The United States Postal Service has announced that customers will see a price increase of 2.4% effective Jan. 2014 for its shipping services.
In addition to the nearly 3% shipping increase, customers who use USPS will also have a new delivery option for domestic Priority Mail Express next year. According to a release issued by USPS, that service will allow customers to send domestic Priority Mail Express packages to most U.S. locations by 10:30 a.m. for an additional $5 fee.
According to a filing by the USPS to the Postal Regulatory Commission on Nov. 13, the USPS is also expected to change the price for Priority Mail Express products such as retail flat rate, padded flat rate, and legal flat rate envelopes by four cents to $19.99. Flat rate boxes will cost $44.95 in 2014; the current price is $39.95.
While the USPS expects these changes to become effective on Jan. 26, 2014, according to the release, it still needs to be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission.
The new shipping increase comes just days after Amazon announced its partnership with USPS to expand its delivery offerings for Amazon Prime members to include Sundays.
Erin Lynch is the senior content producer at Multichannel Merchant. Erin can be reached (203)899-8461 or connect with her socially on Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.