Have you heard of a site charging a fuel surcharge for their shipping carriers?

I was doing some online shopping on a site that sells stationery, stickers, address labels and gifts. The sale had free shipping. They had a big holiday sale so I put some things in the cart and looked to check out. They had the free shipping indicated, but added a 2.99 handling fee. Normally there would be the shipping fee and then this additional 2.99 handling fee.

I contacted the site to discuss, and let them know that I wasn’t purchasing because I didn’t understand the free shipping but then adding on a fee.

The response I got was that it’s a fuel surcharge for the shipping carriers.

I’m not arguing with them about it, because it’s their policy and what I was purchasing were things I really could do without anyway. Of course, if I really wanted the things, I would have to pay the fee.

I’m just curious if anybody here has ever heard of such a thing?