Prepaid Forever Priority Mail Flat Rate Packaging Cost Per Piece
Flat Rate Envelope $ 4.95
Legal Flat Rate Legal Size Envelope $ 4.95
Padded Flat Rate Padded Envelope $ 4.95
Small Flat Rate Box $ 5.20
Medium Flat Rate Box (two designs) $ 10.95
Large Flat Rate Box $ 14.95

Building on the simplicity of flat-rate shipping and the value of Forever postage, USPS has announced a shipping option that lets customers lock in future postage increases at current prices when using select Priority Mail Flat Rate packaging.

“Prepaid Forever Priority Mail Flat Rate packaging” is a ground-breaking approach to shipping, designed to make it easier to do business with the Postal Service and address the core strategy of increasing the USPS share of the package market. Available exclusively for online ordering, Prepaid Forever Priority Mail Flat Rate packaging is the only prepaid packaging option currently available in the domestic shipping market.

“With Forever postage on Priority Mail Flat Rate packaging, customers now have the convenience of a prepayment option that establishes an even simpler way to ship,” said Anne Murray, Postmaster, Ft Myers / Cape Coral. “It takes the overall value of flat-rate shipping to a new level.  There’s no extra cost for packages weighing up to 70 pounds, no hidden fees or fuel surcharges and the packaging is environmentally friendly”.

USPS is offering Prepaid Forever Priority Mail Flat Rate packaging at retail prices for several Priority Mail Flat Rate products in packs of 3, 5, 10 or 25 (see table). Delivery Confirmation service is included at no cost and extra services such as Signature Confirmation and insurance are available when packages are shipped at retail locations.

The U.S. Postal Service has issued a number of stamps recently.  Stamps are available at local Post Offices, on line at www.usps.com or by calling 1-800-STAMP-24.

• Two Civil War stamps depict the beginning of the April 1861 war at Fort Sumter, SC, and the other depicts the first major battle at Bull Run, near Manassas, VA.  They are the first of an annual series of Forever stamps recognizing key events of the Civil War.
• Academy Award recipient Gregory Peck is the 17th inductee in the Legends of Hollywood collectible stamps.  He was elected the greatest screen hero of all time by the American Film Institute.  The stamp is a Forever stamp.
• The First Lady of American Theatre, Helen Hayes, is also honored on a Forever stamp.  She appeared in more than 100 stage productions.  When she died in 1993 at age 92, the lights of Broadway were dimmed in her honor.
• Five musicians and performers of the Latin sound whose contributions have had a lasting impact on American music—Tito Puente, Carmen Miranda, Selena, Carlos Gardel, and Celia Cruz—have been honored on Forever stamps.  Among the distinctive musical genres and styles represented are latin jazz, samba, tejano, tango, and salsa.
• The Postal Service is proud to pay tribute to jazz, America’s musical gift to the world, and to the musicians who play it on festival stages as well as in studios, clubs, and concert halls with a special Forever stamp.   
• Good times call for good wishes, as the Postal Service gets in on the act with the Celebrate! stamp, which can bring an extra wish for happiness to anyone celebrating a special time.  This Forever stamp will add another congratulatory wish to the good times being acknowledged.
• The Postal Service continues its tradition as a leader in environmental stewardship and its history of increasing public understanding of important social issues by issuing a sheet of Go Green Forever stamps featuring 16 low- and no-cost actions anyone can take to conserve energy and help reduce their environmental impact.
• The 29-cent Herbs stamps will be used for First-Class postcards. The stamps incorporate five designs, which feature various herbs used for fragrance, flavoring, medicine or decoration.

A new 3-ounce First-Class Mail letter rate stamp (84 cents) in the Distinguished Americans series honors journalist, business leader and public servant Oveta Culp Hobby (1905–1995).  During World War II, Hobby formed and led the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). In 1953, she became the first secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare — the second woman to hold a cabinet post. The stamp is based on an undated photograph of Hobby in her WAC uniform, including the “Hobby hat.”

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $67 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 29th in the 2010 Fortune 500. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency six consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.