USPS Raising Shipping Services Rates 9.5% After Holiday Season

The United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission of proposed price changes for its Shipping Services products to take effect next year, following the conclusion of the holiday season.

The average Shipping Services price change is 9.5%, which results in an average shipping price of less than $5.50 per shipment across all shipping products. The average price increase for Priority Mail is 9.8%; when calculated over the three-year period since the last increase, the overall Priority Mail price change averages less than 3.3% per year.

The new prices, if approved, represent the first price increase in more than three years for commercial Priority Mail.

The PRC will review the prices before they are scheduled to become effective on Jan. 17, 2016. The complete USPS price filing with the new prices for all Shipping Services products can be found on the PRC website under the Daily Listings section:

The filing does not include any price increase for First-Class Mail or any other USPS product such as the Forever stamp.

Last month, FedEx announced its general rate increase will be an average of 4.9% effective January 4 for U.S. domestic, import and export services, as well as for ground and home delivery services. UPS has announced its average rate will increase 4.9% to 5.2% effective Dec. 28, depending on the product.