Accessorial fees and surcharges are a massive part of any shipper’s weekly shipping costs. Many shippers see these as a part of doing business. But there are many fees that you, as a shipper, can prevent. Address corrections happen to be a huge profit center for UPS and FedEx. 

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When a shipper inputs an incorrect address when creating a shipment, the carrier will attempt to correct this address for a hefty fee. In addition, if your package incurs a UPS address corrections fee, the on-time or it’s free guarantee is no longer effective.

What Does a UPS Address Correction Cost?

• 2024, the cost is $21.00 per package
• 2023, the cost was $19.50
• 2022, the cost was $18.00
• 2021, the price was $18.00
• 2020, the price was $17.00
• 2019, the price was $16.40
• 2018, the price was $15.90
• 2017, the cost was $13.40

UPS Change of Address Procedure

You can reroute packages online when you create a UPS.com profile and enable UPS My Choice. Rerouting will allow an address change online.

1. Log in to UPS.com to view your My Choice dashboard.
   1. Create a user ID on UPS.com. Once your address is registered, email notifications for all future deliveries will come.
2. Select Your Package:
   1. Click on “Delivery Options.” If you don’t see “Delivery Options,” the shipper has restricted this option.
3. Reroute your package to a different location or change the delivery date.
4. If that does not work, call UPS directly at 1-800-PICK-UPS.

What is a UPS Address Correction? 

The UPS address correction fee is an accessorial fee issued for shipments whose original ship-to-address does not match what UPS determines it should be. Your address must be exact but should also be in the required format. It is good practice to abbreviate any directional or street type (i.e., N, S, E, W or ST, AVE, FWY). If the abbreviation is incorrect, UPS could read it as part of the actual street name. This could then lead to an address correction charge. 

Check out this link for a USPS list of examples of suffix forms: street suffix names, street suffixes, or suffix abbreviations. USPS recommends official Postal Service standard suffix abbreviations. This is an excellent standard to follow. For more information, click here.

How do I reduce UPS address corrections on my UPS bills?

Address corrections on UPS bills often occur when the shipping address provided is incomplete, inaccurate, or outdated, leading to additional fees for the shipper. Address correction fees can quickly add up, especially for businesses that frequently ship packages. To reduce or eliminate these corrections and the associated charges:

Verify Addresses Before Shipping:

• Use address verification software: Many e-commerce platforms and shipping solutions offer address validation features that can help prevent incorrect addresses.
• Confirm with customers: Before shipping, especially for high-value items, reconfirm the address with the customer.

Educate Your Staff: Ensure your shipping team knows the importance of accurate address entries. They should understand the structure of valid addresses and the significance of each component (street number, street name, suite or apartment number, city, state, and ZIP code).

Update Your Database:

• Regularly clean and update your customer database to ensure it contains the most recent and accurate address information.
• Remove any duplicate or outdated records.
• Ask returning customers to confirm or update their address information during checkout.

Provide Clear Input Fields: On your website or order form, use clear and distinct input fields for each part of the address (e.g., street, suite/apt number, city, state, ZIP). Also, consider using dropdown menus for fields like state or country to ensure uniformity.

Use Address Autocomplete: Implement an address autocomplete tool on your website. These tools suggest accurate addresses in real-time as the customer types, helping to prevent typos and incomplete information.

Encourage Customers to Check Accuracy: Add a prompt or reminder at the checkout for customers to double-check their shipping details. Clearly state that accurate addresses prevent delays and additional fees.

Regularly Review UPS Bills: Review your UPS bills to identify recurring address correction issues. If specific customers or regions seem to be a problem, consider contacting those customers directly or providing more detailed guidance for those regions.

Consider Address Correction Services: Some third-party services specialize in bulk address corrections for businesses. Having a vast database might be worth the investment to have it professionally cleaned and validated.

Provide Visual Feedback: If you have a mobile app or a website, you can use map-based feedback, where customers can visually confirm the location they’re providing. This can be especially useful for ensuring the address is accurate.

Account for Common Abbreviations and Misspellings: In your system, account for standard abbreviations or misspellings (e.g., ‘Ave’ for ‘Avenue’, ‘St’ for ‘Street’). Your address validation software should recognize and correct these wherever possible.

By implementing these practices, you can significantly reduce the number of address corrections on your UPS bills, saving money and ensuring timely deliveries for your customers.

Need To Change a UPS Delivery You Sent?

Using UPS Delivery Intercept, you can request delivery changes for a package you sent before the first delivery attempt. A UPS intercept request can be canceled or changed before completion. Fees will apply for all types of requests. However, you will only receive a charge if the request is complete. Delivery intercept offers a few different options to have the delivery updated.

• Request the package be returned to you.
• Redirect the package to another address.
• Reschedule the delivery for another day.
• Request the package be held for pickup by the recipient.

Our Address Correction Reports

Busy UPS shippers rarely have the time to inspect and manage these corrections. Awareness is the first step in preventing these avoidable and unnecessary charges. Refund Retriever’s services include specific reports to identify repeated address corrections. 

Our reporting can pinpoint and filter to find the incorrectly formatted addresses your business has seen in the past year. With access to usable data, you can fix these problems internally.

What does all this mean? 

The UPS address corrections cause potential customer service issues for your employees and allow UPS to deliver the package late with an additional charge. Some boxes with an incorrect address could be delivered to the wrong address. Additional customer service representatives to handle these issues or dissatisfied customers are potential problems that could arise. Lower your shipping costs and increase customer satisfaction by preventing ups address correction issues before your shipments leave your warehouse.