Got an e-mail from Pirate Ship.....

[mike_jayroe]

...that made me happy,  See red ink portion.

 

 

USPS is increasing some rates on November 18th

While the Postal Service is not adding any Holiday Surcharges this year, they are increasing Priority Mail rates everywhere you can buy postage online 

• Priority Mail Flat Rate is increasing up to 6%, because USPS is removing this service from the Connect eCommerce program that provided deeper discounts, so the rates are returning to the Commercial Pricing levels.
• Weight-Based Priority Mail is increasing up to 10% in zones 1-4, but it'll still have discounts that are cheaper than Commercial Pricing 
• Dimension-Based Priority Mail Cubic is increasing up to 23% in zones 1-4 for tiers 0.40 and 0.50—so the largest package sizes for this service are getting more expensive in the lowest zones. But the rates are still cheaper than Commercial Pricing 
• Ground Advantage is decreasing up to 16% in zones 1-5, depending on the size and weight of your package.

I ship a lot of non-book material this way.

Hope everyone else will benefit from this.

[tsme35]

You didn't read my post, it's a link to the companies on the Connect eCommerce program, who may or may not getting the rate changes.

[valueaddedresource]

Also possibly related - I've seen multiple posts in the Etsy community from people who are seeing Priority Mail rates changing already when printing Etsy Labels.

[fern*wood]

That message from Pirate Ship claims the rates are going up everywhere that you buy online postage from, so it seems that would included ebay labels too, or are they mistaken?  ARRrrrr

[valueaddedresource]

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@fern*wood wrote:

That message from Pirate Ship claims the rates are going up everywhere that you buy online postage from, so it seems that would included ebay labels too, or are they mistaken?  ARRrrrr

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@fern*wood maybe not mistaken exactly, but possibly poorly worded or not the full picture, which I think is what has lead to some confusion and concern.

If USPS was in fact giving bigger discounts to some providers/platforms using Connect Ecommerce, and they are now discontinuing that practice making it so that everyone using Connect Ecommerce receives the same rates, then technically it would be more accurate for Pirate Ship to have said "you'll see the same rates everywhere you buy postage online" rather than "rates are going up everywhere."

Basically then it would be a leveling of the playing field, not an across the board increase for everyone, if that makes sense - it would  only be an increase for those who previously had more of a discount that will now be at the same rate as everyone else.

Based on the info I've been able to glean from various sources so far, I think that is most likely the case here but I'll put a huge caveat on this that there has not been any official confirmation.

Unfortunately since it's not an actual PRC-approved "rate increase", it isn't something that has to be publicly announced or disclosed by USPS. So for all the various platforms and providers, we may not know if they are affected or not until people just start noticing a change in rates, like some are seeing on Etsy.

[fern*wood]

That makes sense about the increase.  How about the part where they claim ground advantage will be going down?   

[devon@ebay · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone! The Shipping team wanted to share an updated on the USPS Rate Change:

"eBay is not currently raising rates on 11/18. We continue to work with USPS on competitive rates, and when we do have rate changes we try to give our sellers at least two weeks' notice."

[devon@ebay]

Hi everyone! The Shipping team wanted to share an updated on the USPS Rate Change:

"eBay is not currently raising rates on 11/18. We continue to work with USPS on competitive rates, and when we do have rate changes we try to give our sellers at least two weeks' notice."

[caracy]

Here it is November 21st and USPS is still showing rates from July on the website.

not sure whats up....

[valueaddedresource]

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@caracy wrote:

Here it is November 21st and USPS is still showing rates from July on the website.

not sure whats up....

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@caracy as explained above, this is an adjustment for some service providers to the contracts they have with USPS for Connect Ecommerce, but it's not actually a "rate change" that would need Postal Regulatory Commission approval - that's why you aren't seeing anything posted on the USPS site.

Service providers and marketplaces have negotiated service agreements (NSAs) with USPS that govern the pricing available to them through that program...this is just making adjustments to bring some of those agreements more in line with others across the board (though so far eBay says they will not be impacted).

The next actual USPS rate increase is scheduled for January 21, 2024, pending PRC approval.

[caracy]

OK. Makes sense, but all previous announcements sure made it look like the standard rate change. Everything except the Saturday start date. USPS always changes rates on a Sunday.

Thanks

[mam98031]

I think it looked that way because it is what we expect.  This is the first one like this one ever as far as I know.

[valueaddedresource]

Also for anyone keeping track, Auctune put out a very late announcement (November 16) that their various companies are impacted by this change as well.

Stamps.com https://blog.stamps.com/usps-rate-change/

ShipStation https://www.shipstation.com/blog/usps-rate-changes/

ShipEngine https://www.shipengine.com/blog/usps-rate-changes/ 

ShippingEasy https://shippingeasy.com/blog/usps-2023-shipping-rate-changes/

Endicia https://online-shipping-blog.endicia.com/2023-usps-rate-changes/

[mam98031]

That isn't a complete list.  Amazon was affected and they have changed their affected rates.  Ebay is also affected but has chosen not to make the postal cost changes.  I haven't checked other sites.

[valueaddedresource]

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@mam98031 wrote:

That isn't a complete list.  Amazon was affected and they have changed their affected rates.  Ebay is also affected but has chosen not to make the postal cost changes.  I haven't checked other sites.

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@mam98031 understood - I never said it was a complete list.

Etsy was also mentioned further up in this thread as well as eBay's answer so I didn't think it was necessary to repeat those.

I hadn't seen anyone else mention any of the Auctane sites, so figured I'd throw them in for easy reference for those trying to figure out who is affected or not.

[valueaddedresource]

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devon@ebay wrote:

Hi everyone! The Shipping team wanted to share an updated on the USPS Rate Change:

"eBay is not currently raising rates on 11/18. We continue to work with USPS on competitive rates, and when we do have rate changes we try to give our sellers at least two weeks' notice."

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For anyone who was following along on this, it appears eBay may now be making adjustments to bring their rates in line with these adjustments Pirate Ship and others made back in November with no notice, despite this comment from devon@ebay about "trying" to give two weeks' notice before changes.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping/USPS-shipping-rates-increased/m-p/34208452/highlight/true#M46...