USPS 2017 Shipping Rate Changes: Flat Rate, Priority, First Class, w/ Tables

By Jack Ship
Jan 21, 2017
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To see 2018 rate information for all carriers, please visit our most recent article here.

The USPS 2017 rate changes take effect January 22nd across all shipping services. Overall, rates increased for most products, weights, and zones, but USPS has chosen not to increase rates for international services. We’ll go over changes to USPS’ most popular shipping services including Priority Mail, First Class Package, Flat Rate, and Regional Rate.

Here are a few change highlights:

  • First Class 1-8 oz packages now have two price points: $2.61 for 4oz and under, and $2.77 for 5-8oz. Good for simplifying package rates on shipments less than 4oz, but an increase for sellers that ship out 5-8oz packages
  • Priority Mail rates for packages under 8lbs are up 3.9% on average, but some rates are down as much as 47-cents
  • There will be no changes to Priority Mail International, Priority Mail Express International, or First-Class Mail International Package Service rates

Please note: We use Commercial Plus Pricing for this entire post (CPP). USPS has also updated Retail and Commercial Base Pricing (CBP) rates, however, for the sake of consistency we’ll only be covering CPP. You can get CPP rates by using ShippingEasy for your eCommerce shipping.

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Flat Rate 2017 Rate Changes

One of the biggest rate changes people look for are to USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes and envelopes. This shipping service is a go-to for many online sellers for its simplicity, free packaging, and competitive rate no matter how heavy or far the package is traveling. Padded flat rate envelopes, arguably the best value of all flat rate services, will see a 40-cent increase, making it 5 cents more expensive than using a Small Flat Rate Box.

flat rate changes 2016 2017

Priority Mail 2017 Rate Changes

Priority Mail is the core parcel shipping service for USPS. It’s a versatile shipping service that is used to ship millions of packages each day.

As an example, we’ve taken 2 lb. packages and compared 2016 rates to the new 2017 rates going to various Zones:

priority-mail-2016-vs-2017

To quickly glance over 2017 Priority Mail rates, here is a rate chart for 2017 Commercial Plus Priority Mail shipments:

priority mail 2017 rate chart

You can look at a comparison of popular 2017 rates on our USPS rate tables.

First Class Package 2017 Rate Changes

First Class Package service, USPS’ most popular and cheapest service to ship packages under 1 lb., will see an increase across all weight categories with an average increase of 21 cents. The lightest packages, from 1 oz. to 4 oz., will only see a cent increase.

first class package rates 2016 vs 2017

 

Regional Rate Shipping 2017 Rate Changes

Regional Rate service, a less used but useful shipping service that comes in preset boxes you order online and is cheaper when shipping short distances, will see a small rate increase for both Regional Rate Box A and Regional Rate Box B. One outlier is a 49-cent rate reduction for Box A shipments going to Zone 8, but Regional Rate shipments are designed to be shipped to Zones 1-4.

Regional Rates Box A 2016 vs 2017 rates

 

Regional Rates Box B 2016 vs 2017 Rates

 

Priority Mail International and First Class Package International 2017 Rate Changes

A nice move for USPS, international shipments won’t be seeing any rate increases this year, which many eCommerce sellers will be thankful for. First Class Package International will still be a very competitive service, especially since it is going another full year without a rate hike.

Conclusion

While USPS is increasing their rates, the increases are modest and below the percentage increases UPS and FedEx implemented for their services. Commercial Plus Pricing will also still be available to give sellers better discounts on packages.

To learn more, download the updated E-commerce Seller’s Guide to 2018 Shipping Rate Changes:

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