The Postal Regulatory Commission approved rules limiting USPS Market Dominant rate increases to once per fiscal year through 2030, aiming to restore pricing predictability after years of bi-annual hikes.
Quick Backstory: For decades, USPS raised rates just once per year, giving merchants a predictable annual planning cycle. That changed in 2021 after the Postal Regulatory Commission expanded the agency's pricing authority to help it address long-term financial losses. USPS used that additional authority to begin pushing through major rate increases twice per year, which made planning more difficult for businesses.
Now the Postal Regulatory Commission has backpedaled on some of that additional authority, and has taken away USPS's ability to adjust rates more than once a year, like the old days.
The change does not reduce the USPS's total pricing authority, meaning it can still set its own prices, but simply forces the hikes into a single annual increase, which will likely make them bigger each time. So more pricing stability, but bigger annual increases. That's the tradeoff.
The order, which takes effect March 1, 2026, also tightens regulations on workshare discounts to ensure they align more closely with actual cost savings for the agency. The rule is meant to ensure that businesses that help reduce USPS’s workload actually see the benefit, rather than USPS keeping the savings for itself.