GOV/MIL USPS to Raise Rates Twice a Year

lonestar09

lonestar09

Veteran Member
October 3rd holiday rates kick in at the post office till December 26th. Twice yearly rate increases will start in July.

www.ecommercebytes.com

USPS to Raise Rates Twice a Year

The US Postal Service announced today it will raise rates for Market Dominant services (including the cost of a stamp, First Class Mail, and Media Mail) twice a year - each January and July. In
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USPS to Raise Rates Twice a Year

September 15, 2021 Ina Steiner

The US Postal Service announced today it will raise rates for Market Dominant services (including the cost of a stamp, First Class Mail, and Media Mail) twice a year – each January and July.


In what appears to be an effort to take the sting out of the bad news, the USPS said it would skip the increase this coming January.


The USPS did not mention a schedule for raising the rates of Competitive services (including Priority Mail).


The USPS filed a detailed notice with the PRC, which you can read on the PRC.gov website.


The USPS issued the following announcement today:


Postal Service Announces New Market Dominant Price Adjustment Schedule


To help customers better prepare for a new Market Dominant price adjustment schedule, the Postal Service will not raise prices on Market Dominant products, including Forever stamps, in January 2022. Instead, the next Market Dominant price adjustment is scheduled to happen in July 2022.


Beginning January 2023, Market Dominant price adjustments will occur twice a year, (e.g. January 2023, July 2023, January 2024, July 2024, etc.). Market Dominant products include First-Class Mail (FCM), USPS Marketing Mail, Periodicals, Package Services* and Special Services.


July 2022 rate authority will include ten months of CPI plus retirement, density, and non-compensatory class authorities as determined by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). The January rate authority will include six months of CPI, plus any unused rate authority. Subsequent July rate authority will include six months of CPI plus the retirement, density, and non-compensatory class authorities and any remaining unused rate authority.


The Postal Service has submitted an official statement reflecting the above schedule with the PRC. The statement gives estimated filing and implementation dates for future adjustments of each mail class over the next three years.


The Postal Service has some of the lowest letter mail postage rates in the industrialized world and also continues to offer a great value in shipping.


*Package services include Media Mail, Library Mail, and Bound Printed Matter.
 
kyrsyan

kyrsyan

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Chicken Mama said:
The only positive I see here is that our mailboxes won't be as full with junk mail as they are today.

But as little as the USPS is used we'll soon be paying them to do nothing but sort thru election ballots.
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A lot of shippers use USPS for "the last mile". UPS and FedEx among them. Interestingly enough though, Amazon is started to break through on that. I get a surprising amount of Amazon deliveries for how small and remote this town is.
 
Codeno

Codeno

Veteran Member
I have never understood all of the uproar whenever the Postal Service raises prices. After all of the increases during my 65 years of life, I can still send a letter all the way across the country for 58 cents, or a flat rate priority envelope for $7.50ish. One of the best bargains on earth, imo.
 
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Tex88

Tex88

Veteran Member
Chicken Mama said:
The only positive I see here is that our mailboxes won't be as full with junk mail as they are today.

But as little as the USPS is used we'll soon be paying them to do nothing but sort thru election ballots.
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Negative. Stuffing your mailbox with junk mail is what makes the USPS a shit ton of money.
 
BadMedicine

BadMedicine

Would *I* Lie???
Codeno said:
I have never understood all of the uproar whenever the Postal Service raises prices. After all of the increases during my 65 years of life, I can still send a letter all the way across the country for 58 cents, or a flat rate priority envelope for $7.50ish. One of the best bargains on earth, imo.
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It LITTERALLY *IS* one of the best bargains on earth, because VARY RARELY WILL THE GOVT SUBSIDIZE SOME SHIT AT EVERYONE ELSE'S Expense.

The Postal service operates at a loss...so we subsidize it, which harms REAL companies, you know, CAPITALISTS.. with unfair competition. Raise the prices until people pay for what they ship and then let them choose the best service. I guarantee for the same price it will be the private guys. we don't need the pony express anymore, they "put all them savages on reservations." Time to quit subsidizing SHIT SERVICE that only benefits the few business people who monopolize on it.

A few years ago everyone was in a huff about the USPS considering going to only 5 days a week. While losses were $3 BILLION PER YEAR...anytime the government offers to CUT BACK ON LOSING MONEY, count me in! One guy was saying he sends thousands of dollars of important docs on Saturdays.. great, then you can afford to use the private sector/capitalist service and stop having EVERYONE ELSE subsidize your cut-rate, noncompete commie postage handlers. /rant off. barely. for now.
 
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tanstaafl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Last I heard the Post Office was restricted to raising the price of first class mail by the amount of official inflation. If that's still the case, then a twice-a-year rate increase suggests they expect inflation to be so high that it makes a twice-a-year increase possible.
 
C

Chicken Mama

Veteran Member
Tex88 said:
Negative. Stuffing your mailbox with junk mail is what makes the USPS a shit ton of money.
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Yes, sadly I know that but hoping the increase reduces the frequency of the marketers. Reduce the volume, reduce the employees, reduce OUR cost.

Mail delivery used to be consistent, dependable, through rain, snow, sleet or hail. Now....luck of the draw. I've gotten all but a handful of our customers to switch to ACH payments rather than paper checks, and there are still 1/2 dozen a month that don't get delivered.

Personally, I think we could let it burn and watch something much better rise from the ash.
 
Dennis Olson

Dennis Olson

Chief Curmudgeon
_______________
I couldn’t care less. Way back in the day, we mailed our monthly bill payments like everyone else (up to 15 or so.) These days however, I pay everything on-line except the water bill. (My local water service is stuck firmly in the 1980’s.) One sheet of 20 stamps lasts me 20 months.
 
K

kiawahman

Contributing Member
"I have never understood all of the uproar whenever the Postal Service raises prices. After all of the increases during my 65 years of life, I can still send a letter all the way across the country for 58 cents, or a flat rate priority envelope for $7.50ish. One of the best bargains on earth, imo."

Not bad IF your mail/package arrives to where it's sent, and within a week or two of when it's 'gauranteed' to arrive, Priority Mail being by far the worst offender. If I buy on-line it has to be sent to me by any courier other than USPS, or I won't order. Same goes if I sell something on-line.

I use less than 4 stamps per year, only because one service company won't set up on-line payments for their quarterly billing.

DW gets 2 to 3 shiny, glossy catalogs every single day from on-line retailers. No way that's cheap to print, much less mail, so I doubt they'll stop anytime soon over a few extra pennies. What annoys me even more is all the material it takes to make those catalogs, plus the fact that our recycling service will not take them, so off to the landfill they go.
 
M

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
kiawahman said:
"I have never understood all of the uproar whenever the Postal Service raises prices. After all of the increases during my 65 years of life, I can still send a letter all the way across the country for 58 cents, or a flat rate priority envelope for $7.50ish. One of the best bargains on earth, imo."

Not bad IF your mail/package arrives to where it's sent, and within a week or two of when it's 'gauranteed' to arrive, Priority Mail being by far the worst offender. If I buy on-line it has to be sent to me by any courier other than USPS, or I won't order. Same goes if I sell something on-line.

I use less than 4 stamps per year, only because one service company won't set up on-line payments for their quarterly billing.

DW gets 2 to 3 shiny, glossy catalogs every single day from on-line retailers. No way that's cheap to print, much less mail, so I doubt they'll stop anytime soon over a few extra pennies. What annoys me even more is all the material it takes to make those catalogs, plus the fact that our recycling service will not take them, so off to the landfill they go.
Click to expand...

You can opt out of receiving all that junk mail. I did. Now I only get about 4 pieces of mail a week, and I haven't gotten a catalog that I didn't want in mos.
 
phloydius

phloydius

Veteran Member
As part of my OLD inflation diversification plan (which needs to be revisited again), I've been buying extra forever stamps before they go up in price each time. I just bought a few more before the last price increase. I have 14 sheets.

I recently used the last of my oldest forever stamps (I think they were $0.41). I do not send a lot of letters, except around Christmas when I send cards.

Of course, there is always the risk that USPS (or forever stamps) will go away and become worthless.
 
S

summerthyme

Administrator
_______________
Marseydoats said:
You can opt out of receiving all that junk mail. I did. Now I only get about 4 pieces of mail a week, and I haven't gotten a catalog that I didn't want in mos.
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I never do that... I don't get junk mail, I get chicken bedding! About every 3 months, I run all the junk mail through a crosscut shredder, and dump the resulting bags of shreds into the chicken pen. Saves $$$ on straw, and I never have to worry about identity theft!

Summerthyme
 
M

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
I tried that once. But I think I have the stupidest chickens on the planet. They ate every bit of it.
Of course, any time I give them scraps on a paper plate, they throw the food on the ground, eat the plate, and then, maybe, they'll eat the food. My MIL said she had never seen birds as dumb as they are.
 
T

tanstaafl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Apparently this new Market Dominant plan has, in fact, done away with their policy of limiting postage increases to the official rate of inflation. I did some quick searches and came up with these two bits:

"While USPS cannot raise its rates by more than inflation ..." (article dated Sep 13, 2019) [tanstaafl: so in 2019 the USPS was still being restricted by the official rate of inflation]

"The Postal Service ... is planning to set higher prices on its mail products well above the rate of inflation. ... Postmaster General Louis DeJoy ... said the proposal for higher rates would seek to correct the agency’s limited flexibility to set prices over the past 14 years." (article dated May 28, 2021) [tanstaafl: presumably that bit about "over the past 14 years" is referring to the policy of limiting postage increases to official inflation]
 
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