News May 14, 2025

Postal Service Aims To Increase Prices in July

The planned hikes are intended to strengthen the agency financially and help it improve service and better compete, officials said.

By  Christopher Ruvo

Key Takeaways

• Price Hikes Proposed: Prices for Ground Advantage and other services would increase on July 13 under a newly announced plan.

• Approval Required: The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) still needs to approve the price changes, but that’s typically a formality.

• Financials & Changing Times: USPS posted a $3.3 billion loss during the most recently ended quarter. It also has announced the selection of a new postmaster general.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is planning another round of price increases, which as proposed would take effect on July 13.

Under the plan, the agency would hike prices approximately 5.1% for Priority Mail Commercial Service and 7.3% for Priority Mail Retail Service.

While Ground Advantage Retail would rise by 9.8%, Ground Advantage Commercial will increase 4.7% – a lower rate hike that comes as USPS tries to leverage the service to better compete with FedEx and UPS by securing more direct contracts with shippers.

USPS trucks

Meanwhile, Connect Local rates are in line to rise 5.7% and various Parcel Select services are projected to go up, on average, by 7.6%. Prices are proposed to remain the same for the Priority Mail Express Service, as well as Domestic Extra Services, International Ancillary Services and International Products, USPS said.

USPS also indicated that it plans to end the price category for a particular Parcel Select solution that involves volume introduced at its network distribution centers, as that entry point has lost “operational value.” In a regulatory filing, the Postal Service said customers can use Ground Advantage instead of Parcel Select to receive “essentially the same service.”

The price increases are part of the Postal Service’s 10-year strategic plan for achieving financial sustainability and service excellence. The rises will support “$40 billion in investments in people, technology and infrastructure, and continue the modernization and improvement of the Postal Service’s operations and customer experience,” the agency said in a news release.

The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) still needs to approve the price changes, but that’s generally a formality. The complete Postal Service price filing, with prices for all products, can be found on the PRC website under the Daily Listings section at prc.arkcase.com/portal/filings. The Competitive Products filing is Docket No. CP2025-7. The price tables are also available on the Postal Service’s Postal Explorer website at pe.usps.com/PriceChange/Index.

USPS last increased prices in January 2025. The Postal Service experienced a loss of $3.3 billion in the first calendar quarter of 2025 (the agency’s second fiscal year quarter), which ended March 31. That was worse than the year before, when during the comparable three-month period the agency sustained a loss of $1.5 billion.

The USPS Board of Governors recently picked a new postmaster general. David Steiner, former CEO of Waste Management and a member of the board of directors of FedEx since 2009, will be the 76th postmaster general and CEO, pending background and ethics checks.

Meanwhile, a recent bill introduced in Congress would allow USPS to deliver alcoholic beverages to of-age consumers.