First Price Increase In Three Years for Commercial Priority Mail Scheduled for January 2016

WASHINGTON — Today the United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of proposed price changes for its Shipping Services products to take effect next year, following the conclusion of the holiday season. The filing does not include any price increase for First-Class Mail or any other Postal Service Mailing product such as the Forever stamp.  

The Postal Service continues to provide excellent value and reliability for the shipping industry along with convenient choices for consumers. The average Shipping Services price change is 9.5 percent which results in an average shipping price of less than $5.50 per shipment across all shipping products.

The new prices, if approved, represent the first price increase in more than three years for commercial Priority Mail.  The average price increase for Priority Mail is 9.8 percent; when calculated over the three-year period since the last increase, the overall Priority Mail price change averages less than 3.3 percent per year.

The PRC will review the prices before they are scheduled to become effective on Jan. 17, 2016. The complete Postal Service price filing with the new prices for all Shipping Services products can be found on the PRC website at http://www.prc.gov/docs/93/93564/Notice%20CP2016-9.pdf.