 May
In spring, seasonal goods such as garden items, spring fashion or promotional goods for holidays like Easter dominate parcel shipping. The start of the outdoor season also contributes to increased shipping volumes.
Autumn/Winter Peak Season: 1 October to 31 December
The main season in autumn and winter is characterised by parcel shipping for Christmas, Black Friday campaigns and winter products. Gifts, electronics, fashion and seasonal decorations account for the majority of consignments in the winter season.
Managing Seasonal Shipping with GLS
Whether spring or winter: at GLS, we ensure your parcels are delivered reliably even during extreme volume fluctuations. Thanks to our flexible resource planning and additional capacity, you remain able to deliver – even during peak season.
The seasonal surcharge enables us to fairly distribute this additional effort while maintaining the high level of service you expect from GLS. As a GLS business customer, you also benefit from many other express services. This way, your parcels arrive safely and promptly at their destination – even during periods of high shipping demand!
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