USPS filed to raise domestic shipping prices by an average of 5.9% on January 17 for Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select, and to replace its temporary 8% transportation surcharge with an ongoing fuel surcharge that starts at 11%. The 8% charge from April was set to expire that same day, but USPS is keeping it, adding three points for higher fuel costs, and plans to revisit the rate in July based on January-through-June fuel prices. USPS’s press release left out the weekly fuel adjustments it outlined in October. However, its regulatory filing says weekly changes are still coming later and tells customers to start updating their systems now. International prices rise 7.9% on average, but the fuel surcharge won’t apply to them yet.
