The US Postal Service plans to impose a peak season surcharge! Small sellers will be most affected!

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has proposed charging sellers a surcharge during the holiday season. If approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), the proposal will take effect on October 3 and last until December 26.

If approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), the increases will affect online sellers using USPS Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, First-Class Package Service, Parcel Select, USPS Retail Ground and Parcel Return Service. International products will not be affected.

The Postal Service said overall, Priority Mail Express prices are increasing by 2.3 per cent. On average, Priority Mail prices will rise by 5.7 per cent (business rates are up 6.3 per cent).

It is learned that last year, USPS increased the rates of all commercial domestic competitive packages from October 18 to December 27, 2020, with a surcharge of between 24 cents and $1.50 per package. This rate increase helped USPS achieve a small profit in the fourth quarter.

In addition, UPS and FedEx have also implemented a holiday rate increase strategy. According to reports, last year FedEx's package holiday fees ranged from $2 to $5, while UPS's fee per package was as high as $4. This is undoubtedly bad news for small sellers, because they cannot negotiate bulk rates with UPS and FedEx and can only rely on the US Postal Service to deliver their orders.

The U.S. Postal Service said the temporary rate increases will allow them to remain competitive while also providing the agency with revenue to cover additional costs.

Editor✎ Irene/

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