New fuel surcharge

Beginning April 1, a $3 fuel surcharge will be applied to all LibDib orders that hit a warehouse. This will be reflected as an increase in the dock and delivery fee, moving from $12 to $15 or $10 to $13 depending on the market. 

Our goal with this bill-back is to offset a portion of the fuel surcharges we are incurring, not to fully pass through the entire cost.

These costs will be billed back to the Maker as a separate “fuel surcharge.” Pricing for Makers and Buyers will not change on the platform. For freight shipments, the fuel surcharge will appear as a separate line item. Please note that LibDib does not apply any markup to fuel surcharges.

While we know any cost increase matters, this change is rooted in a long-standing and widely used practice across logistics, shipping, and the alcohol wholesale industry. Fuel surcharges have been used for decades as a way to manage volatility in fuel prices, dating back to the 1970s oil crisis when carriers needed a flexible mechanism to offset sudden spikes in fuel costs. Today, they remain a standard approach used by companies like UPS, FedEx, freight carriers, airlines, and distributors to stabilize pricing without constantly resetting base rates.

At their core, fuel surcharges are a temporary, variable fee designed to protect against unpredictable increases in fuel costs and ensure transportation and delivery services can continue reliably without eroding already thin margins. In distribution, especially in beverage alcohol, margins are structurally low, which makes it necessary to adjust quickly when input costs like fuel rise.

Makers have flexibility in how they handle this change. You can choose to absorb the cost as part of your pricing strategy or pass it through to buyers. Both approaches are common across the industry.

Importantly, this is not intended to be permanent. Fuel surcharges have historically been implemented during periods of volatility and removed or adjusted as conditions stabilize. We will continue to closely monitor fuel trends and market conditions, and our goal is to remove this surcharge as soon as it is viable to do so.

We appreciate your partnership and understanding as we navigate these external cost pressures together while continuing to ensure reliable, compliant, and efficient distribution for your business.