U.S. Postal Service Rate Change Aug. 29, 2021

As part of "Delivering for America," its 10-year plan to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence, the United States Postal Service price changes will take effect Aug. 29, 2021, that are in accordance with the rules recently established by PRC last year.

The price changes would raise overall Market Dominant product and service prices by approximately 6.9 percent. First-Class Mail prices would increase by 6.8 percent to partially offset declining revenue due to First-Class Mail volume declines. In the past 10 years, mail volume has declined by 46 billion pieces, or 28 percent, and is continuing to decline. Over the same period, First-Class Mail volume has dropped 32 percent, and single piece First-Class Mail volume — including letters bearing postage stamps — has declined 47 percent.

 "For the past 14 years, the Postal Service has had limited pricing authority to respond to changing market realities," said Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy. "As part of our 10-year plan to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence, the Postal Service and the Board of Governors are committed to judiciously implementing a rational pricing approach that helps enable us to remain viable and competitive and offer reliable postal services that are among the most affordable in the world." 

The  Mailing Services price changes include: 

Product	Current Prices	New Prices
Letters (1 oz.)	55 cents	58 cents
Letters additional ounce(s)	20 cents	20 cents (unchanged)
Letters (metered 1 oz.)	51 cents	53 cents
Domestic Postcards	36 cents	40 cents
Flats (1 oz.) Outbound International Letters (1 oz.)	$1.00   $1.20	$1.16 $1.30

 

Under the current pricing model and the rate change, the Postal Service still has some of the lowest letter-mail postage rates in the industrialized world and continues to offer a great value in shipping.