Hot off the presses!

On Wednesday October 12, 2016, the US Postal Service, as expected, filed their 2017 rate increase request with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC).  The complete report consists of over 200 pages, so to spare our readers of the pain of going through a document of that size, we decided to provide you with a few key points included in the report.

• The US Postal Service plans to implement these price changes on January,22, 2017, obviously only if they are approved by the PRC.

• First Class-Mail will be going back up to $0.49, which was the rate prior to USPS’ $0.02 reduction by removing a surcharge.

• The new rates, if approved will include a single price for First-Class Mail Commercial Presort letters weighing up to 3.5 ounces and a reduction in the one ounce meter price to $0.46.

• Standard Mail is being rebranded as USPS Marketing Mail to better align the product name with the customer’s use of this mail class.

• Proposed changes for Marketing Mail include removing the Flats Sequencing System (FSS) pricing which apparently was a concern to mailers.

• Other changes include increasing the piece pound breakpoint from 3.3 to 4.0 ounces for Marketing Mail Flats.

• The increase request did not include price changes for Postcards, letters being mailed to international destinations, or for additional ounces for Single Piece Letters.