The U.S. Postal Service on November 10th filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) for price changes on its shipping services. Pending PRC approval (which ACMA assumes to be a given), the new rates will take effect January 9, 2022.
Rates will increase by 4.5% on average, although some such as small flat-rate boxes and padded flat-rate envelopes will increase by nearly 10%. Meanwhile, some others such as large flat-rate boxes and APO/FPO large flat rate boxes will have slight decreases. Below is a list of all proposed domestic Priority Mail Flat Rate Retail price changes:
Unlike market dominant postal products, such as Marketing Mail and First Class, are based on the consumer price index, competitive services (predominately parcel shipping products) prices are primarily adjusted according to market conditions.
The complete Postal Service price filings with prices for all products can be found on the PRC site under the Daily Listings section at prc.gov/dockets/daily. For the Shipping Services filing, see Docket No. CP2022-22. The price change tables are also available on the Postal Service’s Postal Explorer website at pe.usps.com/PriceChange/Index.
The November 10th filing also included pricing to support USPS Connect, a suite of affordable package delivery solutions for businesses that the Postal Service expects to launch in 2022, if favorably reviewed.
In addition, the Postal Service requested approval for two mail products focused on local communities. First, after a 2-year market test, the Postal Service is requesting the establishment of a permanent Plus One product which will provide additional marketing options for businesses to reach local customers utilizing mail. Building on the USPS Connect pilot, the Postal Service is requesting approval for a market test for a new USPS Connect Local Mail product which will provide the ability to send documents within local communities for same/day next delivery.