USPS Is Increasing Prices (But Claims It's Not Forever)

The cost of shipping Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select packages during the holiday season will increase on October 5, 2025. Yet unlike recent USPS price hikes for stamps, these increased package fees will only be in place until January 18, 2026. The purpose of these increased fees is to help pay for the extra handling expenses that are expected during the peak holiday season, according to the USPS. Its also part of a larger 10-year plan aimed at making the USPS a cost-effective and revitalized agency. 

However, this increase in cost comes at a time when as many as 300,000 federal employees are expected to be laid off or encouraged to retire as the Trump Administration attempts to streamline the government and pay for Trump's promised tax cuts. As financial, and employee, numbers collide, customers are ultimately on the hook for a much more expensive shipping experience depending on the services they need, the weight of their packages, and just how far they need their parcel to travel this holiday season.

After the October 2025 holiday price hike goes into effect, non-standard fees are slated to increase from between 30 cents to $7 for Priority Mail, from 30 cents to $5.75 for USPS Ground Advantage, from $1 to $16 for Priority Mail Express, and from 30 cents to $2.25 for Parcel Select. Flat rate fees will also be increased, with all sizes experiencing a 90 cent increase, and large flat rate boxes experiencing a $1.45 increase.

USPS' temporary holiday season charges comes just a few months after the organization increased its overall postal rates. In July 2025 prices increased to 78 cents for a forever stamp, 74 cents for a metered one-ounce letter, 62 cents for a post card, $1.70 for foreign letters and postcards, and 29 cents for additional ounce charges for massive letters. Still, the price for a stamp in the U.S. compared to other industrialized countries is still pretty low, per a 2024 USPS Office of Inspector General Report. And, except for the holiday fee hikes, USPS stated that no further fee increases are currently being contemplated until at least mid-2026.

For price comparison — prior to the holiday price hike, non-standard Ground Advantage prices started at $6.80, Priority Mail Express costs started at $31.40, Priority Mail rates start at $7.88 for commercial and $10.05 for retail post office services, and Parcel Select prices started at $5.30. Also, to better understand the domestic rates you will be charged, it's important to know that the USPS calculates distance charges based on "zones," which are numbered one through nine. The bigger the zone number, the farther the destination from a sender's point of origin. Zone 1 is within a 50-mile radius, whereas Zone 8 is 1,801 miles and over. Zone 9 is for packages being sent to and from oversees U.S. territories as well as the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau.