To view 2018 fee information for all carriers, visit our most recent article here.
usps 2017 rate changes will take effect on january 22nd on all shipping services. In general, rates have increased for most products, weights, and zones, but USPS has chosen not to increase rates for international services. We’ll go over changes to the most popular USPS shipping services, including Priority Mail, First Class Parcel, Flat Rate, and Regional Rate.
here are some notable changes:
- First Class 1-8 oz packages now have two price points: $2.61 for 4 oz and under, and $2.77 for 5-8 oz. good for simplifying package rates on shipments under 4 ounces, but an increase for sellers shipping 5-8 ounce packages
- priority mail rates for packages under 8 pounds increased 3.9% on average, but some rates dropped as much as 47 cents
- there will be no change in International Priority Mail, Priority International Express Mail or International First Class Mail International Parcel Service rates
Please note: We use commercial plus pricing for this entire post (cpp). USPS has also updated the Retail and Commercial Basic Price (CBP) rates, however for the sake of consistency we will only cover CPP. you can get cpp rates using shippingeasy for your ecommerce shipping.
flat rate 2017 rate changes
One of the biggest rate changes people are looking for is USPS Priority Mail flat rate boxes and envelopes. This shipping service is a choice for many online sellers because of its simplicity, free packaging, and competitive rate, no matter how heavy or how far the package travels. arguably the best value of all flat rate services, flat rate padded envelopes will see a 40 cent increase, making them 5 cents more expensive than using a flat rate small box.
priority mail rate changes 2017
priority mail is the primary package delivery service for usps. is a versatile shipping service used to ship millions of packages every day.
As an example, we take 2 pound packages and compare the 2016 rates to the new 2017 rates for various zones:
For a quick look at the 2017 Priority Mail rates, here’s a table of rates for the 2017 Highest Priority Business Mail shipments:
You can see a comparison of popular 2017 rates in our USPS Rate Tables.
2017 First Class Package Rate Changes
First Class Parcel Service, USPS’s most popular and affordable service for shipping packages under 1 pound, will see an increase across all weight categories with an average increase of 21 cents. the lightest packages, from 1 oz. at 4 oz., you’ll only see a dime increase.
2017 regional rate shipping rate changes
Regional Rate Service, a lesser used but useful shipping service that comes in preset boxes that you order online and is cheaper when shipping short distances, you will see a small rate increase for both the rate box regional a and for the regional rate box b. an outlier is a 49-cent rate reduction for box-to shipments going to zone 8, but regional rate shipments are designed to ship to zones 1-4.
2017 rate changes for International Express Mail and International First Class Parcel
a good move for usps, international shipping will not see any rate increases this year, which many e-commerce sellers will welcome. the international first class package will continue to be a very competitive service, especially as another full year will go by without a rate increase.
conclusion
although usps is increasing its rates, the increases are modest and below the percentage increases that ups and fedex implemented for their services. trade plus pricing will also be available to offer sellers better discounts on bundles.
For more information, download the updated eCommerce seller’s guide to 2018 shipping rate changes:
