The United States Postal Service (USPS) announced on August 8th that it will temporarily increase prices for some mailing services during the holiday season at the end of the year.
According to USPS, the holiday peak pricing plan was approved by the Postal Service Board of Governors on August 7th. The affected services include Priority Mail Express (PME), Priority Mail (PM), USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select. Other services will not be impacted. The temporary price adjustment aims to help cover additional processing costs to ensure a successful operation during the peak season.
USPS assesses the distance and price between the sender and recipient addresses using “Zone.” For retail customers in Zones 1-4, prices for Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage will increase by $0.40 to $3, while in Zones 5-9, prices will rise by $0.50 to $7. As for Priority Mail Express, charges in Zones 1-4 will increase by $1.10 to $9.75, and in Zones 5-9, prices will rise by $2 to $16.
Prices for other retail and commercial customers will also be adjusted. USPS stated that this seasonal adjustment will align retail and commercial customer prices with industry norms.
The price hike proposal has been submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission for review by USPS. If approved, the price adjustments will take effect on October 5th and continue until January 18th.
This temporary price adjustment follows a similar move by USPS during the 2024 holiday shipping season. Such adjustments are part of USPS’s Ten-Year Plan “Delivering for America” released in 2021, aimed at improving the agency’s financial and operational efficiency.
In a separate development, on July 13th, USPS raised prices by approximately 7.4%. Under the Delivering for America plan, USPS adjusts postage rates twice a year, in January and July.
On July 3rd, advocacy group “Keep US Posted” sent an open letter to the new Postmaster General David Steiner, urging the reversal of the Delivering for America plan spearheaded by former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Steiner officially assumed office on July 15th.
The open letter highlighted that many Delivering for America policies have led to mail delivery delays, reduced services, and “significant” increases in costs for individuals and businesses. The group noted that since 2019, stamp prices have increased by 36%, from $0.50 to $0.73, and the July 13th price hike will further raise stamp prices to $0.78.
“If this trend continues, by 2030, the price of a single stamp could reach $1.19. These unnecessary price increases are causing customer attrition and driving the Postal Service towards bankruptcy – destroying the ability to send and receive mail in America and leading to unemployment for the Postal industry’s 8 million employees,” the open letter stated.
The announcement of end-of-year price hikes came a day after USPS reported a net loss of $3.1 billion in the third quarter of the 2025 fiscal year. In the first three quarters of this year, USPS accumulated losses of $8.5 billion. By comparison, the agency had losses of $9.5 billion in the full 2024 fiscal year and $6.5 billion in the 2023 fiscal year.
Luke Grossmann, the Chief Financial Officer of USPS, stated that despite facing financial challenges, the agency remains focused on achieving financial sustainability through operational efficiency, growth-driving product strategies, and price adjustments.