The United States Postal Service (USPS) may be raising its rates on some of its shipping services, but holiday shoppers will be spared the extra cost this season. The higher rates, if approved, won’t go into effect until early next year.
It will cost more to ship packages through USPS Ground Advantage, Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express shipping categories, starting January 21, 2024, assuming the proposal is accepted by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), according to a statement from the USPS.
The proposal comes just weeks after the USPS announced it also seeks to raise prices on its First-Class Forever stamps, as well as domestic and international postcards and international letters.
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USPS Ground Advantage prices would increase by 5.4 percent. This option, which promises ground delivery to all 50 states within two to five business days, presently starts at $4.75. After the proposed rate increase, the minimum cost would be $5.
Priority Mail, which promises delivery within one to three business days, currently starts at $9.35, bumping up to $9.88 if the 5.7 percent rate increase goes into effect.
Priority Mail Express, which guarantees next-day or two-day delivery, presently starts at $28.75, going up 5.9 percent to $30.44 if the price increases are approved.
Increase Would Keep USPS ‘Competitive’
“Judicious use of our new pricing authority from the Postal Regulatory Commission is part of the solution to enable us to return to financial stability as outlined in our 10-year Delivering for America [DFA] plan to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence,” David Coleman, spokesman for the USPS, told Newsweek.
The new prices, Coleman said, would keep the postal service competitive.
“With full implementation, the 10-year plan reverses a projected $160 billion in losses over the next 10 years,” Coleman said. “Lastly, even with the postage rate increases, USPS prices will remain among the world’s most affordable and offers a great value in shipping.”
Stamp Prices May Rise
The First-Class Forever stamps cost $0.66, but would increase to $0.68 in January if the PRC approves the postal service’s proposal. The cost of a domestic postcard stamp would rise to $0.53 from $0.51, and international postcards would bump from $1.50 to $1.55.
Decade-Long Plan to Help USPS Break Even
The postal service has been plagued by financial woes, which led to the creation of the DFA plan in 2021, which aims to put the USPS in a break-even financial position by 2031.
When the program was designed in March 2021, the postal service was on the road to $160 billion in losses over a 10-year period. Two years into the plan, the service’s losses projected over 10 years are now at $70 billion.
“Even with the unexpected burden of inflation, the organization still forecasts we can achieve break-even operations by the end of DFA’s 10-year period,” said the USPS two-year progress report on the plan.
Some of the plan’s goals include improved reliability, higher rates of on-time mail delivery, new regional processing and distribution centers, and new sorting and delivery hubs. The USPS has also committed to buying new electric vehicles.
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