2020 USPS Postage Rate Changes

Here are new rate charts for the most popular USPS postage levels. 

In the fall, the US Postal Service (USPS) announced its planned changes to postage rates for the coming year. Higher postal rates are tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which measures the change in prices paid by consumers over the previous year.  Postal increases are limited to not exceed CPI.

New rates go into effect on Sunday, January 26, 2020. This rate change is timed to be similar to UPS^® and FedEx^® that historically adjust prices each January. For example, on January 6, 2020, FedEx will raise prices an average of 4.9%.

What is changing?

A big takeaway is that the First Class Mail^® rates are staying the same with stamps still continuing to cost 55 cents.

Here are programs where the rates are changing.

• Priority Mail^® rates to increase by 4.1%
• Priority Mail^® Flat Rate products increase from 4.9% to 6.2%
• Priority Mail Express^® rates to increase by 3.5%
• Priority Mail Express^® Flat Rate products increase up to 16.3%

Temporary Postage Rate Increase

The price increases began on October 18, 2020, and they will remain in effect until December 27, 2020. The First-Class Mail postage rate for a single-piece letter now increases $0.20 more per additional ounce. This means that additional ounces now cost $0.05 than they did in 2020.

The postage rates for First-Class Package Service for a commercial package increased by $0.20 regardless of weight and zone. This increase applies to domestic commercial packages. The postage rate for a domestic commercial package weighing 1–4 ounces is now $0.25-$0.29 more expensive if you are sending it locally. 

If you’re sending a package domestically with a weight of up to 12 ounces using First-Class Package Service, it now costs between $0.25 to $0.32 more. For packages of up to 15.999 ounces, the postage rate for First-Class Package Service has increased by at least $0.25 up to a maximum increase of $0.33. The current postage rates for First-Class Mail are $1.00 for envelopes up to 1 ounce, $1.20 for envelopes up to 2 ounces, $1.40 for envelopes up to 3 ounces, $1.60 for envelopes up to 4 ounces, and $1.80 for envelopes up to 5 ounces. The most expensive postage rate for First-Class Mail is for envelopes up to 13 ounces in weight, and this rate is $3.40.

Priority Mail Postage Rate Increases

The flat-rate commercial postage for most rate classes of Priority Mail increased by $0.40, and you will see an increase of $0.40 for regional rate parcels, too. The weight-rate postage for commercial packages increased by $0.39-$0.40 for 1-pound packages in zones five to eight and increased by $0.39-40 for 2-pound packages in zone 2. Priority Mail postage rates are now the following: 

• $7.55 for Flat Rate envelopes
• $7.85 for Legal Rate envelopes
• $8.15 for Padded Flat Rate envelopes
• $8.05 for Small Flat Rate boxes
• $13.60 for Medium Flat Rate boxes
• $18.70 for Large Flat Rate boxes
• $17.20 for APO/FPO/DPO/Large Flat Rate boxes

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Consider:

* Direct mail has a 5.7 times higher response rate than digital advertising
* 50% of recipients read mailed advertisements versus less than 3% click-through rate for internet ads

USPS Household Diary Survey

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Print Tech will automatically implement these changes when they go into effect in January.

Below are the details of the 2020 price change:

First-Class Mail Rates stay the same

Priority Mail® Rates to increase by 4.1% while Flat Rate products increase from 4.9% to 6.2%

The proposed domestic Priority Mail^® Flat Rate Retail price changes are:

Priority Mail Express^® Rates to increase by 3.5%

The proposed domestic Priority Mail Express^® Flat Rate Retail price changes are:

You can download the USPS files here: https://pe.usps.com/pricechange/index.

Please contact Print Tech with all of your direct mail and postal rate changes.