Early in 2006 (May) the USPS filed a proposal to make some rather significant changes to the postal rates. If approved (and it probably will be), there are some changes that could certainly affect your shipping practices.
Most important will be the overall rate increase. This amounts to a $0.03/ounce increase for first class. They also proposed a Forever Stamp that would be good for a one ounce letter at any time in the future no matter what the current rate is. That’s great if you want to wait about 30 years to use it.
For those of us that use Priority mail, there is one significant change that could drastically change your work flow. The introduction of Dim Weight or dimensional weight. The purpose is to be able to charge more for packages that are large but have a light weight. Because they are larger they cost the USPS more to transport them and thus should be charged at a higher rate.
Only packages that are larger than one cubic foot(1ftX1ftX1ft) will be affected and only those shipping to zones 5-8 as they are the ones most sensitive to size costs.
Other changes will the the increasing of the Priority Mail Flat-Rate box from $8.10 to $8.80 and the making permanent of the Flat-Rate program. Also extended is the “no-fee” electronic delivery confirmation for Priority Mail.
If you’re interested in the rest of the USPS services you can read the USPS release. Also check out Ina Steiner’s article on it at AuctionBytes for a much more indepth look at dimensional weight and the rest of the changes by the other shipping companies.
[tags]USPS,Shipping,ebay shipping,online shipping,priority mail,postage rate,postage increase[/tags]
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January 4th, 2007 at 10:57 am
Just a note about the forever stamps: we’ve had these in Britain for a while now, and France has just introduced them too. They’re really just a matter of convenience, so that when the rate increases, the postal services don’t have to suddenly print a whole bunch of new stamps. It also means that stocking up on stamps the day before the increase can make it a little easier to bear!
January 4th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Are these going into effect soon or is it just a proposal ?
January 4th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
If approved (which they most likely will be) they will go into effect in May 2007