WSJ 03/25/26 at 443 pm EST
The U.S. Postal Service plans to impose its first-ever surcharge on packages to cover the rising cost of fuel and transportation, as the agency looks for ways to stabilize its finances.
The 8% surcharge will begin on April 26, and the current plan is to phase it out on Jan. 17, 2027, the Postal Service said in a statement Wednesday that confirmed earlier reporting by The Wall Street Journal. The fee will apply to packages but not letter mail.
Other parcel carriers, including Fedex and UPS, have imposed fuel surcharges for years—alongside a basket of other surcharges and fees. Both Fedex and UPS have dramatically raised their fuel surcharges in recent weeks as the price of oil has increased amid the turmoil in the Middle East.
Diesel prices reached $5.38 a gallon this week, up 51% from a year earlier.
The Postal Service said that the price increase “is consistent with industry practices” and will “better align its costs of transportation with the market.”
“We have steadfastly avoided surcharges and this charge is less than one-third of what our competitors charge for fuel alone, so even with this change, the Postal Service continues to offer great value in shipping with some of the lowest rates in the industrialized world,” the agency said.
Currently, the price for shipping an item in a medium Priority Mail flat-rate box is $22.95. The price will rise to $24.80 starting April 26. Regular mail under one ounce that uses a first-class mail stamp remains unchanged at $0.78.
The price change on packages will go into effect pending favorable review by the Postal Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that oversees the Postal Service’s postal rates, fee structures and service quality.
The Postal Service said that the temporary surcharge will “provide a necessary bridge to a permanent mechanism to reflect market conditions.”
The agency has been struggling financially for years, and new Postmaster General David Steiner recently said that the agency will run out of money in a year. Last week, Steiner asked lawmakers to consider lifting regulatory restrictions on the Postal Service’s ability to raise prices.
In addition, the Journal reported last week that Amazon.com is planning to sharply cut the number of packages it ships through the Postal Service, a move that could cost the agency billions of dollars in much-needed revenue.
The e-commerce giant, long the Postal Service’s biggest customer, has already begun ratcheting down its postal volume and is planning to reduce it further by this fall, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Postal Service’s losses stem in part from its mandate to deliver to more than 170 million addresses six days a week. The six-day-a-week statutory obligation leads to 71% of delivery routes being financially underwater, the agency has said. Roughly three in five post offices don’t cover the cost of their operations.
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