The 2018 USPS rate increase go into effect on Sunday, January 21, 2018. No action is required of customers, as Stamps.com mailing and shipping solutions are designed to reflect real-time USPS pricing and will transition to the new rates in real time. This way our customers can print postage without any service disruptions.

Below you’ll find a summary of the 2018 postage rate increase for Commercial Base (online postage) prices by mail class:

Get more information about the 2018 postage rate increase here, or download our free 2018 USPS Postage Rate Increase Guide.

Priority Mail is a quick yet economical shipping service that provides delivery anywhere in the U.S. within two to three days. The maximum allowable package weight for this mail class is 70 pounds. Priority Mail also includes USPS Tracking and up to $50 of insurance with most shipments.

Stamps.com customers enjoy discounts of up to 39 percent over the Post Office rate on all Priority Mail shipments, depending on weight and distance. These discounts are automatically calculated by the Stamps.com software.

Price Changes to Priority Mail in 2018

Priority Mail rates will see an average increase of 6.2 percent starting Jan. 21, 2018. A one-pound package traveling from Los Angeles to New York (Zone 8) will cost $7.76 in 2018, up from $7.25 in 2017.

Rates for Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes and Flat Rate Envelopes will also increase in 2018. A Priority Mail Padded Flat Rate Envelope will cost $7.10 in 2018, up from $6.50 in 2017.

While prices for Priority Mail Regional Rate Boxes will increase for most Zones in 2018, it’s worth noting that rates are dropping by $0.30 for Box B in Zone 5, and rates will remain the same for Box A in Zone 5.

Priority Mail Regional Rate Boxes provide a great cost savings over regular Priority Mail when your parcel is over two pounds. For example, a Priority Mail Regional Rate Box A that weights five pounds for delivery to Zone 8 will cost $10.80 in 2018 compared to $21.03 for regular Priority Mail.

Get more information on the 2018 USPS postage rate increase.

Jan 21, 2018 Update: Stamps.com has launched a new International Flat service.  Get more info on how to ship merchandise with International Flats.

Merchandise No Longer Allowed in First Class Mail International Flats
If you ship merchandise abroad using USPS First Class Mail International Flats, there’s a new rule going into effect soon that you need to know about. Effective Sunday, January 21, 2018, First Class Mail International Large Envelope/Flat service for merchandise will NO LONGER be available from the USPS. First Class Mail International Flats will only be approved for use when sending documents. This change is occurring to comply with Universal Postal Union requirements.

Here are some examples of what USPS considers a document (still OK to ship using First Class Mail International Flats):

• Audit and business records
• Personal correspondence
• Circulars
• Pamphlets
• Advertisements
• Written instruments not intended to be resold
• Money orders, checks, and similar items that cannot be negotiated or converted into cash without forgery.

Here are examples of items that will NO LONGER be allowed to be shipped as First Class Mail International Flats, effective Jan. 21, 2018:

• CDs, DVDs, flash drives, video and cassette tapes, and other digital and electronic storage media (regardless of whether they are blank or contain electronic documents or other prerecorded media)
• Artwork
• Collector or antique document items
• Books
• Periodicals
• Printed music
• Printed educational or test material
• Player piano rolls
• Commercial photographs, blueprints and engineering drawings
• Film and negatives
• X-rays
• Separation negatives

These goods are dutiable and must be must be shipped using First Class Package International Service. Once this change goes into effect, shippers will need to include Customs Forms and the recipient could pay a duty or tax to receive the product.

Cost Savings Using First Class Mail International Flats
Moving from First Class Mail International Flats to First Class Package International Service will have a big impact on shippers. For example, here’s a cost comparison for items going to Canada:

Stamps.com Introduces Global Advantage Program
Stamps.com has introduced the Global Advantage Program, a new international service  that lets you keep the cost benefits of shipping merchandise with First-Class Mail International Flats.

The Global Advantage Program includes these great benefits:

• Allows you to ship merchandise using a service similar to First Class International Flats
• Does not require Customs Forms
• Plus much more!

To learn more and to have the Global Advantage Program activated to your account, please contact your Stamps.com Account Manager or call 1-855-889-7867 today!

Wishing you could give yourself the gift of more time this busy holiday season? If you’re working long hours and trying to figure out when you’ll have a moment to pop over to the Post Office to ship all those holiday packages, don’t stress. Most cities have a Post Office that stays open beyond the standard 5 p.m. closing time, with Post Offices in some cities remaining open well into the night.

With that in mind, here is a list of the top 25 U.S. metropolitan areas with the information for at least one Post Office with after-hours closing time. This way you can give yourself a break and stop stressing about finding time to drop off holiday packages.

Use the USPS Find Location tool to search for local Post Office locations and hours. Just input your ZIP Code to find a Post Office in your area: https://tools.usps.com/go/POLocatorAction.action

The next time you pop into the Post Office to drop off a package you might have a new option for handing it over for shipment. The U.S. Postal Service is currently testing Automated Parcel Drop (APD) self-serve kiosks in a handful of Post Office locations.

How does Automated Parcel Drop work?

The APD is a self-service machine with which you can ship packages using pre-paid shipping labels, as well as merchandise return parcels.

Many e-commerce sellers are familiar with dropping off packages at a designated location within the Post Office. As long as your package includes pre-paid shipping label—typically printed from an online postage vendor such as Stamps.com—a seller can bypass the line and simply drop their packages off for delivery. However, this process does not generate an acceptance scan until the USPS employee processes the package, which could be many hours after drop off.

The APD fixes that problem by allowing a seller to scan the label (generating an acceptance scan) and deposit the package inside at the self-service kiosk.

“For our small-business customers and customers that shop online, Automated Parcel Drops make shipping and returning packages a smoother, simpler process,” Kelly Sigmon, USPS Retail and Customer Service Operations VP, said in an article introducing the APD kiosks.

Using an Automated Parcel Drop is a quick process—just scan your package’s pre-paid label barcode, deposit the package through the APD’s door and take your tracking receipt, which notes an acceptance scan date, time and other tracking information. Maximum parcel size the APD machine can accept is 24” by 16” by 12”.

“I love it. You press a button, scan your package, lift the door, place package inside, close it, and it prints a receipt,” says one eBay Community user of the Automated Parcel Drop kiosk located in a Cupertino, California Post Office.

USPS is currently testing the Automated Parcel Drop kiosks in five Post Office locations (in California, Florida, New Work, North Dakota and Virginia) with more installations planned, as well as improvements that will allow APDs to accept packages with labels printed from mobile devices.