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USPS Rate-Change Tips for E-tailers
Today a new round of USPS rates go into effect, and while some rates are increasing, e-tailers can also take advantage of discounts if they use online postal management services such as Endicia, a company specializing in e-business shipping that does a stellar job of both educating clients on such issues as well as providing ways to cut shipping costs.
The new rates affect retail pricing, or the standard counter price for postage, and commercial pricing, or the discounted price available to online postage users, such as those using Endicia, which in some cases come with certain requirements.
For Mail Class, the following price changes are now in place: Standard mail, 3.5-percent increase; Media Mail, 4 percent; First-Class Mail Letters, 2 percent; First Class Flat, 3 percent; and First Class Parcel, 3.5 to 4 percent.
In the Shipping Class, Priority Mail goes up 5 percent, and the commercial change is 3.3 percent, while Express Mail is up 1.5 percent, but the commercial change is a 1.6 percent decrease, according to Endicia.
No Fuel Surcharge for USPS
While this may discouraging, Mike Colgate, of Endicia, said that one benefit of the USPS service is that there are no extra charges. “There are about 90 different surcharges you can get from private carriers, the top four being for fuel, rural addresses, incorrect addressing and residential status,” he said. “Private carriers can cost up to three times as much as the USPS with these added to the bill.”
First Class Mail International is now on a shape-based pricing format, with three segments: letter, flat and parcel. While some costs go up, Colgate said some will decrease. “This change puts pricing more in line with domestic first class,” he said, noting that, for instance, a 3-ounce letter to Canada now costs 11 cents less than before today’s rate changes.

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The new 27-cent postcard rate (up from 26) will be met with five stamps picturing tropical fruits: pomegranate, kiwi, star fruit, papaya and guava.
A 42-cent stamped envelope features the silhouette of a bull elk set against a shadowy background of evergreen trees. Author James A. Michener will be seen on a new 59-cent two-ounce rate stamp, and Edward Trudeau is honored on the 76-cent three-ounce rate design. Noted in the design as a “phthisiologist,” Trudeau was a physician who devoted himself to researching and treating tuberculosis.
International rates are subject to different rules. The rate to Canada and Mexico goes from 69 to 72 cents, while air mail to the rest of the world jumps from 90 to 94 cents. The stamp for Canada and Mexico features a photograph of sunrise on the Androscoggin River in the 13 Mile Woods in Errol, New Hampshire. A view of Trunk Bay on the coast of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, decorates the new international airmail stamp.
ΔHardware City Stamp Club, tonight at 7, teachers’ lounge at Holmes School, 2150 Stanley St., New Britain. Slide show: “Fancy U.S. Cancellations.”
ΔUSS Nathan Hale Chapter, Universal Ship Cancellation Society, April 6, 1 p.m.; Chesterfield Fire House, Route 85, Chesterfield section of Montville.
ΔManchester Philatelic Society, April 8, 6 p.m.; Don Willis Hall, Eighth Utilities District Headquarters, 18 Main St.
ΔPioneer Valley Stamp Club, April 8, 6:30 p.m.; First United Church of Christ, 763 Longmeadow St., Longmeadow, Mass.
ΔThames Stamp Club, April 9, 7:30 p.m.; Clark Lane Middle School, Waterford.
ΔConnecticut Stamp Collecting Festival, April 13, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Cromwell Crowne Plaza Hotel, 100 Berlin Road (Exit 21 off I-91). Free.

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