Shipping News: USPS adding 8% fuel surcharge starting April 26, 2026
Starting April 26, 2026 USPS is applying an 8% fuel surcharge for all domestic competitive package services.
"The planned price change, which was approved by the Governors of the Postal Service on March 24, is an 8 percent increase that would affect base postage prices on the following retail and commercial domestic competitive products: Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select. No other products or services would be affected, including First-Class Stamps. Pending favorable review by the PRC, the price change would go into effect at midnight Central Time on April 26 and would remain in place until midnight Central Time on Jan. 17, 2027. At that time, the Postal Service can determine if a different long-term approach is needed."
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Common questions popping up:
eBay Standard Envelope is letter mail, not a package. It's a Market Dominant service and not affected.
Media Mail is a Market Dominant service and not affected.
eBay, other marketplaces, and shipping providers have not announced this yet because USPS just announced it today and it still has to be reviewed by the PRC. I'm sure it will be announced by marketplaces in a few weeks, shortly before it goes into effect.
Rates on eBay will be handled just like every other surcharge or price change we experience multiple times each year.
Quick fly by post because people are blowing up my messages all over the place. Hopefully this helps.
krazzykats
·4 months agoSame here. I must have printed the label before the cutoff time.
When I tried printing another, it now only lets me choose 4/27 and later with the new rates.
So, the new rates have arrived.
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krazzykats
·4 months agoUse today’s date for the ship on date. If I use Monday’s date, it uses the new rates.
For me (curious cat, you know), it’s $5.77 today and $6.24 if I use Monday’s date.
I didn’t try Sunday’s date. I assume it will be at the new rates as well.
Get any outstanding order postage labels printed today with today's ship on date, even if you can't ship it until Monday...
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bmtoys
·4 months agoIt won't let me choose today or tomorrow. Only date I can choose is 4/27 up to 4/30.
sfau
·4 months agoSame - I think there is a cut off once the PO closes for day and anything after goes to the next day. Technically, I could go stick in the mailbox tonight.
mcdougle4248
·4 months agoBumping this post. The rate increase goes into effect tomorrow 4/26. Just a friendly reminder.
bmtoys
·4 months agoNo, it started today 4/25/2026. I went to print out labels from ebay for todays sales and it already has the 8% increase. Buyer didn't pay the increase but I do when purchasing labels from ebay.
gurlcat
·4 months ago@bmtoys Got any proof, like a screenshot?
It wouldn't shock me if eBay is charging the increased prices for packages that can't ship until Monday anyway, but I'll believe it only if I see it.
bmtoys
·4 months agoBuyer paid $10.84 for shipping. Actual cost for buyer is $9.84 plus $1.00 handing.
My cost should have been $9.84 but it is $10.63. Exactly 8% increase.
Saying the increase starts 4/26 is misleading!
ltldpr
·5 months agoAm I the only one thinking that the USPS would save so much money on fuel if packages didn't get routed hundreds, if not thousands, of miles out of the way and just got delivered from point A to point B without taking a tour of the entire country (& Puerto Ricco)?
a_c_green
·5 months agoNo... the problem with that would be that everyone has a different Point A and Point B for their package, relative to everyone else's. You have to consolidate everything coming at some common origin (i.e. the closest major city to your origin) so that you can efficiently transport everything going to a common destination (the closest major city to your destination), sharing the truck with everyone else's package headed to that same area.
In addition, the route to your common destination probably passes near or through some other common destination(s), so everything headed there will share the truck with everything going your way.
At the destination, the mailstream can finally get split out to the individual post offices serving the destination address. Anything going the other way will catch the return truck.
It's a hub-and-spoke system with multiple hubs. Sometimes it's not apparent how or why the most efficient routing should be the way it is, and I have also seen rerouting to share loads and take the strain off some overloaded facility, plus of course sometimes stuff just gets missorted, but in over 25 years of selling here, USPS has only ever lost one item of mine (and they refunded me). Everything else got there, even if it was sometimes late. Once it's in the mailstream, I just don't worry about it anymore. (Which reminds me: I gotta get this package over to the PO in the next hour...)
lawnmowerpartsstore2
·5 months agoOuch thats going to leave a mark 🤕
wastingtime101
OP5 months agoeBay posted an announcement here:
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/USPS-Fuel-Surcharge-effective-April-26-2026/ba-p/35551518
Keep in mind: eBay charges fees on total amount buyer pays, so an 8% increase on USPS services also means an increase in eBay fees. Price accordingly.
frugalmarketplace
·5 months agoThere is already a thread on this subject…. just another unpleasantness.
gurlcat
·5 months ago@frugalmarketplace Yeah but that one is already becoming a political dumpster fire. This one provides lots of relevant FACTS.
Maybe we can have a grown-up table vs. kids' table dichotomy here, lol.
Thanks @wastingtime101 (missed you by the way!).
frugalmarketplace
·5 months ago@gurlcat
Well …isn’t everything lately???
Hope all is well.