On January 27, 2019 postage prices are going up, and for J&Q direct mail clients we estimate a $.007 to $.008 increase per package. In October the U.S. Postal Service filed a postal rate adjustment with the Postal Regulatory commission (PRC). If approved by the PRC, postage would increase an average of 2.5% for both First-Class and Marketing Mail (previously Standard Class). The PRC is expected to approve the adjustment by November 13.

The Board of Governors (BOG) must approve any requests for pricing or regulatory changes. However, that’s hard to do if there are no governors, which was the situation until August of this year. Two members were confirmed by the Senate on August 28, after 20 months with no members due to a political stalemate. Governors are appointed by the President and approved by the Senate. Currently there are two additional appointees awaiting Senate approval.

For consumers who still send greeting cards and pay their bills by mail, the big news is that the price of a First-Class Forever stamp is increasing from 50 cents to 55 cents – a 9% increase! However, the single-piece additional ounce price will be reduced from 21 cents to 15 cents. For those couples planning a wedding, invitations will cost less to mail – from 71 cents to 70 cents.

For business mailers and direct mailers, the price of postage will increase from $.005 to $.01 per piece depending on the size and concentration of their mailings.

Here are some of the key changes:

• For most of our direct mail clients, the increase will be $.007 to $.008 per piece.
• The USPS had previously miscalculated the savings for drop shipped mailings so SCF-entry and NDC-entry rates are increasing more than origin-entry mail.
• The USPS has also determined that High Density, High Density Plus and Saturation carrier route preparation by mailers is not saving the postal system as much as estimated, so those rates are increasing at a high percentage (from 3.3% to 6.5%) for NDC and SCF entries.
• Some good news – the Intelligent Mail full service discount on Marketing Mail is increasing from $.001 to $.003 per piece which does lessen the impact of the increase for direct mailers that receive that discount.
• Commercial First-Class automation mail increases about 1%.
• Pricing for the First-Class Postcard remains the same.

To compare the new January postal rates to the current rates, download J&Q’s Postal Rates 2019 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 budgets, contact us at 847.588.4800 or jqinfo@j-quin.com and ask for Sales.