The US Postal Service is seeking to raise postage rates in August, but only on very specific types of packages. The agency is requesting the change in order to correct a price anomaly introduced in January. At the time, we noted that the January 17, 2016 rate changes made it cheaper in a few cases to bring packages to the post office rather than printing postage online.
In January, the rate for First Class parcels weighing between 1 and 3 ounces cost $2.54 to bring to the post office (retail rates) compared to the $2.60 to purchase postage online (Commercial Base pricing).
The gap was exacerbated by the exigent rollback in April, when First Class retail rates fell from $2.54 to $2.45 for FCMP weighing 3 ounces and less. FCPS (Commercial Base) remained at $2.60.
The USPS wants to raise the rate for FCMP from $2.45 to $2.62 on August 28, 2016 (again, for packages weighing up to 3 ounces).
While eBay, Amazon, and online postage providers provide Commercial Base rates to online sellers that are lower than retail rates, this year many of them matched the lower FCMP rates of $2.45 due to the unusual circumstances.
That means online sellers who ship many lightweight packages through USPS could be impacted by the nearly 7% increase in rates if the new rates are approved.
All other rates remain the same for now.
