It's year three of the United States Postal Service's (USPS) 10-Year Plan, and the USPS is raising postage rates for Market Dominated products for the second time this year on July 9th. The increase averages 5.4% across First Class, Marketing Mail, Periodicals, Package Services and Special Services. Flat rate mail, periodicals and packages will have a higher average rate due to the fact they are not meeting the cost associated with delivery. The USPS call these products "under water." The USPS has the authority to add an additional 2% increase above the 5.4% until these products are covering delivery costs. View the entire USPS 10-year plan here.
The Postal Regulatory Commission has reviewed the changes and approved the rate hike. The complete Postal Service price filing with changes to all products can be found on Postal Explorer.
First Class forever stamps are increasing from 63 cents to 66 cents for mail weighing under one ounce. First Class Flats weighing under an ounce is going up from $1.26 to $1.35, so two forever stamps will not cover the postage as in previous rate hikes. The additional ounce rate for letters is staying at 24 cents per ounce. Domestic First-Class postcards are going up to 51 cents, an increase of three cents per card. International outbound 1-ounce letters are going from $1.45 to $1.50. Below is a table with some of the new pricing.
Marketing Mail is also receiving a rate hike averaging 5.4%. Flats, Carrier Route, and High-Density Letters are going up an average of between 7.4% and 7.8%. It is hard to say when the USPS will no longer be losing money on delivery of these three items and will then need to keep rate increases and the amount of the available cap.
Softening the blow of this increase is easier than you might think. The first way is to be sure your mailing list is up to date. Mailing list hygiene is crucial now more than ever. If you mail to consumers, be sure to check to see if people have moved. Business mailers, are you sure the contacts on your mailing list are still with the company? Are they working in the office or from home? Are you targeting your mailing list to get the most ROI or doing saturation mail?
The second way to save on postage is to take advantage of USPS Promotions that run throughout the year. Here is my blog on the current 2023 promotions. The good news is that the USPS is including promotions again in the 2024 price increase that will be coming in January of next year.
The third way to get more value from your postage is by increasing response rates through the use Suttle-Straus's Connected Mail program. You can boost the ROI on your direct mail campaigns by expanding your marketing reach though coordinated digital features. This includes Informed Delivery (with a possible 4% postage discount), Mail Tracking, Social Media Follow-Up, Social Match, Lead Match, Online Follow-Up, and Call Tracking. Contact your Suttle-Straus sales representative for more details or to schedule a demo.
Need a quick reference of current USPS postal rates to have handy at your desk? Download and print our free Postal Rates Quick Guide.
Happy Mailing,
Rob Hanks
