The USPS has announced it will offer a 20% discount on bulk rate First Class Mail between October 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009. This is similar to the “summer sale” on Standard Mail.

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Well, the details are in on the new USPS rates. As it is every year, there are winners and there are losers.

We all know stamps went up 2 cents (or 4.76%). Overall, the increase is 3.5%. Almost all classes we checked got an increase this year (including the 01/18/09 partial increase). However, not all did.

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On January 18th, 2009, the USPS will increase their rates on certain services. Overall, there will be a 5 percent increase. Most, but not all the “package services” will be effected. All other classes of mail will not increase until the regularly scheduled increase in May 2009.

Specifically, rates will increase for these classes of mail…

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A number of our customers use First Class mail solely for the timing benefits. First Class will reliably deliver within about 3 days of the drop date, where Standard Mail will take 3 to 6 or more. The reasons they care vary. In one example, they bring in extra staff to man the phones on the dates they expect the mail to start arriving in homes. This is fine for letter size mail under an ounce. Once you get outside that, the postage goes up a great deal.

What we do in these cases is switch to Standard Mail with drop shipping. The Standard Mail rates are lower, and by dropping the mail closer to its destination, we’re able to overcome the timing issues.

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More details of the May 12 rate increase were released today. With these announcements, the USPS continues it’s shift from a mailing service to a shipping service.

With dropping volume in letter mail, the USPS has been emphasizing their packages services in recent years. They have been particularly aggressive with flat rate Priority Mail boxes, targeted at eBay sellers, and Express Mail services. 

Two rule changes allow them to become even more competitive in the package services (shipping) market. They will now use zones to calculate the postage on  shipments that formerly had fixed prices, and they are now able to offer discounts based on mailing volume and source of sale (online shipments for example). 

Here are some of the details of the new shipping rates…

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The results of our first round of analysis of the new rates are in. Taking several typical mailings, we have compared the 2007 postage rates with the new 2008 rates. As in previous USPS increases, there isn’t a set percentage across the board.

These examples are meant to give you a “first glance” of the amount of increase for major rate categories. It is not meant to be exhaustive. Your results may be different.

Details by rate. Unless otherwise noted, automation, bar coded rates are assumed.

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As per the Postal Act of 2006, the USPS is preparing for their annual rate increase. The new prices are going into effect on May 12, 2008. Both consumers and mailers would be well advised to check out the details.

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