How FedEx Ground Contractors Should Prepare for Peak Season (2026 Dates)

Prepare for Peak by fixing the dates, deciding on Schedule K, and lining up drivers, trucks and cash before the window opens. For 2026, Peak surge pay runs from Saturday, November 21 through Friday, January 1, 2027: six FedEx weeks. Those dates come from a publicly filed FedEx contractor agreement. Below is how they're worked out, where to find the dates in your own contract, and why the peak dates FedEx publishes for shippers are different.

When does FedEx peak season start and end?

For your pay, Peak is the window in which your agreement pays the surge stop charge. A FedEx Independent Service Provider Agreement (version 2024.06.01) filed publicly with the SEC sets it in Schedule C: it starts "from the Saturday immediately preceding Thanksgiving Day" and runs through the Friday that falls on or right after December 31. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, 2026, so under that definition Peak runs from Saturday, November 21, 2026 through Friday, January 1, 2027.

FedEx weeks run Saturday through Friday, and each one is a settlement week:

1. Saturday, November 21 to Friday, November 27 (Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26)
2. Saturday, November 28 to Friday, December 4
3. Saturday, December 5 to Friday, December 11
4. Saturday, December 12 to Friday, December 18
5. Saturday, December 19 to Friday, December 25
6. Saturday, December 26 to Friday, January 1, 2027

Weekends count differently. In the same filed agreement, Schedule F adds up the stops on Saturday, Sunday and Monday over the weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and takes the Daily Stop Threshold off that three-day total once. In 2026 those are November 28–30, December 5–7, December 12–14 and December 19–21. See how the surge stop charge works for a worked example.

Where to find your own dates

The dates above apply one filed agreement to the 2026 calendar. Yours are in your own contract and in what FedEx sends you:

• Schedule C, the surge stop charge section. It sets the window. In the filed version, FedEx can also set additional or different periods, such as Valentine's Day or Mother's Day, by written notice.
• Attachment C-1. Your surge stop charge rate, per stop.
• Schedule F. Your Daily Stop Threshold, and in the filed version, the weekend rule above.
• Schedule K, Enhanced Peak Service, if you're offered one. It's a separate schedule with its own terms. Read its dates rather than assuming they match the ones above. See what Schedule K is.
• Any written notice from FedEx about Peak. File it with your contract documents.

If any of these gives different dates, your own documents count.

Not the same as FedEx's peak surcharges

Search for FedEx peak dates and you'll mostly find FedEx's demand surcharges. Those are prices for shippers, not contractor pay. For context only: on the page as updated September 4, 2026, the U.S. ones run in phases from September 28 or October 26, 2026, depending on the charge, through January 17, 2027. They don't set your Peak window. Your pay is the charges in your Schedule C.

How to prepare for Peak, step by step

1. Pull last Peak from your settlements. Daily stops in each Peak week, the surge pay you received, and how many drivers and trucks it took. That is your baseline.
2. Get this year's projections. Ask your FedEx contact for the volume projections for your station, and adjust last year's numbers for what you know has changed: routes added, a customer gained or lost.
3. Know your Daily Stop Threshold, and decide on Schedule K. In the filed agreement, the surge stop charge is paid for each stop above your Daily Stop Threshold, which is set in Schedule F, and above that threshold you can decline stops. Schedule K, Enhanced Peak Service, changes that trade. See what Schedule K is and whether to sign it.
4. Line up trucks first. Rental trucks for Peak are in short supply. In the filed agreement, a rental is listed on a rental attachment to Schedule B, its rental agreement has to stay with the truck, and it has to meet the federal vehicle safety requirements in 49 CFR Part 393. Make sure your insurance covers it before it runs.
5. Hire and qualify seasonal drivers before the window. Every driver has to meet the driver qualification terms in your agreement before driving. Get new drivers through that, and onto their routes alongside an experienced driver, before volume peaks.
6. Service the trucks you own. Brakes, tires and anything that has been put off. A truck down in December costs surge stops you can't run.
7. Decide Peak pay before you hire. Whether longer days, extra days or heavier routes change how drivers are paid, and what overtime will cost. Write it down so every driver hears the same thing. See driver pay structures.
8. Plan the cash. You pay for extra drivers and rentals as Peak runs. In the filed agreement, FedEx pays each week in arrears, no later than seven days after the Friday it ends. Have the cash or a credit line to cover the gap, especially in the first weeks.
9. Check every Peak settlement. Surge pay shows only on days your stops topped the threshold. On those days, confirm it works out to the stops above the threshold times your rate, with the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas weekends counted as one three-day total, and that none appears after January 1 unless FedEx set another period. See how the surge stop charge works.
10. Write down what happened. Daily stops, surge pay, drivers, trucks and what they cost. Next year's Schedule K decision and your next contract negotiation start from this record.

A worked example: the stop threshold

These are made-up numbers, chosen to show how the threshold works. They are not typical figures for any operation.

• Daily Stop Threshold: 2,000 stops
• Tuesday, December 15, 2026: the operation runs 2,300 stops. All 2,300 earn the stop charge (or the e-commerce stop charge). The 300 above the threshold also earn the surge stop charge.
• Monday, November 16, 2026: the same 2,300 stops earn no surge pay, because the Peak window hasn't opened.

The surge pay on those 300 stops is what has to cover the extra driver and the rented truck that made them possible. Price that before Peak, not after.

Common questions

When is FedEx peak season in 2026?

For contractor pay, from Saturday, November 21, 2026 through Friday, January 1, 2027, using the definition in the publicly filed ISP Agreement. Check your own agreement and any Peak notice from FedEx.

Why do FedEx's peak surcharge dates start in September?

Because they're a different thing. FedEx's demand surcharges are what shippers pay, on their own calendar. Your Peak pay window is set in your ISP Agreement.

What is the surge stop charge?

Extra pay during Peak for each stop above your Daily Stop Threshold, paid on top of the stop charge. The rate is in your Schedule C.

Do I have to sign Schedule K?

Industry advisors describe it as optional, offered each fall. As they describe it, signing trades your normal threshold and your right to decline for Peak pay that starts earlier. Whether that's worth it depends on your volume and capacity, and on that year's terms.

Can I decline stops during Peak?

Under the filed agreement, above your Daily Stop Threshold, yes. As industry advisors describe Schedule K, signing it raises the Peak threshold far above what most operations reach, so in practice you deliver everything.

What runs out first?

Rental trucks and qualified drivers. Both take time to line up, and every contractor in the market is looking for them at once.

Last Peak, in one place

Route Impact exists to make FedEx Ground operations more profitable. Your AI staff finds the profit in the contract you sign, the routes you run, the drivers you pay, the trucks you keep and the books you close. For Peak, that starts with last year's record. Once your statements are in, your AI settlement auditor shows what each week paid, with the surge stop charge broken out from the rest, and checks the stop and package rates, the service charge and brand promotion against your Schedule C, flagging differences for your review. Your AI payroll analyst works out what each driver cost from the days they were actually recorded working, and sets it against what their route earned. Statements come in through Connect FedEx, our extension for Chrome on a computer: sign in to MyBizAccount, start a sync. You can also upload them. We're operators too, and the margins are too tight to run this business the old way.