Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Postal Service plans to increase prices for its Ground Advantage, Priority Mail and Parcel Select products on July 13, according to a filing from the agency Friday.
- The sharpest increases will be for delivery unit-entered Parcel Select volume and Ground Advantage retail shipments, both of which will see rates jump around 10%. The Postal Service said Priority Mail Express and international products are unaffected.
- "In general, the proposed price changes are designed to refine pricing relationships and continue growing market share with profitable volume, while remaining reasonable when compared to our competitors," the Postal Service said in the filing.
U.S. Postal Service rate hikes planned for July 13, 2025
| Service | Rate increase |
|---|---|
| Connect Local | 5.7% |
| Ground Advantage (average) | 7.1% |
| Ground Advantage (retail) | 9.8% |
| Ground Advantage (commercial) | 4.7% |
| Parcel Select (average) | 7.6% |
| Parcel Select (delivery unit entry) | 10% |
| Parcel Select (hub entry) | 0% |
| Parcel Select (sectional center facility entry) | 7.2% |
| Parcel Select (network distribution center entry) | Eliminated* |
| Priority Mail (average) | 6.3% |
| Priority Mail (retail) | 7.3% |
| Priority Mail (commercial) | 5.1% |
Source: U.S. Postal Service. The price increases are pending Postal Regulatory Commission review.
*The Postal Service plans to discontinue this price category.
Dive Insight:
The Postal Service is rolling out another rate increase as it pushes to make its package delivery business more profitable and counteract the various headwinds it faces. The agency posted a $3.3-billion net loss for the quarter that ended March 31, compared to a $1.5-billion loss for the same quarter last year.
"The USPS governors believe these new rates will keep the Postal Service competitive while providing the agency with needed revenue," the agency said in a release accompanying the filing.
Ground Advantage commercial shipments will see rates increase at a lower clip than other categories at 4.7%. The Postal Service has been working to secure more direct contracts with shippers on the service as part of its strategy to compete more effectively versus FedEx and UPS.
The agency's acting postmaster general, Douglas Tulino, called Ground Advantage "our marquee product" in a board of governors meeting Friday. The service saw volume grow 22.7% and revenue increase 22.4% year over year for the quarter that ended March 31, per a Postal Service financial report.
While Ground Advantage is growing, results for the Postal Service's Parcel Select offering are wilting. Volume and revenue dropped by 22.4% and 10.9%, respectively, in the quarter amid large-scale changes by the agency with how package consolidators use the service. The overhaul aims to incentivize companies to inject Parcel Select packages further upstream in the agency's network.
The Postal Service said consistent with its recent Parcel Select changes, it will also eliminate the price category for Parcel Select volume introduced at the agency's network distribution centers.
In the filing, the Postal Service argued that the entry point no longer has "operational value" since the facilities are no longer used as consolidation points for all ground packages. Therefore, distribution center-entered packages receive "essentially the same service as USPS Ground Advantage, so customers can use USPS Ground Advantage instead of Parcel Select," the agency said.
The rate increases are pending review from the Postal Regulatory Commission. The Postal Service's last wide-ranging price hike for shipping services took effect in January.
