While the Postal Service announced they're not adding any Holiday Surcharges this year, on November 18th they are changing Priority Mail rates everywhere you can buy postage online 😢
But first a quick refresher! Pirate Ship is part of the Connect eCommerce program, through which USPS offers discounts below their published Commercial Pricing levels. USPS uses this program to change rates more frequently than the once or twice a year that they change Commercial Pricing.
This program has led to incredible savings for shippers since it launched in 2022 and has helped USPS compete with other carriers for your shipping. Up until now the prices have always gone down in reaction to other carriers, so this is the first time USPS has raised rates with the Connect eCommerce program, removing some discounts for Priority Mail. Everywhere you can buy postage online participates in the Connect eCommerce program, so there's no way to avoid the rate change 😉
Here's what USPS is changing:
Priority Mail Flat Rate is increasing up to 6%, because USPS is removing this service from the Connect eCommerce program that provided secret discounts below Commercial Pricing, so the rates are returning to Commercial Pricing levels.
Weight-Based Priority Mail is increasing up to 10% in zones 1-4, but it'll still have discounts that are cheaper than Commercial Pricing 👍
Dimension-Based Priority Mail Cubic is increasing up to 23% in zones 1-4 for tiers 0.40 and 0.50—so the largest package sizes for this service are getting more expensive in the lowest zones. But the rates are still cheaper than Commercial Pricing 🎉
Ground Advantage is decreasing up to 16% in zones 1-5, depending on the size and weight of your package.
Download the November 2023 USPS Rate Sheets
USPS doesn't let its Connect eCommerce partners provide rate sheets for the secret below Commercial Pricing rates, so the only heads up we can give you about this price increase is to highlight where the discounts will still apply and summarize the % changes 🧐
Download the November 2023 USPS rate sheets:
Any questions? We're here to help!
If you need any help deciphering what this means for you, just hit the blue button on the bottom of your screen to chat with us—we're always happy to lend a helping hook 😃