USPS Prices for January 21, 2024

USPS™ Prices as of January 21, 2024

As part of "Delivering for America", its 10-year plan, through 2030, to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence, the United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) for price changes that took effect January 21, 2024 that were in accordance with the rules recently established by PRC.  Started July 2022, the USPS will continue increasing First Class Mail letter prices TWO times a year.


The new rates include a two-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Forever stamp from 66 cents to 68 cents.  This increase will raise First-Class Mail prices approximately 3% to offset the rise in inflation.


The prices for 1 oz. METERED First-Class Mail increased to 64 cents and the price of a domestic postcard to 53 cents.  A 1 oz. FLAT is raised to $1.39.  A 1 oz. letter mailed to another country to $1.55.  There will be no change to the single-piece letter and flat additional-ounce price, which remains at 24 cents.  The Postal Service is also seeking price adjustments for Special Services products including Certified Mail, PO Box rental fees, money order fees, and the cost to purchase insurance when mailing an item.

The new First Class Mail prices include but not limited to:

Please visit the USPS site to download an Excel spreadsheet with all the prices at https://pe.usps.com/PriceChange.

It's time to think about presort prices:  With the right mail volume, you can take advantage of the USPS Presort discounts and pay only $0.498 for postage.  First Class Mail presorted postage increased 3 cents but sorting invoices, statements and bills by zip code is still advantageous and cost-effective.  Now might be the time to make it part of your mail prep process.

As inflation and increased operating expenses continue, these price adjustments will help with the implementation of the Delivering for America plan, including a $40 billion investment in core Postal Service infrastructure over 10 years which started in 2020.  With the new prices, the Postal Service will continue to provide the lowest letter-mail postage rates in the industrialized world and offer a great value in shipping.

"For the past 14 years, the Postal Service has had limited pricing authority to respond to changing market realities", said Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy.  "As part of our 10-year plan to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence, the Postal Service and the Board of Governors are committed to judiciously implementing a rational pricing approach that helps enable us to remain viable and competitive and offer reliable postal services that are among the most affordable in the world."  Under the current pricing model and the proposed rate change, the Postal Service still has some of the lowest letter-mail postage rates in the industrialized world and continues to offer a great value in shipping.  

In 2020, the Postal Service delivered approximately 129.2 BILLION pieces of mail and packages to customers located in every state and territory, county, city, town and rural area in the nation at over 161 million delivery points.

• Parcel Select Ground and First Class Package Retail have been combined into a new mail class "Ground Advantage Retail"
• No price increase for USPS Connect Local, which gives businesses of all sizes the ability to reach local customers at affordable rates
• "Bulk Parcel Return Service" under Domestic Business Mailing Fees removed
• Priority Mail Express Commercial Plus & Priority Mail Commercial Plus now consolidated with PME Commercial and PM Commercial
• USPS Label Delivery Service added to Domestic Other Services
• Services across the board has removed "Zones Local, 1 & 2" and now lists as Zone 1, Zone 2, Zone 3, etc.
• Priority Mail Regional Rate Boxes is eliminated for 2023 and hopefully, will be replaced with "Priority Mail Cubic" (no free packaging from USPS).
• "Label Delivery Service" introduced under the Competitive Ancillary Services. Customer can request return/outbound label delivery to residential and business addresses for a $1.25 fee.
• Elimination of Priority Mail Express International (PMEI) offered at a discount at Retail.
• Elimination of Origin Zones for Priority Mail International to Canada.
• The postal service is eliminating the use of sacks as containers for Flats but will continue to allow Flat trays as acceptable containers along with bundles on pallets for USPS Marketing Mail and Periodicals flat mail.