Notice: United States Postal Service Shipping Price Increase

I wanted to let everyone here know that starting January 17th, 2016, the USPS will be increasing their rates for all methods of shipping, both for domestic and international. Unfortunately this will effect all members with pending orders with me. If you would like to see the increases, please read more here.

Here is the information on the international shipping increases:
International shippers will also see an increase in postage rates starting January 17, 2016. Below are some highlights on the upcoming rate changes for international mail classes:

Global Express Guaranteed postage rates are expected to rise by an average of 7.1%.

Priority Mail Express International postage rates will increase by an average of 11.6% next year. Flat Rate Boxes for this international service will be discontinued in 2016. In addition, prices for Priority Mail Express International Flat Rate Envelopes and Boxes will be further separated into additional country groups.

Priority Mail International postage rates will see an overall increase of 10.2% in 2016. Commercial Base and Commercial Plus pricing for this service will be the same next year.

First Class Package International Service postage rates will increase by an average of 21.6% in 2016, however Commercial Base and Plus prices will remain the same next year. The average price increases by pound are:

– Up to 1 lb. – Average Increase of $5.17
– Up to 2 lbs. – Average Increase of ($1.77)
– Up to 3 lbs. – Average Increase of $1.63
– Up to 4 lbs. – Average Increase of $11.58


This is a shame, international shipping from the US is already outrageous.

Gosh ! And that does not include international shipping, does it ?

LeeAnn wrote:

I wanted to let everyone here know that starting January 17th, 2016, the USPS will be increasing their rates for all methods of shipping, both for domestic and international. Unfortunately this will effect all members with pending orders with me. If you would like to see the increases, please read more here.

Here is the information on the international shipping increases:
International shippers will also see an increase in postage rates starting January 17, 2016.  Below are some highlights on the upcoming rate changes for international mail classes:

Global Express Guaranteed postage rates are expected to rise by an average of 7.1%.

Priority Mail Express International postage rates will increase by an average of 11.6% next year.  Flat Rate Boxes for this international service will be discontinued in 2016.  In addition, prices for Priority Mail Express International Flat Rate Envelopes and Boxes will be further separated into additional country groups.

Priority Mail International postage rates will see an overall increase of 10.2% in 2016.  Commercial Base and Commercial Plus pricing for this service will be the same next year.

First Class Package International Service postage rates will increase by an average of 21.6% in 2016, however Commercial Base and Plus prices will remain the same next year.  The average price increases by pound are:

– Up to 1 lb. – Average Increase of $5.17
– Up to 2 lbs. – Average Increase of ($1.77)
– Up to 3 lbs. – Average Increase of $1.63
– Up to 4 lbs. – Average Increase of $11.58


This is a shame, international shipping from the US is already outrageous.

SUSANNE wrote:

Gosh ! And that does not include international shipping, does it ?

Sure it does Susanne. I think the $ signs got in your way. :)

Wait a second, so it's more advantageous to send 2 lbs come Jan 17 instead of < 1lb?
/me goes to look up documents/ to see how confused she is/

Okay, so they changed the tiers. (basing only on the first class international "commercial base" which I assume might be what LeeAnn gets to use?)

Now, I COULD be wrong. I ASSUME I found the right price lists, but :shrug:

Previous tiers used to be
0 to 2 oz,
>2oz to 4 oz,
>4oz to 6oz,
>6oz to 8oz,
and so on with units of 4 ounces per tier up to 64oz/ 4lbs.


Now it's (probably?)
0 to 8oz/1/2 lb, (about doubled from around US$7 to around US$13, obviously depending on region)
> 8oz to 32 oz/2 lb,
>32oz to 48oz/3 lb,
>48oz to 64 oz/4 lb

As for prices, the price ultimately depends on the region being sent to, but it seems consistently that the best cut-off weights for ounces / $ are:


Tier 1 :  >6oz to <= 8 oz 
Tier 2 :  >28 to <= 32oz (which may actually be slightly cheaper to Canada & Mexico)
>44 to <=48 oz = least changes for 3rd tier
>60 to <=64 oz = least change for 4th tier


But yeah, it really isn't fun near the beginning of the new tiers.

NOTE: It IS slightly more expensive to buy the postage AT the post office than online.

also: This ignores the Priority & Global costs/ changes.

And I thought Dutch shipping costs where bad

Here's a diagram I found that will help explain things a little better:


As for the first class shipping, they are adding the 14-16oz bracket (it used to be up to 13oz), but increasing prices throughout (with the exception of 8oz and 13oz going down), especially in the 1-8oz bracket. As you can see, this will hurt sellers who ship packages of lower weight, like me.


The one nice part of this is it doesn't matter if your package weighs 1oz, 8oz, or anywhere in between. You still pay the same amount. So you can pack the item very well and not pay any more until it goes over 8oz. Keep in mind this is for domestic shipments only, international is much more than this.

Susanne, Priority Mail International (which I use most of the time for international orders, as the majority of those packages weigh over the current 13oz weight limit) is increasing by an average of 10.2% beginning January 17th. First Class International, for packages 1oz to 16oz, will be increasing by 21.6%. So even if the package doesn't weigh that much it will be closer to price to the Priority Mail packages anyway.

And after all of this USPS still remains the cheapest shipping service for international packages. Shows they really have control of the market  As I was playing around trying to see what international shipping costs would be with other companies, a package that previously cost (prior to January 17th) about $47 with USPS would be about $97 with DHL and a whopping $250 with UPS. And these are all rates on the standard, lowest cost shipment.

The part that irks me the most about this is they're taking away the discount for online orders. Previously, you would pay less to print the label at home, rather than going to the post office and having the USPS employee handle it for you. That discount is now going away - you pay the same price in store as you do online. Even though you're using your own materials (ink, paper, internet), you pay the same price as you would USPS paying one of their own people to do it for you. It just doesn't make sense. Some people mentioned they would have USPS come pick up their packages for free instead of having to drive to the post office now that they refuse to offer a discount, but they only offer free pickup for Priority and higher up tiers, when I ship a lot of First Class. And then you're taking the chance that package gets stolen or sent off course and never makes it into the cycle of the postal service in the first place. I'm not taking that chance, especially after all the issues I've had with the postal service. I've lost count a long time ago.

Sorry, off my soap box now. Just had to let out a rant

Oh wonderful.  Gas prices are finally down and they decide to increase package rates.  Thank goodness I don't ship too many things.  Only on occasion.

Thanks for the head's up.