Dieter H. AmmannAs has bee customary the last few years, the US Postal Service is increasing rates on January 27, 2013.

The price for First-Class Mail single-piece letters will increase by one cent. The new 46 cent Forever stamps will allow customers to mail letters to any location in the United States. Forever stamps are good for mailing a one-ounce letter anytime in the future regardless of price changes.

Highlights of the new single-piece First-Class Mail pricing, effective Jan. 27, 2013 include:

  • Letters (1oz.) – 1-cent increase to 46 cents
  • Letters additional ounces – unchanged at 20 cents
  • Letters to all international destinations (1oz.) – $1.10
  • Postcards – 1-cent increase to 33 cents

Prices for all products (Mailing and Shipping services) will increase by 4-percent, but prices for Mailing Services, such as regular letters and advertising matter, will increase only 2.6-percent.

Several new Shipping Services products will be available in January. Free tracking (Delivery Confirmation) will be offered to all competitive packages, including retail Priority Mail and Parcel Post (recently renamed Standard Post). Also new, customers shipping Critical Mail letters and flats will now have the option of receiving a signature upon delivery as part of the service offering. A large variety of flat-rate boxes and envelopes for Express Mail and Priority Mail, including the padded and legal-sized flat rate envelopes will continue to be offered by the Postal Service. New domestic retail pricing for Priority Mail Flat Rate products include:

  • Small box – $5.80
  • Medium box – $12.35
  • Large box – $16.85
  • Large APO/FPO box – $14.85
  • Regular envelope – $5.60

So get ready to spend more money on your shipping fees and find find a way to pass the increase to your customers or find a better way to ship your packages, like FedEx SmartPost, UPS Mail Innovation, Global Mail or other consolidators. Keep in mind that all these services will or have already increased their rates since they use the Postal Service as the final delivery agent.  However, all of these services will save you money over the traditional UPS and FedEx Ground services.

For more information on how to save money using any of these consolidators, feel free to contact me.