The USPS approved a rate change that will take effect July 10, 2022. The price changes affect mainly Market Dominant prices, which include First-Class Mail, USPS Marketing Mail, Periodicals, Package Services (Media Mail, Library Mail, and Bound Printed Matter), and Special Services. Show
The new rate changes will not affect most shipping rates that changed in January, but the special Priority Mail Cubic Pricing will now be available for anyone who uses Commercial pricing by printing the IMpb shipping label. Pricing changes will vary by product. In addition, the USPS is changing the way they perform the 3-digit origin to 3-digit destination zone determination. Shipping prices are not changing, however the zone might be different and that could affect the price you pay. You may notice no change, an increase or a decrease. When is the next rate change? We expect another holiday rate change for shipping services. No details have been released, but be sure to check back for the latest USPS news. No matter how small, every USPS postage rate increase impacts your bottom line.PitneyShip™ and SendPro® automatically update with the new USPS postal rates and provide automatic savings of 3¢ vs. stamps on First-Class Letters, and savings on larger items with Commercial Base Pricing – savings not available at the Post Office. Bottom & links Autumn color photos - a walk thru my neighborhoodAn unofficial site by Jerry Nelson. UPDATED ONLY FOR LETTERS AND "FLATS"getting revised Oct2021 ---=--- Inspired by the friendliest home town post office in the USA, Lafayette, TN (How this page started, below) ((PDF of rate tables only, finally for 2019 -- BareBonesPostageTables.pdf )) FOREVER STAMPS can be used for anything, but what are they currently worth?58¢ - classic forever stamp; good investment, always goes up, went up 3¢ on 3Oct2021.20¢ - "Additional Ounce" went down from 21 to 15¢ 27Jan2019, and up to 20¢ on 3Oct2021 78¢ - "Two Ounce" (the wedding invitation stamp, heart symbol) 88¢ - the "butterfly" stamps for bad envelopes (square, stiff, metal clasp). Although the stamp says "Non-Machinable Surcharge", it is not the 30¢ surcharge, it is the entire cost. 40¢ - postcard - had been 35¢ since at least 2017 $1.30 foreign letter - up 5¢ in 2020, up 10¢ 3Oct2021Note: mail that can’t get through a sorting machine costs more. A flat, flexible regular or business-sized envelope is cheaper than a flat, flexible manila envelope that needs bigger sorting machines and they are cheaper than thick, inflexible envelopes of the same size and weight that are unmachinable and have to go as small parcels. Letters 1st Class 58¢+20¢/oz (3Oct2021)Not over:1 oz $0.58 +20¢/oz. Bad envelope penalty is 30¢ 2 ounces $0.78 3 ounces $0.98 3.5 oz $1.18 Heavier? Go to FLATS (next). Rigid object inside? Metal clasp? Button & closure string? “Flats” (Large 1st Class Envelopes) 1 oz
$1.16 Up 16¢ on 3Oct2021 FLATS: Over 13 oz? Consider Priority Mail flat-rate envelope.Your envelope is inflexible, lumpy, not rectangular? Go to “Packages”. (No rigid, corrugated cardboard in flats for preventing creased photos, sorry.) If you want to send the photo anyway, pad the envelope with stiff paper to protect it, & do the flex test: hang half of the short side over the edge of the table and check that it flexes 1" and back if you press down with your finger. If the short side is 10 inches long or more, you'd better be able to bend 2". Length over 15”? Height over 12”? Go to “Packages”. Thicker than 3/4"? Go to “Packages" Under 3/4" but lumpy? Klutz! Go to "Packages", pay more. Still confused? Make sure your letters are white, your flats are manila envelopes, and share user stories like these :-( Exception: when mailing to your friend in prison, white envelopes are preferred because somehow you can hide particles of dope in manila. -- - - - - - NOT UPDATED BELOW THIS POINT - - - - - - Small Packages / Parcels / Lumpy envelopes 1st class 27Jan2019 NOW YOU HAVE TO USE ZONES :-( These are padded
envelopes over 3/4" thick, rigid photo mailers, medical samples, small boxes under 1 cubic foot. If it's not cubic but very rectangular, then girth + length have to be under 108". To get the zone, get your two zip codes, go here https://postcalc.usps.com/DomesticZoneChart , and either select "GET ZONE FOR my ZIP CODE PAIR", or print a chart that shows how all the zones
look from where you live (you also need a chart like that below for parcel post). 14,15, and 16 ounces were announced as acceptable on 7Jan2016, THE CARTON SYMBOL: To get rates even if you can't purchase the postage on-line, enter the USPS site, click on the cartons symbol, and look for "First Class & Other Options" at the bottom, or perhaps a line labeled "Other Services". This is the "Parcel" (small pkg) rate. https://postcalc.usps.com/ Write "1st Class" and "Pkg" on the package. 2011: No longer available on-line to the American public. Jan2018: nothing is available online except Priority. UNPUBLICIZED ON-LINE
ACCESS (Thank you, JohnD.) You will be coming in as a corporate customer with an 8% discount (5oz level) over the rest of us peon American citizens. Not to mention, you can do this online and we can't. Do you use https://goshippo.com/features/merchants/ ? I heard they didn't do 1st class pkgs at all, but small-volume individuals could use them, and they had good prices for on-line Priority. WHAT NAME IS THIS SERVICE? <rant> Mail is scanned, parcels might still be private, you have a parcel, congratulations !!). </rant> BIGGER THAN A "SMALL PKG"? If over 13 oz domestic, try Priority Mail flat rate boxes (any weight if you can fit it in). Once you're over about 15 lbs, Retail Ground (formerly Parcel Post) will never be cheaper than a Priority Flat Rate box. If you're not heavy enough (>15lbs) to make flat rate Priority a no-brainer, then try "Parcel Post Select" down below (online only, see top of the Parcel Post section). When Parcel Post Select is purchased online, it includes free tracking. Length plus girth for Parcel Post Select is 84 inches max. Length plus girth over 108”? Go to the Retail Ground (Parcel Post) calculator. No even Priority will accept your package. Length plus girth over 130" Go to UPS like I told you -- even the Post Office won't take it. Call the brown trucks from UPS; ups.com. You have to register. If over 13 oz and going overseas, you want "First-Class Package International Service" good up to 4 lbs. (Other names: "1st Class
International Parcel", "1st Class Mail International Packages".) After that, try Priority Mail International's flat rate boxes (limited to 20 lbs to most countries; see International section next). Posters rolled up? Maximum post office lengths: Global Express Guaranteed is only 46", Express Mail Intl. is 60", domestic
Priority Mail is maybe 60", and sometimes there is a formula of length plus how tight you rolled it up, so you don't really get the maximum length. (Take 2 inches off the max length for every inch looser than a 3 inch diameter roll-up.) International Airmail Ltrs $1.15 > 1.20 Jan2020; current as of Dec 2020. 1 ounce any country $1.20 Thank you, dear P.O., for making the first ounce the same anywhere, and for giving us Global Forever stamps in 2013 :-) One ounce is a business envelope with 5 sheets of typical Xerox paper, or 1 sheet and six 4x6" photos. Leave out 1 sheet or 1
photo to be safe. 2 oz $1.20 3 oz $1.69 +49¢ 3 1/2 $2.18 +49¢ MEXICO 1 oz $1.20 2 oz $1.81 We have to bribe them to take the letters, so they cost more. 3 oz $2.40 (+59-61¢ per added oz) 3 1/2 $3.00 Rest of World 1 oz $1.20 2 3 Check your country group below. 31/2 COUNTRY GROUPS Group 1 Countries is CANADA (see above). Group 2 Countries is MEXICO (see above). Cheaper Countries, Groups 6-9 . Central and South America, Middle East, Africa,central Asia, New Zealand, South Africa, Philippines, Taiwan 1 oz $1.20 2 oz $2.08 3 oz $2.95 (+87 or 88¢/next oz) 3 1/2 $3.82 Costly Countries, Groups 3-5. European Union (France, Italy, places with chateaus & good food) , Russia, eastern Europe, Turkey; China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, & Australia (kangaroos, spy satellite stations). 1 oz $1.20 2 oz $2.24 3 oz $3.28 (+$1.04/next oz) 3 1/2 $4.32 10April2016 5¢ increase revoked, first ounce back to $1.15. Steady 2017, 2018, 2019. Price increases across the board Jan2020 some price history check other countries: https://postcalc.usps.com/BIGGER THAN A LETTER? MORE THAN 3.5 OZ? = Int'l Flats - "1st Class Mail International" unchanged 2018, 2019, 2020 Envelopes up to 15" x 12", weights up to 4 lb, not lumpy, not totally inflexible. TABLE BELOW FLEXIBLE: International Flat envelope cannot be rigid. And thickness? We are going up to 4 pounds here, folks, so the infamous thickness limits do
not apply. Instead, the warning is, OVER ABOUT 2 1/2 POUNDS a Priority Flat Rate Envelope will be cheaper. Get the legal size 9-1/2" x 15"
-- same price as stnd size for international. USE BIG ENVELOPES FOR "FLATS": Don't try to mail a small envelope that's over 3.5 oz. even if you pay for it -- it confuses some postal clerks. The small envelope will look like a letter, and "LETTER" service up to 64 oz was dropped on 12May2008, so now there's only big "FLATS". Fill the airplanes with big envelopes, that's what they want. MAIL SOMETHING TO CHINA? If it's flat and under 4 oz, the postage alone needs to be $5.10 to cover the cost (Zone 3 above). Yet at any moment on eBay, the number of items whose total cost is $5 or less is between two and three million. If $5.10 is the true cost to the post office for us to mail a little envelope to China, then there's no way eBay's China traffic can cover what it costs our postal system to run their business and deliver their packages. I put the eBay story on a separate page. eBay's total China traffic is about 100 million items a year. The United States subsidizes the flood of Chinese stuff into the US. Our government pays for eBay's profits. eBay ran a conference between our post office and China's, gave away our first class service to them, and locked us into it with a treaty. Ebay collects the sellers' fees, we don't collect the postage. Some prior history HEAVIER THAN 4 LBS? 1st Class Mail Int'l PACKAGES - 4 lbs max - most but not all destinations increased in 2019 Available online at discounts up to 10%. To get the appropriate USPS calculator, pick the small tan carton symbol, enter a weight under
4 lbs, and a country overseas. Skip all the Priority choices and click on a closed menu item labeled "First-Class Int'l Options" (or "Other Services") to open it. Hiding the choices most people need is not what a democratic government should do to its own people. Size limit is 1 cubic foot maximum, and no one dimension over 24 inches. YELLOW IS YOUR COST TO SEND ONE eBAY ITEM BACK TO CHINA WE've GOT A LIST-OF-COUNTRIES for USING THE CHART ABOVE Try the alphabetized list of the most common countries with their zones. The full list follows it; you can use "CONTROL-F for find" to jump-search the list in most browsers. Finally, I sorted the list by zone for those of us who need to get some idea how the shipping world is divided up (what each zone means). For the chart above, use the first-class zones on the right of the list (any version). Zones 1 and 2 are always Canada and Mexico.
<rant> MAIL SOMETHING TO
CHINA? For the smallest box (8 oz or less), it recently (2017) took $13.75 to cover the cost (Zone 3 above). Some price history for First-Class Package
International Service. HEAVIER THAN 4 LBS? Postcard 35¢ International $1.15 world, unchanged 2019, 2020 3 ½ min - 4 ¼ max by 5" min - 6" max, 7 - 16 mills thick. (0.016" is "16 mills". A typical business card is 12 mills)Within the USA, the smallest permitted letters and postcards are the same: 3 1/2" x 5". Minimum thickness 7 mills; cheap glossy ink jet photo paper is 10 mills, so mail it. Max thickness 0.016" -- easier to say "16 mills", sound like a machinist who can actually make things. A typical business card is 12 mills. Too big? Too bad. Use rates for domestic first class letter. International postcards same, but must be 5 1/2" - 6" wide vs 5"-6" domestic. Thickness 7-16 mills (0.007" = 0.016") Domestic postcards can be square-ish, up to 4 1/4" high by only 5" wide. For all other mail, "rectangular" means "Let's have a 30% high-vs-wide difference." That's a simple rule, so let's apply it inconsistently for postcards. There, done! Feel better? Unchanged 22Jan2017. Domestic PCs up 1¢ 21Jan2018, Int'l PCs unchanged at $1.15, same as a letter !!! more price history Postcards offer no privacy and not much space. Pricing International postcards up there with a 1oz International letter kills them, kills a cultural tradition for tourists the world over when they visit and want to send home more than a selfie. We need the money our tourists bring, we need cheaper postcards -- 27¢ in 2008.
16 mills THICKNESS LIST Aerograms / Air Letter Sheets are discontinued by the postal service of the United States. . Aerograms
were $0.75 to any country, postage printed on the paper, no stamps. Write whatever you want, mail it to any address -- done. Simplicity -- the good old days. Domestic PRIORITY Envelope & BOXES, up in 2017,2018,2019, 2020 Otherwise, let's concentrate on flat rate. $7.35 flat rate envelope domestic, any zone, any weight, 2019 as long as you can seal the envelope without extra tape, Add 30¢ for legal length; 65¢ for padded envelope. 10April2016: no more online discounts for citizens, only corporate customers. $7.90 small flat rate box domestic, any zone, any weight, as long as you can close the flaps on the seams. 10April2016: no more online discounts for citizens. 8-5/8" x 5-3/8" x 1-5/8" inside $14.35 regular/medium flat rate box any zone, 70 lb max, up 70¢in 201910April2016: no more online discounts for citizens. Two medium-size boxes are available: 11" x 8.5" x 5.5" and $18.45 for APO/FPO/Diplomatic up $1.05 in 2019 10April2016: no more online discounts for citizens. Two large-size boxes are available: 12" x 12" x 5.5" 23 11/16" x 11 3/4" x 3" UNPUBLICIZED ON-LINE ACCESS PRIORITY is the only thing ordinary slobs (American citizens) can buy online. Corporate customers can buy all domestic services on line, some at nice discounts. To send Priority Flat-Rate Boxes with the old ON LINE DISCOUNT, try this unpublicized Web address): https://www.paypal.com/ShipNow (Thank you, JohnD.) You must be a registered PayPal user (initially owned by eBay). This page normally comes up only if you sold something on eBay and must ship it, so you would normally be signed in already. If the site sends you to a bad login page or can't get back to shipping after login, just log into PayPal on another browser tab, then go back to the ShipNow tab. Browser cookies will keep you logged in, and all will run smoothly. Do you use https://goshippo.com/features/merchants/ ? I've heard "low volume" individuals can use it, and the rates are good for Priority.Meanwhile, if it's not a flat rate shipment, you can use your own box. If it's virtually a local shipment, don't use flat-rate. If it's local, Parcel Post ("Retail Ground") won't take it anyway, so you have to use Priority, and, as we just said, unzoned is cheaper if the distance is local. If it's light (a fluffy sweater for Mommy), don't use flat rate -- they push up what those boxes cost because people usually ship heavy tools and supplies, not fluffy sweaters for Mommy. 70 lbs is the limit throughout the USPS, period: Retail Ground, Media Rate, Priority, anything. If you don't have a written receipt, don't buy insurance. Remember, you can't mail everything, there are no-no's. For APO/FPO/Diplomatic mail, go online because a lot of destinations don't have service for bigger sizes. You need to do Form2976A (weight, value, all the addresses). Presents can't be alcoholic drinks or tobacco or fresh fruits or veg, or perfume ("fragrances" in alcohol). Lithium batteries are forbidden while the airline industry reacts to spontaneous combustion of early-tech batteries that have disappeared. Be patient, battery issues are not the Post Office's fault. The flat-rate-size Priority boxes may be used internationally (20 lb maximum; 4 lbs for the small one). See Priority Mail International below. Cheer up, you're not mailing the Hope Diamond. TO GET FREE PRIORITY BOXES: small boxes medium boxes Why does this domestic box link say "International shipping"? Oh well, it works for now . . . https://store.usps.com/store/browse/uspsProductDetailMultiSkuDropDown.jsp?productId=P_O_FRB2&categoryId=international-shipping large boxes https://store.usps.com/store/browse/uspsProductDetailMultiSkuDropDown.jsp?productId=P_LARGE_FRB&categoryId=free-shipping-supplies If these links stop working, search on site:store.usps.com Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes Look for a hit from store.usps.com. Most search engines will do a "site search" like that, and they search better than any search facility on the site itself. Who knows why, just try it. SIZE LIMITS -- Escape from a flat rate box. Internationally, NON-FLAT-RATE PRIORITY Over 108", Priority stops (airplanes get crowded fast) and Retail Ground (formerly Parcel Post) is all you have left. Stay under the 70 lb limit, but your particular weight becomes irrelevant when your box becomes large. That's because, after 108" length+girth, you pay the "Oversize Penalty Price" until 130" for length + girth brings your expulsion from the Postal Service altogether. Remember that girth is width + height + width + height. Check prices online.ABOUT THAT 70 LB WEIGHT LIMIT: the maximum box weight, any size, domestic shipment, is 70 lbs. Insurance: Pre-May 12, 2008: insurance up to $500 was available on-line; up to $5,000 if you presented the package to a Post Office clerk. $5,000 is still the limit, 2016. $50 worth of insurance is free. Declare even a dollar more, and you pay a $3..35 insurance fee. For some easy-to-steal-and-sell items, you may be forced to get insurance when you fill out the customs form. Priority “Dimensional Pricing” -- beyond flat rate: ONLINE DISCOUNT HISTORY: PRICE HISTORY 4April2016: online mailing labels no longer sold at https://postcalc.usps.com;you will be transferred to Click-N-Ship where you must set up an account. Log in at cns.usps.com 4April2016: No more online discounts for the public. Try a corporation like stamps.com or use https://www.paypal.com/ShipNow 22Jan2017: prices up, still no online discount. more price history INTERNATIONAL Priority Mail Starting in 2014, nearly every country in the world refused to carry the United States' Postal Service maximum of 70 lbs, because nearly every country in the world went metric and 30kg is the limit everywhere, and 30 kg is 66 lbs not 70. Domestic Express Mail -- Does everybody agree I can drop this page because the prices are ridiculous? 2019: Domestic express is only a "commercial" service -- probably not sold online at all. Let me know. Media Mail Rates -- BOOKS OK for: books, sheet music, movies and music on CDs, DVDs, educational maps & charts if there's not a lot of text. Because advertising is forbidden, you must take all magazines out of your box. The books themselves may add only incidental announcements of other books -- as old-fashioned publishers so often did on the otherwise blank end-pages. No video games (they're media, yes; but educational, no). No blank hard drives, no blank tapes (not a movie, not music, just merchandise). At the Post Office, be prepared to open and reseal the box. So, if you want to support book bindings, wrap the books tight in "stretch (plastic) wrap" not brown paper, because you can see through it, and you can even unwind it and kind of wind it back on. Liquor store cartons are stronger than supermarket cartons, but you have to obliterate anything that makes it look like you're shipping alcohol. (Use up your old aerosol spray cans, or buy a new one in Pro Shipper tan.) Yes, it goes to 70 lbs, see https://postcalc.usps.com If you don't qualify, regular "Retail Ground" (formerly Parcel Post) is double to triple the cost, depending on zone.After 21Jan2018: Domestic Rates 27Jan2019: 1st lb increases $2.66 to $2.75, increment rises from 51 to 52¢ /lb, 70 lbs is $38.63 1 pound: $2.75 One CD/DVD in a padded env is $3.66 to $4.06 (4oz; it became zoned in 2019) as a small parcel (1st class service, 13 oz max) . Two CDs in an env is a $4.39-$4.81 parcel (7oz; it became zoned in 2019), so media mail is cheaper both times. Add 52¢/lb until the end at 70 lb for $38.63 Up to 5 pounds: $ 4.70 in 2018 -> $4.83 in 2019 Up to 20 pounds: $12.35 -> $12.63 Up to 40 lbs $22.55 -> $23.03 70 lbs max $37.85 -> $38.63UNPUBLICIZED ON-LINE ACCESS To get Media Mail shipping labels on-line, try this unpublicized Web address): https://www.paypal.com/ShipNow (Thank you, JohnD.) You must be a
registered PayPal user. You must enter a PayPal user name and password. I suggest logging in on the normal paypal.com home page and **then** going to the paypal.com/ShipNow page (which assumes you are completing a sale and are already logged in). Specify USPS, not UPS. After entering an address (no address book facility, sorry) you want to get to a page that asks you to specify a SERVICE TYPE. There you can select MEDIA
MAIL. BEGIN PARCEL POST (this is horrible)For DIYers (Do It Yourselfers), here are the parcel post rate charts with zones. So now you need a zone number. A chart to give you the zone # from your own ZipCode can be printed here -- as illustrated below. To look up Retail Ground costs online, the calculator page is https://postcalc.usps.com But you can only buy Priority shipping labels online -- we're talking Parcel Post service here (cheaper). If the USPS doesn't sell Parcel Post shipping labels online, where can you turn?UNPUBLICIZED ON-LINE ACCESSTo send Retail Ground (parcel post) pkgs ON LINE, try this unpublicized URL ("Universal Resource Locater" or Web address): https://www.paypal.com/ShipNow (Thank you, JohnD.) As a corporate customer, you will enjoy lower rates ("Parcel Select") not available to American citizens ("Retail Ground"). The rest of you please line up at the counter. (Here's the in-line-at-the-counter vs on-line rate chart comparison for a coast-to-coast box.) Have your carton dimensions, address & weight handy. You must be a registered PayPal user (initially owned by eBay, Inc). This page normally comes up only if you sold something on eBay and must ship it, so you would normally be signed in already. If the site sends you to a bad login page or you can't get back to your carton shipment after login, just log into PayPal on another browser tab, then go back to your ShipNow tab. You won't be stuck anymore. Browser cookies will keep you logged in, and you can get your shipping label and pay for it. We're all praying for you.<rant>THE COUNTRY & ITS MAIL STREAM WOULD BE MORE SECURE IF WE COULD PRINT USPS SHIPPING LABELS online. We would be more secure because your identity and your shipping data are better known when you are online, longer
remembered and easier to search and retrieve, compared to just pushing a box across the counter (as retail customers are supposed to do). And the USPS could compete better with corporate UPS and its little brown trucks. Why are you holding us back? Doing this page for many years has shown me a postal service being mis-managed on purpose to make it unprofitable and to justify taking it over. </rant> I hope you're done and just mailed someone a present. Everything below is just details. PARCEL POST ("Retail Ground") - SHIPPING RESTRICTIONS ANY 1-PAGE LOOK AT GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS THAT RESTRICT MAIL SERVICE IS GOING TO BE INCOMPLETE <- complete restricted materials sec'n
BOTTOM LINE ABOUT ANYTHING: If in doubt, go to the Post Office. I would just see if they'll take whatever it is and not ask questions because they're not supposed to answer: "Postmasters are not authorized to give opinions on the legality of any shipment of firearms." I'm quoting official regulations here: 433 Legal Opinions on Mailing FirearmsPARCEL POST OVERVIEW RETAIL GROUND (PARCEL POST) is the cheapest postal service, and the one that takes very large, very heavy boxes. Write "USPS Retail Ground" on the box if using stamps instead of a mailing label. Parcel Post will not take local traffic to Zones 1 to 4. (A ZipCode-to-Zone chart is below, and you can easily make one centered on the place where you live.) Try regular (not flat rate) Priority for just local or lightweight stuff. PRIORITY, PARCEL POST, or BROWN TRUCKS? I use flat rate Priority if it fits the box, parcel post (Retail Ground) for small stuff that doesn't fit, and the brown UPS trucks for heavy boxes (over 5 lbs or so). http://www.ups.com/dropoff?loc=en_US&WT.svl=PriNavDon't buy insurance if you don't have the receipt. More precautions here. Please pack nicely. DON'T JUST DROP YOUR ITEM INTO THE CARTON & THEN FILL IT.Place padding into the bottom of the box first, THEN add the shipment. You want the item floating away from the walls, not crashing into them when you shake the box. . THE BIG BOX PENALTIES in PARCEL POST ("Retail Ground") SERVICE AVOIDING THE TWO PITFALLS OF RETAIL GROUND (Parcel Post) Retail Ground (Parcel Post) can be cheaper than UPS if you avoid two pitfalls. 1. AVOIDING THE RETAIL GROUND BALLOON RATE PITFALL AT 84 INCHES When you are under 20 lbs (as most gifts and eBay shipments are), then keep the box length plus girth under 84"or you will pay for 20 lbs (up to $62.25 across the country, 2019) regardless of actual weight. Think of a balloon rate box as a flat rate box at the 20 lb rate. If you're stuck with the size, enjoy the weight -- put something else in. (Ordinary, non-flat-rate Priority Mail has the same 20lb/84 inches penalty in the more local zones 1-4.) 2. AVOIDING THE PARCEL POST OVERSIZE PITFALL AT 108 - 130 INCHES Once you're penalized with this "dimensional weight" charge, you can pack your shipment up in as large a carton as you want (up to the maximax of length+girth of130 inches) and throw in some extra items . . . the price isn't going to change with either your weight (up to 70 lbs) or your size (up to 130 inches length + girth). Over 130", you are expelled from the Postal System. Go directly to UPS or FedEx Freight, do not pass Go, do not pay any more penalties.130" and 70 lbs are the limits no USPS service can exceed. To get parcel post in the USPS rate calculator, choose "package" or "large package". https://postcalc.usps.com Measure and weigh the carton first, get your two Zip codes. some price history GETTING YOUR OWN 1.ZONE AND 2.RATE TABLES for PARCEL POST Still trying to run a small business? Need to get six boxes out this morning without going online or to the post office? but you have to bring everything to a BMEU, Business Mail Entry Unit. See if there's a BMEU near you: https://ribbs.usps.gov/locators/find-bme.cfm If you figure out how to qualify, write me so I can share it. Meanwhile, for the retail-level DIY route:
PARCEL POST ("Retail Ground") -- Do It Yourself w/ZONES FROM ZIP CODES A personalized chart from my town McLean to ZIP XXXxx It's easy to get your own chart at https://postcalc.usps.gov/Zonecharts/ .or same thing 2019:
https://postcalc.usps.com/DomesticZoneChart Parcel Post and non-flatrate-Priority have the same 20lb/84inch balloon box problem, but only for local-ish Priority boxes (Zones 1-4). Go to the zone chart, then the rate table, and you're done? Not so fast. THE SPECIAL CASE OF PARCEL POST ZONES 1 THROUGH 4 Parcel
post zones 1-4 do not exist. You have to use Priority. (Try the non-flat-rate kind of Priority; it is probably cheaper for local, zone 1-4 shipments). Above: a chart from https://postcalc.usps.com/Zonecharts/ PARCEL POST ("Retail Ground") - Do It Yourself w/THE PRICE CHART (RATE TABLE) THE PARCEL POST RATE TABLE - 2019 PRICES BY ZONES You've got the zone number. Now you need a table of charges to that zone for all the weights up to 70 lb max. Because of its large size, the parcel post rate chart is on a page all by itself, from which you can print it out. Money Orders up 5 cents (domestic) in 2019 Domestic: $1.25 up to $500 $1.70 up to $1000 $12.20 in 2018 -> $13.95 in 2019 for sending up to $750 Sources of official US Postal Service information: https://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm300/Notice123.pdf https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm Search terms: site:pe.usps.com Notice 123 Effective January 2019 (or whatever year you seek) END OF POSTAGE CHARTS(return to top)HOW THIS PAGE STARTED, WHAT HAPPENED TO OTHER ONES? I still remember the day I was ready to put out a letter and then come back in for coffee. I started this site in 2007 when I couldn't find out what stamp to put on the envelope. "Forever stamps" weren't around, and besides, I loved pretty "commemorative" ones. The government websites drove me crazy with a hundred questions and no information. Reveal the secret!! What stamp goes on the envelope? I finally found a web page that told me the postage so I could just mail the envelope and have my coffee. I decided to put up the simplest postage charts, the ones everyone wants first. My page was inspired by a similar rate page at a local post office in Lafayette, Tennessee. Some guys who work there and one or two of their buddies put up a web page with the few rates that most of us need most of the time. By putting up something myself, I could be less formal than the government, add some common sense, such as, "If it isn't machinable, it costs them more, so we pay a penalty of X cents." I could tease everyone and have some fun. Then what? Soon the rates were changing two different times a year. The rate structure was getting complicated. Zones were added for Priority service that used to be the same for the whole country. Rates to Canada and Mexico that used to be the same became different. What a headache for everybody. Tennessee gave up. That's right -- the town post office took down their rate page and never put it back. I challenge you to find any place that posts the postage rates of the USA -- the ones you need, all on one page. I also apologize for any errors on my page, but at least you can get an overview and the logic -- if there is any -- behind the rules. Maybe I helped you pick the service you want before you went to thehttps://postcalc.usps.com page. It was worth it if you didn't stand in line as I once did, only to discover you chose the wrong envelope (and had to go home to fix it). I never dreamed doing a chart of how many stamps to put on an envelope would become as political as this task has I poked fun at changes that seemed only silly at first. But it wasn't a game. They weren't just stupid. Someone wanted to destroy the postal system. They change the rates, I look things up. You see FedEx, UPS, DHL, Amazon or junk mail execs at the top, you see people lower down "retiring" early to start a second career at triple the salary in the shipping industry. The wolves want the hen house -- destroying it makes sense when you want the business for yourself. OK, so the world has a lot of selfish people in it, what's new? What's new is telling me you're saving the system (Revenue! Profitability!) as you slip the dagger in. What's even better is setting up the rules so the US Postal Service slowly prices itself out of the market -- no one has to put on gloves for the strangulation. Don't be caught bringing the system down if what you really want is to pick up the pieces, all the business yourself later -- get the trucks, get the real estate, get the business for years ever after. Instead it's death by complexity, death by letting them increase rates where they should go down, death by preventing them legally from earning profits where they still could have. You always know you're dealing with scum when they have to hide what they're doing. The clever ones learn to lie about it, the rest hire think tanks to lie for them. The last straw was discovering how eBay gave away our 1st class parcel service to China. eBay pulled together a bi-national conference -- China Post and the United States Postal Service -- and now the rest of us have to live by their treaty. Chinese sellers on eBay ship about 100 million items into the country annually. Ask the Inspector General for the USPS, ask the Chief Postal Inspector, How much postage does the USPS collect from China Post for delivery of an item costing under one dollar? How can you possibly collect anything? Why do you deliver items whose cost, profit and delivery charge are less than it would cost an American for return postage? Ebay collects the sellers' fees, we don't collect the postage -- our postal system is eBay's welfare check.Why did I ever start this page? I still try to have fun, but my postage page is turning into a murder mystery. Who killed the post office? (return to top) P.S. Robin says she'll take me out to dinner when I get a million hits, and I've been stuck at 800,000-ish for years. Send a friend a real birthday card -- maybe they'll be clueless how to write back and come here. Visit old friends now -- if you were compatible then, you'll enjoy each other now. Write and say you're coming. home for this Website
Vacation over. 1Jun2016 -- remove eBay China story to separate page, the politics should either be funny (laughable) or out of here. 30June2016: show on-line ShipNow access for all domestic services. State CH's discount for Priority Medium FlatRate/ 19Aug2016 -- put link to forbidden items in the parcel post section, not just buried in Domestic Priority section. . 31Jan2017, 1Feb2017; 11Feb 1st class letters heading--thank you, Carolyn 12Feb2017 Media Mail compares Small Parcel prices for 2017; make ParcelPost rate table for 2017; change Domestic, Int'l Priority rates, Int'lMoneyOrders. 14Mar2017-state that postcard rate did really stay unchanged. 10Apr2017 - rename the pdf of the postage tables something besides "SimplePostageCharts.pdf" because all the search engines are sending people to the crummy pdf instead of the main page. Should've thought of that. 100,000 frustrated people wasting their time? 8July2017 - Got some old stamps--add the one about the invention of postage stamps -- UK 1840, USA copies them 1847. People used to refuse letters rather than pay-on-delivery, so postal systems world-wide rushed to a pre-paid system. IMAGE "PostageStampCentenary1947...." 10July2017 - IMAGE "Postcard-AncientTypefaces" Jan2018 major update; 8Feb18 #11envs for bounced mail 5Mar2018 - Chris Maginniss caught the 3 oz flats error. 20Mar typo 5Apr2018 https://goshippo.com/features/merchants/ added to 1st Cl Parcels and domestic Priority 31May2018: add lithium battery page on occasion of EnergyFlux recall event; "Simple Postage - shipping or flying with . . . " 3Feb2019 cleaning up 2019 changes 29April, finally did the new Parcel Post table, cleaned out 2018 numbers from Media Mail (book rate). 8Sept2019 Don's fix on no blank hard drives, no blank tapes in Media Mail. 12Sept2019, top of the page: Pitney Bowes is getting 5 ¢ off. Friday the Thirteenth (of Sept 2019): bitter rant on destruction of USPS because small parcels are now zoned and too complicated to use. 2020,Jan2021 - Family illness; sorry updates were slow. I will beat the 24Jan2021 changs, I will get the new rates up before they hit. How much postage do I need for a 1.5 oz letter?Flat/Large Envelope - 1 oz. The rate for a First Class Mail Letter (1 oz.) for postage purchased at the Post Office is NOT INCREASING in 2021, remaining at $0.55. Each additional ounce for First Class Mail will cost $0.20, a five cent increase from 2020.
How much is it to mail a letter 2022?WASHINGTON, DC — Today the United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of price changes to take effect July 10, 2022. The new prices, if favorably reviewed, include a two-cent increase in the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp from 58 cents to 60 cents.
How many stamps do you need per ounce?A letter of 1 ounce – 1 Domestic Forever Stamp costs 58 cents. A letter of 2 ounces – 1 Domestic Forever Stamp and one additional ounce stamp at 20 cents costs 78 cents. A letter weighing 3 ounces – 1 Domestic Forever Stamp and two additional 20-cent stamps – costs 88 cents.
How much is an additional ounce stamp worth 2022?A first-class stamp covers the cost to mail a 1-ounce letter. An additional ounce now costs 24 cents, up from 20 cents. In addition to raising the price of Forever stamps, the U.S. Postal Service implemented other postage increases, as well, effective July 10, 2022.
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