Written by David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service said on Friday it is seeking an average 25% price increase for high-volume shippers to enter packages for regional delivery through its Parcel Select service.
The price hike, which will take effect on July 14 and must be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, is because USPS no longer intends to offer incentives to parties to aggregate mail volume from multiple shippers and bring that volume directly to the destination delivery unit.
USPS does not propose to raise its USPS Ground Advantage package shipping rates.
Last month, USPS said it plans to raise the price of first-class postage to 73 cents from 68 cents effective July 14. This hike, which must be approved by the Postal Commission, would raise the price of postal service products by 7.8%.
Stamp prices have risen 36% since early 2019.
USPS in November reported a net loss of $6.5 billion for the 12 months ended Sept. 30 as first-class mail fell to the lowest level since 1968. USPS on Thursday reported a second-quarter net loss of $1.5 billion.
On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of 26 U.S. senators urged the U.S. Postal Service to pause additional planned consolidation of its processing and delivery network, warning it could slow mail deliveries.
USPS has aggressively raised stamp prices and is in the middle of a 10-year restructuring plan designed to cut $160 billion in projected red ink.
“This massive and complex development involves correcting decades of arbitrary decision-making and neglect of our physical infrastructure network,” US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said Thursday.
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He added that USPS knows it must make improvements “within the time limits we have to survive.”
The USPS raises stamp prices twice a year and said it expects the new pricing policy to “generate $44 billion in additional revenue” by 2031.
In April 2022, President Joe Biden signed legislation providing the USPS with approximately $50 billion in financial aid over a decade.
