Knowledge Base

There will be quite a few changes happening with United States Postal Service offering beginning in 2016 and among them is price increase for delivery. The increase is deemed necessary due to continuing decline in the popularity of first-class mails which was once the bread and butter contributing to a significant portion of USPS revenue. The affected delivery services with upcoming rates hike include Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, Standardard Post, First Class Package International Service and Priority Mail International Service. Depending on the service, the rates increase ranges from 3.1 percent to over 20 percent. The following is a break-down of the price changes by category:

• Priority Mail Express service which offers guaranteed next-day or second-day delivery will increase by 15.6 percent.
• Priority Mail service which offers 2 to 3 day delivery will increase by about 9.8 percent.
• Standard Post service which offers 2 to 14 day delivery will increase by 10 percent.
• Parcel Select service will increase by 3.1 percent.
• Priority Mail International service will increase by 10 percent on average.
• First Class Package International Service will increase by about 21 percent on average.

Aside from the upward adjustment in shipping rates, USPS will also rebrand Standard Post, formerly known as Parcel Post, to Retail Ground to make it more attractive to shippers. Furthermore, $200 of insurance will be included for Priority Mail International merchandise items and $100 of insurance will be included for non-negotiable documents. However, insurance will not be available or included for those items for Priority Mail International Flat Rate services.

• Priority Mail Express Flat Rate Boxes which include side-loading 14" x 12" x 3.5" and top-loading 11.25" x 8.75" x 6" box.
• Priority Mail Express International Flat Rate Boxes which include side-loading 14" x 12" x 3.5" and top-loading 11.25" x 8.75" x 6" box.
• Priority Mail Regional Rate Box C which is a top-loading 15" x 12" x 12" box.

Flat rate envelopes will still be available for Priority Mail Express despite all flat boxes will be eliminated from the service. For Priority Mail Regional Rate, other flat rate boxes will still be available such as top-loading 10" x 7" x 4-3/4", side-loading 10-15/16" x 2-3/8 x 12-13/16", top-loading 12" x 10-1/4 x 5" and side-loading 14"-1/2 x 3" x 16-1/4" box. These flat rate envelopes and boxes will continue to be available for you to choose from in your SolvingMaze account and as usual, SolvingMaze will incorporate these latest changes into our system to make your life easier.