Each year, General Rate Increases (GRIs) and other increasingly regular updates add new layers of complexity to parcel shipping. 2026 is no exception. The upcoming year is shaping up to be one of the most consequential and perplexing years in recent memory, not just because of pricing changes announced with carrier GRIs, but because the carrier pricing paradigm is in a state of evolution. Accessorial definitions, DIM thresholds, and even service level behaviors are all changing beneath the surface. These obscure mechanics increasingly drive a larger percentage of total parcel spend, which means the old spreadsheet driven approach to budgeting and forecasting simply cannot keep up.
This complexity is why Reveel developed its 2026 GRI & Surcharge Survival Kit, engineered to help shippers see changes before they hit their invoices. Rooted in Reveel’s Shipping Intelligence platform built around a Package-Level Modeling and Simulation Engine, the GRI analysis and guide provides clarity in an environment where traditional average increase calculations often conceal the true financial impact. Reveel reconstructs each package as carriers would, including service level, zone, dimensional weight, surcharges, minimums, and exception considerations. This detail offers shippers a precise, understandable, and defensible view of what pricing in 2026 truly means.
One of the biggest takeaways from this year’s analysis is that accessorials now shape the majority of unexpected increases. Fees such as DAS, oversize, residential delivery, fuel, and address corrections are not only rising, but they are also becoming more context sensitive. Small details such as packaging dimensions, service selection, or minor operational habits can materially change a shipper’s total cost exposure. That is why the GRI Guide and Survival Kit goes beyond rate cards. It shows how to translate each rule change into dollars using package level modeling that requires no spreadsheets and no guesswork.
Reveel’s experts also unpack carrier GRI behavior across weight breaks, zones, and services, pinpointing where costs spike disproportionately and where opportunities exist to reroute, repackage, or renegotiate. The guide includes realistic “what-if” scenarios that enable shippers to test contract alternatives, fuel assumptions, service level substitutions conditions quickly and easily. For CFOs, the result is decision-ready clarity, including measurable tradeoffs between cost, speed, and reliability, along with savings attribution that ties directly to operational or contractual levers.
The GRI Guide and Survival Kit also features a negotiation roadmap that highlights the terms, accessorials, and minimums most likely to deliver ROI in 2026 discussions, along with packaging and operations quick wins that teams can implement immediately. Whether you are preparing for a contract review or simply trying to avoid midyear invoice surprises, the goal is the same. The Kit empowers shippers with actionable intelligence, not generalized assumptions.
With carriers entering 2026 aggressively and shipping volatility increasing, the difference between controlling cost and absorbing it will come down to how well organizations can anticipate change. The GRI Guide & Surcharge Survival Kit provides that advantage, turning black box surcharges into manageable, predictable, and even optimizable elements of a modern parcel strategy.
Jack McCrum leads Reveel’s Optimization and Analytics team, where he helps shippers interpret carrier pricing behavior and control transportation costs through data driven modeling. His work focuses on package level simulation, accessorial forecasting, and identifying strategic levers that improve performance for finance, operations, and logistics leaders. Jack regularly contributes insights to industry publications and webinars, offering practical guidance that helps organizations anticipate change, strengthen parcel strategy, and make confident decisions backed by measurable results.
