USPS Negotiated Rate Changes For Priority & Ground Advantage July 1, 2024

Liz Morton
Liz Morton


Comments

UPDATE

eBay has also posted an announcement about these changes.

July 2024 USPS Rate Changes
The United States Postal Service is raising rates in July. There will be two sets of updates, one on July 1 and one on July 14. Below is a summary of what is changing on each date. July 1: Priority Mail and Ground Advantage Priority Mail and Ground Advantage rates will increase for most shipment…

The United States Postal Service is raising rates in July. There will be two sets of updates, one on July 1 and one on July 14. Below is a summary of what is changing on each date.

July 1: Priority Mail and Ground Advantage
Priority Mail and Ground Advantage rates will increase for most shipments up to 10 lbs. The increases vary by weight and zone. You can check how these changes may impact your shipments on the eBay shipping calculator beginning July 1.

Additionally, Priority Mail Flat Rate costs are increasing, here are the new rates:

  • Flat Rate Envelope $8.18
  • Legal Flat Rate Envelope $8.47
  • Padded Flat Rate Envelope $8.95
  • Small Flat Rate Box $8.71
  • Medium Flat Rate Box $15.19
  • Large Flat Rate Box $20.69

Shipping service provider Pirate Ship has notified users of upcoming changes to USPS Priority and Ground Advantage rates set to take effect July 1, 2024.

While the Post Office itself put out an announcement in May saying there would be no changes for Ground Advantage and Priority Mail services in July, it's important to note that is for commercial and retail rates offered directly through USPS - not for third party providers with negotiated service agreements who are part of the USPS Connect eCommerce program.

Official changes to commercial or retail rates offered directly must be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, but USPS has wider latitude to change negotiated service agreements with third party providers, which may result in rates offered to those providers increasing or decreasing.

Pirate Ship says rates are increasing on all Priority Mail and Ground Advantage services, which will change the maximum discount they are able to offer compared to Retail Pricing from 89% to 88% (comparing a Zone 8 shipment for a 19 or 20 lb package shipped with Priority Mail Cubic at the 0.10 cubic size compared to the retail price for weight-based Priority Mail).

They also say the rates are changing everywhere you can buy postage online, so shippers will be unable to avoid them by using other service providers.

I've reached out to a few other competing providers to confirm if they will also be making these changes on July 1st, but have not received responses as of time of publishing.

Here's what Pirate Ship says is changing:

July 2024 USPS Rate Increase | Pirate Ship Support
USPS raises rates twice in July: Priority Mail & Ground Advantage on July 1st, and Media Mail & Signature Confirmation on July 14th.

Priority Mail will increase up to $3.10 on July 1st
USPS is increasing the "secret" Connect eCommerce rates for Weight-Based Priority Mail, Priority Mail Cubic, and Priority Mail Flat Rate for shipments starting July 1st.

Since USPS doesn't let its partners publish these rates, all we can tell you is that almost all rates are increasing up to 10 pounds and for all Flat Rate package types.

Since Connect eCommerce is only available for shipments to/from the continental 48 states, if you're shipping to or from Alaska, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico you won't see any differences.

Weight-Based Priority Mail rates are increasing by up to $3.10

Priority Mail Cubic rates are increasing by up to $2.97

Priority Mail Flat Rate prices are increasing by up to $1.18

With these new rates, the maximum discount available for Priority Mail compared to the Retail Pricing you'd pay at the Post Office is now 88%.

Ground Advantage will increase up to $2.11 on July 1st
On July 1st, USPS is also increasing the Connect eCommerce prices for Ground Advantage and Ground Advantage Cubic. Like Priority Mail, these secret below-Commercial Pricing rates are only available when shipping to/from the continental 48 states.

Weight-Based Ground Advantage for shipments less than 1 pound are increasing by up to 33 cents for zones 6-8.

Weight-Based Ground Advantage for shipments that weigh more than 1 pound are increasing by up to $2.11, mostly in 1-5 pounds.

Ground Advantage Cubic rates are increasing by up to $1.67

With these new rates, the maximum discount available for Ground Advantage compared to the Retail Pricing you'd pay at the Post Office is 86%, down from the previous 89% (comparing a Zone 8 shipment for a 17, 18, or 19 lb package shipped with Ground Advantage Cubic at the 0.10 cubic size compared to the retail price for weight-based Ground Advantage).

Media Mail rates will also be increasing on July 14, 2024 as part of an official, publicly announced USPS rate change approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

USPS Rate Increase On Market Dominant Products Like Media Mail For July 2024
USPS proposes rate changes for Market Dominant products July 14, 2024, raising the cost of some mailing services approximately 7.8% on average.

Most online marketplaces charge sellers commission fees based on total purchase price including sales tax and shipping, so when shipping rates rise it's often a double whammy to seller pocketbooks and a defacto fee increase that benefits eBay, Etsy, Amazon and others.

While the Postal Regulatory Commission did approve requested rate changes for July 2024, that approval came with a strongly worded statement urging the Board of Governors to consider exercising their business judgement when considering how much to increase rates in the future as consumers and small businesses shoulder the burden of these costs.

USPS Regulator Approves July Rates, But Urges Governors To Exercise Business Judgement
Postal Regulatory Commission approves July 2024 rates but urges Governors to exercise business judgement before increasing postage costs.

How will next month's USPS rate changes impact your online buying habits and ecommerce businesses? Let us know in the comments below!

USPSShipping

Liz Morton Twitter Facebook
LinkedIn

Liz Morton is a 17 year ecommerce pro turned indie investigative journalist providing ad-free deep dives on eBay, Amazon, Etsy & more, championing sellers & advocating for corporate accountability.

Avatar Placeholder
terry55
WOW, 3 day notice and I'm not just talking about ebay, no heads up and was posted rates wasn't going up in July. What a sneak attack and the major hit on sales. On top of that, we can't even find what the actual increase will be.

Recent Comments
Avatar PlaceholdereCommerce Pro3 hours ago
Bonanza (or bMarketplace, or whatever they want to call themselves this week) is FINISHED.

They just "killed the golden goose". I imported my 1500+ eBay items to there since it was free. Turned out just to be a lot of work for (maybe) 3 sales a month.

The total fees were higher there before this new $20 a month cost structure, even though they claimed otherwise. When one factors in the 3.49% + 49 cent PayPal processing fees so one can get paid, there went a good chunk of profit.

Now they have boosted their commission to 11%, and still claim that the cost to sell there is less than eBay's. And remember that this does not include payment processing. WHY?? Makes no sense at all.

On eBay, for $27.95 a month, I sell over 100 items there every 30-31 days. Makes ZERO SENSE to pay a site $20 to make just a couple of sales. Since they now allow 50 "free listings", I have trimmed my offerings back to just below that amount. Also had to raise all my prices accordingly to absorb the extra selling costs.

The people who run the show here obviously didn't realize that eBay sellers who imported their listings gave the site a great depth of product, which would attract more buyers. Now that will be gone, because NO ONE will pay them $20 monthly for little to no sales.

The site also has technical issues that they refuse to fix. It was a decent resource to enable the occasional sale, but they will soon be stacked onto the eCommerce trash heap of companies that THOUGHT they could compete with Amazon and eBay. Etsy may also suffer the same fate soon, as many sellers are also leaving their site due to high fees, website issues, and poor management.

Basic eComm rule here: When you do not carry any inventory, and sellers are solely responsible for supplying your site with the goods offered, DON'T BITE THE HAND WHICH FEEDS YOU!!!
Avatar PlaceholderMksowaYesterday
They need to fix a very broken system full of nasty attitudes. The patrons no longer matter.
Avatar PlaceholderMarty_J2 days ago
Was just checking to see if it would post without creating an account but….
eBay seller since 2022
Just started selling about a year and half ago

800 items sold 99.7 feedback

Recently I went away for family things for 30 days set my acct to be away … got back with items not received cases opened

I wasn’t able to revise existing listings post new listings OR refund the buyer from my eBay funds …

The items were caught up in recent wild fires but ended up being delivered late. I had to beg the buyer to let me pay them off of eBay to close the case because it was on hold and I wasn’t able to refund them from my eBay acct etc…. So luckily they obliged and I did … but ever since then my acct must be strikes as high risk because funds have been on hold 3 days after delivery since then indefinitely might I add… I get the run around everytime etc etc FINALLY I got someone saying it’s temporary it’ll be back to normal etc. these r all reps from escalated departments… one lady told me that with my history and feedback I’ve proved beyond doubt that I’m reliable seller and shouldn’t be on hold she put in for a appeal never heard back got the run around for another few months… they keep telling me I’ve been chosen for the new update they r rolling out total BS … do you believe that sellers will stay on eBay with these holds ? No they will simply go to another platform … they r 100% making money on the holds and use any reasoning to tell you basically no and keep profiting…. The get around is creating a new acct… these cases were closed without eBay having to step in and might I add I lost $$ and its been truly frustrating esp since I’ve built the acct up but I know I can do it again.. when they tell me its going to happen to all accts I just mention how my brother just opened one n now has immediate payments they don’t know what to say I don’t think they really even know.,, its sad n scummy but I see a class action lawsuit coming honestly ! I don’t know💬 if I forgot anything but well written thanks for the information. Have a great one!