USPS Price Changes effective July 14, 2024 (Media Mail, ESE, Stamps)

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USPS price changes, effective July 14, 2024 if approved. Submitted to the PRC yesterday (PRC link, USPS link).

Reminder: Per the linked files, these are just the "market dominant" price changes (first class, etc). This does not include any potential changes to "competitive product" prices. Competitive product changes for package services like Ground Adv and Priority won't be announced by USPS until a few weeks prior to July 14th.

Back in December USPS brought up potential changes including creating a Zone 10 for AK/HI/territories and changes to Priority Flat Rates. I'm interested to see where all of that lands.

For market dominant services, the main changes affecting eBay sellers will be:

Increase in Media Mail, nearly 10%
Increase in Metered Mail - eBay Standard Envelope
Increase in First Class Mail - Letters & Flats (non-tracked services, postage stamps)
Insurance decreasing 10% in response to volume declines, consumer sensitivity, and competitor pricing
Special & Ancillary Services (e.g., Signature Confirmation) will see an increase of about 7.76%

Also of note:

Certified Mail, Money Orders, and Return Receipts will receive price increases of about 10-12%

wastingtime101

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Posted 2 years ago · Edited 2 years ago·Last reply 1 year ago

9 comments

born2record

·1 year ago

30543 View listings

This has got me very concerned. I now have a few customers spending more on shipping than on the actual product!

kh-adrian

·1 year ago

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Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.

wastingtime101

OP2 years ago

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And now stamps.com has put out a similar notice, just 10 days after they sent an email specifically saying no price changes were coming for Ground Adv and Priority. ðŸ˜‚

Today's notice from stamps.com:

https://www.stamps.com/article/usps-rate-change/

Effective July 1, 2024
- Ground Advantage for packages under 1 pound (ounce-based) will see a small increase, averaging 0.2% but some rates could go up by as much as 33 cents.
- Ground Advantage for packages over 1 pound will have a 2% price hike, with individual rates potentially increasing up to $2.11.
- Ground Advantage Cubic pricing will go up by an average of 3%, with some rates rising by as much as $1.67.
- Priority Mail will see a 5% average increase, with some rates going up to $3.10 more.
- Priority Mail Flats will have a 4% average bump, with individual rates potentially increasing up to $1.18.
- The biggest increase is for Priority Mail Cubic, with a 10% average rise and some rates going up to $2.97 more.

Effective July 14, 2024
- 1 oz. First-Class Mail stamps are going up by 5 cents, from 68 cents to 73 cents retail. However, when using Stamps.com, you will receive the discounted rate of 69 cents.
- Overall mailing service prices will rise by approximately 7.8%.

wastingtime101

OP2 years ago

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PirateShip published their announcement. With rates going up (July 1st!) through Pirate for Ground Adv and Priority, I expect we'll see similar changes announced by eBay in the near future. Announcement published below with a few parts clipped for brevity

https://support.pirateship.com/en/articles/9483587-july-2024-usps-rate-increase

PIRATESHIP ANNOUNCEMENT - July 2024 USPS Rate Increase

USPS raises rates twice in July: Priority Mail & Ground Advantage on July 1st, and Media Mail & Signature Confirmation on July 14th.

USPS is raising rates twice in July 2024, on both July 1st and July 14th. The rates are changing everywhere you can buy postage online, so there's no avoiding them.

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

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

Media Mail rates will increase on July 14th by 50 cents for a package weighing up to 1 pound. After that the rate change will slightly increase for each pound up to 7 lbs before leveling out.

Here's how that looks:
1 lb - $4.63 (up by 50 cents)
2 lb - $5.38 (up by 51 cents)
3 lb - $6.13 (up by 52 cents)
4 lb - $6.88 (up by 53 cents)
5 lb - $7.63 (up by 54 cents)
6 lb - $8.38 (up by 55 cents)
7 lb - $9.13 (up by 56 cents)
Over 7 lb - Every rate goes up 56 cents

With these rate increases for Media Mail, you may find that it's sometimes cheaper to use a different service, depending on the weight of your package and the distance it's traveling.

Signature Confirmation is going up by 20 cents on July 14th for all USPS shipments from $3.50 to $3.70.

Adult Signature (which requires the signer to be 21 or older) will remain at the same price of $9.35.

1786davycrockett

·2 years ago

5799 View listings

A 50 cents increase in Media Mail is very discouraging -- I spent a few days in December 2023 re-adjusting my previous listings, just to account for the January 2024 increase.

Not gonna do anything until this is a certainty.

And, if the proposed Media rate is more than USPS Ground Advantage, I'll just change everything to USPS GA -- at least there's free insurance up to $100.00.

Too bad the Postmaster General is not up for election in 2024. . ..

1786davycrockett

·2 years ago

5799 View listings

I just checked -- if Ground Advantage remains at the same price, in some cases that will be a cheaper option than Media, depending upon the buyer's address.

For instance -- I'm in Minnesota. A Massachusetts buyer pays me $4.47 for an 8 ounce Ground Advantage package, as opposed to the proposed $4.63 Media package -- a savings of 16 cents -- plus better service, and $100.00 free insurance.

Sounds like a no-brainer to me.

wastingtime101

OP2 years ago

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The good news is if you charge buyers for MM and GA comes in lower, it's considered a service upgrade so go ahead and use GA.

The biggest differences you'll see is when you go over a pound. That's when GA has rates significantly lower than MM - especially if the box is heavy and you get a GA cubic rate @1786davycrockett .

dhbookds

·2 years ago

1720 View listings

thanks for posting.................ugh on the media mail..........certainly not encouraging on letter rate.

wastingtime101

OP2 years ago

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@dhbookds wrote:
ugh on the media mail

With the last few price changes, Media Mail and Ground Adv have become competitors, with Ground Adv being lower in many instances.

Plus Ground Adv is insured and does not charge for returned packages. MM is uninsured and you have to pay shipping again to claim a returned package. If this keeps up, MM will be discontinued because nobody will be using it anymore.