The United States Postal Service filed a notice on October 7, 2022, with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) regarding the price adjustment for market-dominant products for January 2023. The PRC must approve this price adjustment. The USPS plans to implement these price increases on January 22, 2023. 

The proposed price changes include increases ranging from 4.197% to 4.203%. The chart below shows the overall price change increase percentage by class of mail.

First-Class Mail

First-Class Retail one-ounce stamp price is proposed to increase from 60 cents to 63 cents. Overall, First-Class Mail will increase by 4.20%. The balance of the proposed price changes are shown in the charts below.

USPS Marketing Mail

The overall proposed increase for USPS Marketing Mail is 4.203%. However, since Marketing Mail Flats, Parcels, and Carrier Route Mail have not covered their costs, those categories will see larger increases. See the charts below for the detailed percentage changes by category.

The USPS is proposing five new discounts for flat-shaped Marketing Mail pieces, shown in the chart below:

Periodicals Mail

The overall proposed increase for Periodicals Mail is 4.20%.

Package Services Mail

The overall proposed increase for Package Services Mail is 4.197%. Bound Printed Matter Flats will increase by 2.528%, while Bound Printed Matter Parcels will increase by 4.641%. See the detailed chart below.

Special Services

Please see the chart below for the proposed increases in Special Services.

Promotions

The USPS is offering six promotional discounts in the calendar year 2023:

• Reply Mail IMbA (Intelligent Mail barcode Accounting) – (a new promotion) – a discount of 3% or 6% for mailers who use IMbA on qualifying postage for First-Class Mail presort and automation letters sent during the established period. Three percent discount for using static IMbA, and a six percent discount for using serialized IMbA.
• Retargeting Mail (a new promotion) – a discount of 5% on First-Class automation postcards that are mailed in connection with website or app behavior during the established program period.
• Emerging & Advanced Technology (repeated promotion from 2022 but now has Mobile Shopping as one of the options rather than as a separate promotion) – a discount of 3 or 4%
• Informed Delivery (repeated promotion from 2022) – a discount of 4% for Mail Owners, 0.5% incentive for Mail Preparers
• Personalized Color Transpromo (repeated promotion from 2022) – a discount of 3%
• Tactile, Sensory, and Interactive Engagement (repeated promotion from 2022) – a discount of 5%

Stay Informed

The full price change proposal notice may be found on the Postal Regulatory Commission website.

LSC Communications will host a webinar to review the price change proposals on Thursday, October 27, 2022 at Noon EST. Register here.