Upcoming USPS Rate Shock on July 12th

[Lost_My_Marbles]

Rates change this Sunday 7/12/2026.

Ground Advantage less than 1lb will be at one rate per zone.

Commercial
Weight Not Over (ounces)	Zones
	Zone 1	Zone 2	Zone 3	Zone 4	Zone 5	Zone 6	Zone 7	Zone 8	Zone 9
4	6.93	6.94	7.30	7.46	7.69	7.86	8.07	8.40	8.40
8	6.93	6.94	7.30	7.46	7.69	7.86	8.07	8.40	8.40
12	6.93	6.94	7.30	7.46	7.69	7.86	8.07	8.40	8.40
15.999	6.93	6.94	7.30	7.46	7.69	7.86	8.07	8.40	8.40

It use to be like this several years back, then it got changed to different prices for 4oz, 8oz, 12oz, and 15.99oz. At that time, USPS was raising the price for weight and distance.

With it going back to one price per zone, it will eliminate people trying to fudge on weight to save a little. For us, this change just simplifies it for us on multiple unit orders (most of ours are between 2oz and 8oz) so now it is just a zone thing.

As far as the price hike itself, this makes postage about an average of $3 more than it was last July … OUCH!

And to think that the holiday price increase is only about 3 months away … that will mean our products will have an increase of about $4 over last holiday season all due to USPS price increases.

[lake]

As I posted on an Ebay topic here on SAS

Ebay sellers got a reprieve. Must be due to negotiated rates

Ebay provides more information on USPS Rate Changes

USPS® Rate and Service Update Summary: The United States Postal Service announced updates to rates and services effective July 12, 2026. Key updates include no rate increases for eBay Labels for packages under one pound and reductions in Media Mail rates by 1.8%. There are changes in dimensional weight calculations, including a new divisor and rounding logic. A handling fee for hazardous materials of $7.50 and a $50 noncompliance fee have been introduced. Maximum dimensions for cubic pricing are…

[wadeorcas]

Other new tidbits from PirateShip email
Rounding and dimensional weight (DIM weight) are changing

USPS will now round up all fractional dimensions to the next whole inch, so it’s more important than ever to measure your packages as accurately as possible.

USPS is also lowering its DIM weight divisor from 166 to 139. This means that the dimensional (DIM) weight of large packages will increase, and you could see dimensional weight charges more often.

Here’s a quick refresher on dimensional weight: It’s determined by multiplying Length * Width * Height, then dividing by the DIM divisor. If the resulting “dimensional weight” is higher than your actual weight, that’s the weight you’ll be charged for instead. So for example, a package that is 12x16x20 / 139 = 28 lb in dimensional weight. If the actual weight is less than 28 lb, you’ll be charged the 28 lb rate.

Dimensional weight is why you should always try to use as small of a box as possible for your items, and always measure the outer dimensions of your packages as accurately as possible.

Pro Tip: The dimensions that are printed on boxes are usually internal measurements. USPS verifies your package’s outer dimensions, so always measure the outside of your box before buying a label—don’t rely on the number printed on the box
Max dimensions for Cubic are increasing & Softpack is changing

USPS is increasing the maximum allowable package length for Cubic pricing from 18 inches to 22 inches, allowing more shipments to qualify for Cubic pricing rates

USPS is also lowering the number of Ground Advantage Cubic pricing tiers for softpack envelopes from 10 tiers down to 5. Read more about that here.
New fees for hazmat, oversized, and overweight shipments

USPS is introducing new fees for hazmat shipments and a $200 fee for oversized/overweight packages. For more information on these fees and whether they’ll apply to you, check out our article.
Use our Rates Calculator for the most up-to-date pricing

Our Rates Calculator is the quickest way to see how much your shipment will cost and compare all the different shipping methods

Check out our article about this rate change for the full details, and reach out to our Support Crew if you have any questions. We’re here for ya matey!

ARRrrr,
The seafarin’ scallywags @ Pirate Ship

[lake]

There are sellers reporting that PirateShip is changing the weights on low weight GA shipments to a higher weight to reduce postage due to the reduction in two to five pound packages.

Sounds bizarre to me.

[Jenga244]

Yep, kudos to Ebay. We will be printing all our labels for Ebay orders via Ebay if Stamps doesn’t follow suit.

As for price increases, I just feel this is another after effect of COVID…meaning companies saw how much of a premium that normal people are wiling to pay for stupid stuff and they basically are going to keep raising prices because they know they can squeeze more out of people. They might come up with other “reasoning” but this is the real reason.

[HobbesIsMyTiger]

@Jenga244

They might come up with other “reasoning” but this is the real reason.

I don’t think so, not for this.
The USPS has, for a number of reasons not worth rehashing here, significant budget issues. They are just trying to increase revenue to negate some deficits and deal with recent operating cost increases.

[Lost_My_Marbles]

@HobbesIsMyTiger

and deal with recent operating cost increases.

This

Got to offset current fuel costs.

[dwat0870]

@lake

Sounds bizarre to me.

It is, and I suspect that the shippers may very well end up with some ‘corrections’ to those shipments.

Since the PO actually does verify weights it won’t surprise me to see them adjust those packages to the correct weight AND correct pricing.

I’m sure it would never occur to them that fixing any pricing anomalies would be the better way to go…

[Thelunatick]

@Lost_My_Marbles

Got to offset current fuel costs.

I don’t want to get political, but I don’t know about that.
In the past 10 years the peak of gas prices was in July of 2022 at $4.929 a gallon (not including local taxes).

Right now the average is $4.050 (again before local taxes) (source EIA.gov)

That said the cost of maintenance on vehicles has increased greatly. I think that factors in more than fule to operating cost increases.

[Lost_My_Marbles]

@Thelunatick

That said the cost of maintenance on vehicles has increased greatly. I think that factors in more than fule to operating cost increases.

Fuel is the easy one to sell to the public since it is and has been on the news cycle the past few months. Moving mail by air is definitely more costly right now.

We think this price hike was in the making before the fuel prices jumped. Contracts were signed earlier this year (maybe late late year) and those costs along with others came in this July rate increases.

[HobbesIsMyTiger]

Fuel is also a real reason on it’s face. While fuel costs are not at record levels, they are very elevated and more importantly, have been elevated for a while with no real end in sight. Coupled with the rise of data centers and the like, energy costs across the board are through the roof.

I’m not saying it’s the only reason, or even the main reason, for the rate hikes, but it is a real reason.

[lake]

Usps has run out of areas to cut costs, in the opinion of their management.

Service cuts they believe to be appropriate given the decrease in mail volume are prohibited by the regulatory structure.

Price increases are the only alternatives they have to attempt to reduce their operating deficits.

Increasing prices when you have a profit problem may have results which are other than what you seek. Sometimes they reduce your revenue. I suspect they know this and have decided it might not be all bad.

Remember, USPS initiated the cutback in services it provides to Amazon.

Their problem is serious enough when one considers the obvious motivations, that no secret agenda is necessary to be concerned. Any cost which is higher than it was during a previous time of losses is clearly a consideration when attempting to reduce the amount of red ink. Any spin that anyone chooses to put on it, is simply spin.

[Wade_Wilson]

@Thelunatick

I was looking for NeeDoh for my daughter.

Reach out to me, I might be able to help.