USPS: Flat rate shipping to go up after the holidays

(Copyright by WSLS - All rights reserved)

Marcia Lense, KWQC – KANSAS CITY, MO (KWQC) – First the forever stamp, now flat rate shipping is going up. The U.S. Postal Service filed notice Wed. Oct. 19, 2016 of price changes for shipping services to take effect after the holiday mailing season.

The filing also does not include any price increase for First-Class Package International Service, Priority Mail Express International and Priority Mail International.

Recommended Videos



The postal service says the average price increase is 3.9 percent.

The Priority Mail Flat Rate Box and Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope prices for these products are:

                                                  Current       New

Small flat-rate box                        $6.80         $7.15

Medium flat-rate box                    13.45         13.60

Large flat-rate box                       18.75         18.85

Large APO/FPO flat-rate box       16.75         17.35

Regular flat-rate envelope             6.45           6.65

Legal flat-rate envelope                6.45           6.95

Padded flat-rate envelope             6.80          7.20

The Postal Regulatory Commission will review the prices before they are scheduled to take effect Jan. 22, 2017. Earlier this month, the USPS announced it wants to increase the Forever First Class postage stamp back to 49 cents. Currently it has been reduced to 47 cents.

The postal service reminds that it does not receive tax dollars and relies on postage sales to pay for operations