The Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®), to reflect changes to certain prices and mailing standards for the following competitive products:
n Priority Mail Express®.
n Priority Mail®.
n USPS Ground Advantage™ (formerly First-Class Package Service®).
n Parcel Select®.
n Extra Services.
n Return Services.
n Mailer Services.
n Recipient Services.
n Other.
This article describes new prices and product features for competitive products established by the Governors of the United States Postal Service®. These revised standards were effective July 9, 2023.
New prices and an article with detailed revisions to be made to the DMM regarding these standards are available on the Postal Explorer® website at pe.usps.com.
Competitive products changes are identified by product as follows:
There are no Priority Mail Express retail or commercial price or structural changes scheduled for July 9, 2023.
There are no Priority Mail retail or commercial price or structural changes scheduled for July 9, 2023.
USPS Ground Advantage, a rebranding of First-Class Package Service, will consolidate USPS Retail Ground® and Parcel Select Ground into the respective retail and commercial price categories. The USPS Ground Advantage — Retail and USPS Ground Advantage — Commercial features are as follows:
n Weight: 1 ounce to 70 pounds. (Ounce pricing will be in 4-ounce, 8-ounce, 12-ounce, and 15.999-ounce increments for USPS Ground Advantage — Retail.)
n Dimensions: Pieces up to 130 inches in length and girth (oversized price).
n USPS Ground Advantage — Limited Overland Route (LOR) prices.
n Dimensional weight (DIM) will apply to USPS Ground Advantage — Retail and USPS Ground Advantage — LOR.
n Nonstandard Fees will apply to USPS Ground Advantage — Retail and USPS Ground Advantage — LOR.
n Sealed against inspection.
n $100 of insurance included with USPS Ground Advantage — Retail and USPS Ground Advantage — LOR. (See “USPS Ground Advantage Insurance” below.)
n USPS Click-N-Ship® added as a payment method.
n Extra Services: Certified Mail® and Certificate of Mailing will no longer be offered.
n Weight: 1 ounce to 70 pounds. (Ounce pricing will be in 4-ounce., 8-ounce., 12-ounce, and 15.999-ounce increments.)
n Dimensions: Pieces up to 130 inches in length and girth (oversized price).
n USPS Ground Advantage — Cubic prices.
n Dimensional weight (DIM) will apply to USPS Ground Advantage — Commercial.
n Nonstandard Fees will apply to USPS Ground Advantage — Commercial.
n Not Sealed against inspection.
n $100 of insurance coverage included with USPS Ground Advantage — Commercial and USPS Ground Advantage — Cubic. (See “USPS Ground Advantage Insurance” below.)
n USPS Click-N-Ship added as a payment method.
n Extra Services: Certified Mail and Certificate of Mailing will no longer be offered.
n Overall, USPS Ground Advantage prices will decrease 1.4 percent.
n USPS Ground Advantage — Retail prices will decrease 3.2 percent.
n USPS Ground Advantage — Commercial prices will decrease 0.7 percent.
The Postal Service is including $100 of insurance coverage with USPS Ground Advantage — Retail and USPS Ground Advantage — Commercial product offerings. See Federal Register notice, “New Mailing Standards for Domestic Mailing Services Products,” (87 FR 21601-21603) for additional information.
The prices for Parcel Select Destination Entry will increase an average of 2.1 percent. The prices for Parcel Select Lightweight® will decrease an average of 0.1 percent. The prices for USPS Connect® Local will remain the same.
The Postal Service is revising the Parcel Select Destination Entry pricing structure to eliminate the nonmachinable price table and have one price table that will include price increments for weights from 1 pound through 70 pounds and oversized.
The Postal Service is revising the pricing components of Parcel Select Destination Entry and Parcel Select Lightweight for consistency within the products. Both products will have four pricing components:
1. Destination Delivery Unit (DDU);
2. Destination Hub (DHub);
3. Destination Sectional Center Facility (DSCF); and
4. Destination Network Distribution Center (DNDC).
This revision of pricing components will make Parcel Select Lightweight consistent with Parcel Select Destination Entry. Additionally, Parcel Select Lightweight will be priced at 4-ounce, 8-ounce, 12-ounce, and 15.999-ounce increments.
As a result of rebranding and enhancing the USPS Ground Advantage — Commercial product, the Postal Service is discontinuing the Parcel Select Ground price category offering.
As a result of rebranding and enhancing the USPS Ground Advantage — Retail product, the Postal Service is discontinuing the USPS Retail Ground product offering.
The Postal Service is adding Priority Mail Express Return Service to the suite of USPS Returns services. Priority Mail Express standards will apply to Priority Mail Express Return service pieces.
The Postal Service is rebranding First-Class Package Return Service as USPS Ground Advantage Return Service.
The Postal Service is including $100.00 of insurance coverage with USPS Ground Advantage Return service pieces. See Federal Register notice, “New Mailing Standards for Domestic Mailing Services Products,” (87 FR 21601-21603) for additional information.
As a result of rebranding and enhancing the USPS Ground Advantage — Commercial product and the Postal Service discontinuing the Parcel Select Ground price category offering, the Postal Service is discontinuing the Ground Return Service (Parcel Select Ground) USPS Returns product offering.
The Pickup on Demand® service fee will remain the same.
The USPS Premium Tracking Service™ prices will remain the same.
The USPS Label Delivery Service prices will remain the same.
The competitive Post Office Box™ service prices will remain the same.
Premium Forwarding Service® (PFS®) prices will remain the same.
The USPS Package Intercept® fee will remain the same.
Address Enhancement Service competitive product prices will remain the same.
The small parcel forwarding fee will remain the same.
The Postal Service is revising the maximum dimensions and weight permitted for machinable parcels. The maximum permitted dimensions for a machinable parcel are 22 inches x 18 inches x 15 inches. The maximum permitted weight for a machinable parcel is 25 pounds.
The Postal Service provides additional resources to assist customers with this price change for competitive products. These tools include price lists, downloadable price files, and Federal Register notices, which are available on the Postal Explorer website at pe.usps.com.
The Postal Service will incorporate these revisions into the July 9, 2023, edition of the online DMM, which is available via Postal Explorer at pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Product Solutions, 7-13-23
