Half a year after my own fuel surcharge exposé on FreshDirect, D.G. does a general fuel surcharge analysis for Slate:

At first blush, fuel surcharges seem like transparent, mathematically determined means for companies to recoup their expenses for the unexpectedly high price of gasoline. But as they spread into other industries, fuel surcharges more and more seem as if they’re just an au courant way of raising prices, while duping customers into thinking they’re not paying more.

I don’t know about anyone else, but we were never fooled by FreshDirect’s cutesy graph. That rising costs, regardless of origin, should be accounted for in the base price of the product is obvious. The only reason to tack them on separately is to delay the buyer’s awareness of them until she’s already made up her mind to order. It’s tacky.

Our anger with F.D. was briefly assuaged by their dependable refund-on-complaint policy, but as the surcharge has persisted we have reduced our order frequency dramatically. It just ain’t worth the $10 (delivery+fuel+tip) surcharge to order from them every week.

Next thing you know, people will advertise prices that don’t include tax!