USPS Announces Holiday 2024 Peak Season Rate Hike Starting October 6
It's that (not) most wonderful time of the year when holiday shopping ramps up and carriers roll out peak season surcharges and rate hikes, with USPS announcing an increase in postage prices for commercial and retail domestic competitive parcels shipped with Priority Mail Express (PME), Priority Mail (PM) and USPS Ground Advantage starting October 6th through January 19, 2025.
The U.S. Postal Service filed notice today with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) regarding a temporary price change for some package services for the 2024 peak holiday season. This temporary price adjustment is to help cover extra handling costs to ensure a successful peak season.
The planned peak-season pricing, which was approved by the governors of the Postal Service on Aug. 8, would affect prices on the following commercial and retail domestic competitive parcels: Priority Mail Express (PME), Priority Mail (PM) and USPS Ground Advantage. No other products or services would be affected. Pending favorable review by the PRC, the temporary rates would go into effect at midnight Central on Oct. 6 and remain in place until midnight Central on Jan. 19, 2025.
The planned price changes include:
Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage: Zone 1-4
- Commercial:
- $0.30 cents increase for Zones 1-4, 0-3 lbs.
- $0.45 cents increase for Zones 1-4, 4-10 lbs.
- $0.75 cents increase for Zones 1-4, 11-25 lbs.
- $3.00 increase for Zones 1-4, 26-70 lbs.
Priority Mail Zone 5-9
- $0.70 cents increase for Zones 5-9, 0-3 lbs.
- $1.25 increase for Zones 5-9, 4-10 lbs.
- $2.75 increase for Zones 5-9, 11-25 lbs.
- $7.00 increase for Zones 5-9, 26-70 lbs.
USPS Ground Advantage Zone 5-9
- $0.35 cents increase for Zones 5-9, 0-3 lbs.
- $0.75 cents increase for Zones 5-9, 4-10 lbs.
- $1.25 increase for Zones 5-9, 11-25 lbs.
- $5.50 increase for Zones 5-9, 26-70 lbs.
Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage: Zone 1-4
Retail:
- $0.40 cents increase for Zones 1-4, 0-3 lbs.
- $0.55 cents increase for Zones 1-4, 4-10 lbs
- $0.95 cents increase for Zones 1-4, 11-25 lbs.
- $4.00 increase for Zones 1-4, 26-70 lbs
Priority Mail Zone 5-9
- $0.90 cents increase for Zones 5-9, 0-3 lbs.
- $1.45 cents increase for Zones 5-9, 4-10 lbs.
- $3.25 increase for Zones 5-9, 11-25 lbs.
- $8.50 increase for Zones 5-9, 26-70 lbs
USPS Ground Advantage Zone 5-9
- $0.50 cents increase for Zones 5-9, 0-3 lbs.
- $1.00 cents increase for Zones 5-9, 4-10 lbs.
- $2.00 increase for Zones 5-9, 11-25 lbs.
- $5.85 increase for Zones 5-9, 26-70 lbs
Priority Mail Express:
Commercial:
- $1.00 increase for Zones 1-4, 0-3 lbs.
- $1.75 increase for Zones 5-9, 0-3 lbs.
- $1.50 increase for Zones 1-4, 4-10 lbs.
- $3.95 increase for Zones 5-9, 4-10 lbs.
- $3.50 increase for Zones 1-4, 11-25 lbs.
- $7.50 increase for Zones 5-9, 11-25 lbs.
- $8.95 increase for Zones 1-4, 26-70 lbs
- $13.00 increase for Zones 5-9, 26-70 lbs.
Retail:
- $1.10 increase for Zones 1-4, 0-3 lbs.
- $2.00 increase for Zones 5-9, 0-3 lbs.
- $2.00 increase for Zones 1-4, 4-10 lbs.
- $4.85 increase for Zones 5-9, 4-10 lbs.
- $3.90 increase for Zones 1-4, 11-25 lbs.
- $9.00 increase for Zones 5-9, 11-25 lbs.
- $9.75 increase for Zones 1-4, 26-70 lbs
- $16.00 increase for Zones 5-9, 26-70 lbs.
It's important to note these changes will only impact prices directly from USPS (at the post office or through the USPS website) under their retail or commercial shipping programs.
And of course, as savvy seller Less Than Three Records points out - while USPS says the holiday rate increase is "temporary", there's likely to be a usual yearly January rate increase shortly thereafter.
#FireDeJoy "Peak season" starts October 6. No one but Costco celebrates Christmas earlier than USPS! pic.twitter.com/HIzb8yQzG8
— less than three records (@RecordsLess) September 5, 2024
Online sellers who purchase postage from marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Mercari or from service providers like Stamps.com and PirateShip instead of from USPS directly will be seeing their own rate increases starting September 16th for some shipments - but confusingly these negotiated rate increases are being done on a zip code basis rather than by the familiar zone structure above, with many rural areas getting the short end of the stick.
Liz Morton
eBay sellers who list items with calculated shipping will want to pay attention to how and when these rate changes will be displayed to buyers depending on whether they use retail rates or pass eBay's discounted rates along.
If you pass along the discounted rates, eBay should update the calculations shown to buyers using the new rates on September 16th.
If you use retail rates, eBay should update the calculations shown to buyers on October 6th.
As usual, sellers will also have to consider the costs of fees on the increasing shipping as well since eBay, Etsy and other marketplaces charge their selling fees on the total including shipping - which means any time there's a shipping increase, it's a de facto fee windfall for the marketplaces too.
Meanwhile, eBay and Etsy both continue to pressure sellers to take deeper profit margin cuts to keep shipping costs low, with Etsy recently announcing shipping will soon have a greater impact in on site search ranking and placement.
Liz Morton
The marketplaces seem unwilling to take a hard look in the mirror at the ways their fee structures and advertising programs may contribute to high prices or to face the fact that no matter how you slice it, the consumer will always ultimately end up paying the price of ballooning costs of doing business.
How will these holiday season USPS increases impact your holiday buying and selling? Let us know in the comments below!
