USPS Announces No January Price Hike For Stamps & Other Market Dominant Products

USPS has announced today that the price of stamps and other Market Dominant products will not see their usual increase in January as Postmaster Louis DeJoy looks to blunt criticism of Delivering For America plan.

U.S. Postal Service Announces No Stamp Price Changes for January 2025

A recommendation by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy not to raise prices in January 2025 for Market Dominant products, which includes First-Class Mail, was accepted by the Governors of the United States Postal Service. Accordingly, the price of a stamp to mail a 1-once single-piece First-Class letter will not increase.

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WASHINGTON — A recommendation by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy not to raise prices in January 2025 for Market Dominant products, which includes First-Class Mail, was accepted by the Governors of the United States Postal Service. Accordingly, the price of a stamp to mail a 1-once single-piece First-Class letter will not increase.

The Postal Service’s operational strategies are designed to boost service reliability, cost efficiency, and overall productivity.

“Our strategies are working and projected inflation is declining,” said Postmaster General DeJoy. “Therefore, we will wait until at least July before proposing any increases for market dominant services.”

That's good news for online sellers of media products as Media Mail is also considered a Market Dominant product and thus should not be seeing an increase in January either.

However, that still leaves the door open for an increase on Competitive Products like Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, and Ground Advantage - and while USPS has said the holiday peak rate hike is only "temporary" as it goes into effect October 6, 2024 - January 19, 2025, you can expect a January increase will follow soon after and likely lock those higher rates in going forward.

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Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

Changes were also introduced earlier this week to the discounted negotiated rates available through marketplaces like eBay and Etsy or service providers like PirateShip and Stamps.com with a zip-code based increase causing confusion and frustration for many online sellers.

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Sellers confused by USPS Priority rate variations as Etsy failed to advise of zip code based changes to negotiated rates through the platform.

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And USPS has also announced it's ending discounts for shipping consolidators like UPS and DHL in a move that could cause shippers to see higher costs for services like UPS SurePost and Mail Innovations or DHL eCommerce.

USPS Cuts Discounted Rates For Shipping Consolidators In Bid To Reduce Volume From UPS, DHL & More

USPS announces it’s ending discounts for shipping consolidators like UPS & DHL in effort to slow losses - will consumers pay the price?

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton

How will these USPS rate decisions impact your online buying and selling? Let us know in the comments below!