Here we go again – another USPS price increase is coming up in January. The Postal Service filed its 2018 postage rate proposals in October with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). The PRC has approved the price increases, and they will take effect on January 21, 2018.

Our clients, direct marketers who mail thousands and millions of packages each year, are interested in the Market Dominate Product increases which include First-Class Mail and USPS Marketing Mail (formerly known as Standard). The average increase for First-Class and Marketing Mail is about 1.9%. Prices for individual sortation and entry points can vary from no change up to a 2.47% increase.

For those of you who still mail payments and send birthday cards, the Forever Stamp goes from 49 cents to 50 cents.

The Postal Service has indicated that the cost savings for destination entry of letter mail has been over estimated. Therefore, prices are being realigned with higher increases for SCF entered mail.

Currently letter mail entered into SCF’s is discounted from $31/M to $34/M, depending on the tier. The discount for the 2018 rates has been cut from $28/M to $31/M. Mail entered into the SCF will have the largest increase – an average of almost 2%. NDC and local entry have smaller increases – 1.3% and .3% respectively.

J&Q will continue to analyze mail files to determine the most cost effective way to mail each program by using commingling or the various methods of destination entry.

To compare the new January postal rates to the current rates, download J&Q’s 2018 Postage Increase Rate chart. It provides the changes for each rate in dollars and cents, as well as percentages for Marketing/Standard Mail, First-Class and Nonprofit letters.

If you have questions or need more information on how the rate increase may affect your direct mail programs, contact us at 847.588.4800 or jqinfo@j-quin.com and ask for Sales.