Source : Perth Now news
Australians already feeling the pinch could soon see online shopping costs increase, as delivery carriers impose fuel surcharges of up to 45 per cent on retailers struggling to absorb the mounting fees.
Fuel surcharges averaging 13 per cent, with some reaching as high as 45 per cent, were revealed in new data from Shippit’s 2026 Fuel Surcharge Matrix.
The figures showed 83 per cent of carriers said fuel volatility was their biggest challenge, while half had implemented temporary fuel surcharges in the past year.
While many businesses had been quietly absorbing these costs, industry insiders warned that woudl not last much longer.
“Retailers have been absorbing costs left, right and centre, it just gets manifested in the higher price of goods being sold,” Rob Hango-Zada, co-founder and joint chief executive of Shippit, told NewsWire.
The logistics technology platform works with thousands of retailers and hundreds of delivery carriers across Australia, including Kmart, Woolworths and Myer.
“We’ll no doubt see an impact on inflation across the board,” he said.
The pressure has intensified as carriers shift from monthly fuel surcharge reviews to weekly updates — a sign of how volatile the market has now become.
“The week-to-week changes in fuel prices have been quite dramatic,” Mr Hango-Zada said.
“The market landscape is shifting so quickly, and the impact on their bottom line is so great that they need to make sure they’re passing this cost on to their customers as quickly as possible.”
Shoppers are likely to see the costs hidden in higher product prices or increased free shipping thresholds.
Where consumers might have previously needed to spend $49 for free delivery, this could soon jump to $65 or higher.
For retailers selling products with margins of just a few dollars per item, even the average 13 per cent surcharge is a big hit.
With surcharges reaching as high as 45 per cent on some routes, businesses face an impossible choice, to absorb costs that erode thin profits, or pass them on to price-sensitive consumers and risk losing sales.
Urban deliveries benefit from density, with multiple drops in one street spreading fuel costs across many deliveries.
But rural deliveries with one drop every few kilometres see fuel costs spike dramatically per delivery.
That means regional shoppers will be hit the hardest.
Those buying heavy items like furniture, dishwashers and large household appliances will also face steeper costs, as fewer items fit in delivery vehicles.
The pressure is mounting, particularly on small businesses that lack the financial cushion of major retailers to weather the volatility.
“We see more roads leading to more pressure on local businesses that we don’t see easing up anytime soon,” Mr Hango-Zada said.
Despite one in three carriers identifying electric vehicles as a key trend, less than 10 per cent of carrier fleets currently run on alternative fuels.
With capital investment cycles lasting eight to 10 years, carriers can’t quickly replace recently purchased diesel vehicles.
“Even if every carrier tomorrow decided to replace their entire fleet with electric vehicles, they simply couldn’t because there’s not enough supply,” Mr Hango-Zada said.
For now, shoppers can expect the squeeze to continue, with retailers caught between absorbing unsustainable costs and passing them on to consumers already watching every dollar.
