2026 Postage Price Increases
USPS Price Hikes Are Coming—Here’s How to Save on Business Mail in 2026
Announcements of price increases by the Post Office have been happening with regularity recently.
- Fall of 2025: The Post Office announced an increase in costs for shipping items via USPS Ground Advantage, Priority Mail, and Priority Mail Express.
- January 18, 2026: The price increases for Ground Advantage, Priority Mail, and Priority Mail Express take effect. First-Class Mail stamps remain $0.78.
- April 6, 2026: The U.S. Postal Service approved a March 25th proposal for a time-limited 8% increase associated with the current market transportation costs for Parcel Select, USPS Ground Advantage, Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express, to be effective April 26, 2026 through January 17, 2027.
- April 9, 2026: The U.S. Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of mailing service price changes to take effect on July 12. The new rate increases the price of First-Class Mail stamps from $0.78 to $0.82. Metered 1 ounce letters will increase from $0.74 to $0.78.
- April 26, 2026: The time-limited price increase takes effect.
- July 12, 2026: Pending favorable review by the PRC, the First-Class Mail stamp price would increase.
With many types of communications moving online, sending letters, donation requests, notifications, bills, and marketing pieces through snail mail can be an effective way to capture people’s attention because the volume of competition is much lower. But every business still wants to be as cost-effective as possible when they choose to send mail the traditional way. So, what is the best way to help keep those costs as manageable as possible when the postage price increases?
There are several things you can do to get your costs down, like batch your mail for bulk mail savings, clean your mailing lists to reduce returned mail, or stock up on Forever Stamps before price increases go into effect. The first slows down sending out mail unless you send it at high volumes and isn’t an option for time sensitive mail. If you don’t have access to databases like NCOA and CASS it can be hard to know how clean your lists are, taking up valuable staff hours that could be better used on critical business activities.
Automate Your Mail with Postalocity
The best way to reduce mailing costs is to send your mail online through Postalocity.com. When you send your mail through Postalocity, you upload your PDF file, review and approve your mailing, and we print, fold, stuff, seal, apply postage, and get your mail to the post office for delivery. By switching to an automated mailing platform, you can save money in ways you may not expect but can add up to help offset USPS postage increases.
Create your Postalocity account now and start saving on your mailings.
Reduce Labor Costs and Free Up Staff Time
Businesses that utilize mail automation services can reclaim hours of staff time every week—time that can be redirected toward revenue-generating activities instead of repetitive administrative tasks like printing, folding, stuffing, sealing, and applying postage for mailings.
Eliminate Hidden Printing and Supply Expenses
Automating your mail means the costs of supplies and postage are incorporated into a single price from Postalocity for your mailing that is less than the cost of each of these items on their own along with postage. With Postalocity you don’t have the separate costs that are part of mailings that you don’t often think about (but still add up!), like wear-and-tear on printers, ink costs, paper costs, and envelope costs.
Pay Less Than First-Class Stamp Rates
When you send mail pieces out you are likely either applying a First-Class stamp to your mail piece and paying the full postage amount, or you’re paying for the cost of a mail meter. Postalocity applies presort postage to mail you send through our digital platform, which is less than the price of a First-Class stamp. It also eliminates the need to maintain a mail meter for your business.
Stop Paying for Trips to the Post Office
Beyond getting your mail sent at presort prices, mail automation doesn’t save you money on postage costs, but it does eliminate the cost for gas for company vehicles (which has risen dramatically in the past few months) or the reimbursement your company pays employees for mileage and wear and tear on personal vehicles for trips to the post office, which can add up.
The IRS recommended business mileage reimbursement rate for 2026 is 72.5 cents per mile. If the post office is even only a mile away from your office, sending your mail through Postalocity is saving you more than the cost of sending a letter at the increased rate the Postmaster General is recommending.
Don’t Pay Full Price for Marketing Mail
If you’re sending out your own marketing pieces directly to current or potential customers, you may be paying more than you need to. In Postalocity you can send these pieces as USPS Marketing Mail, previously known as standard mail, which will significantly reduce your per-piece cost to reach your audience. The rate in 2026 for localized, non-addressed mail is 24.7 cents and bulk marketing mail averages 40.5 cents to 43 cents, with lower rates for higher density presorting.
Reduce Returned Mail Costs with Address Verification
When you automate your mail with Postalocity, one additional benefit is our address verification service. Your addresses are compared against USPS databases to check for bad addresses before mail is ever sent, reducing your returned mail and the costs that come along with it.
None of us can avoid price increases when they’re implemented by USPS, but you can offset your costs by taking advantage of Postalocity’s online mailing platform that reduces direct costs and eliminates hidden costs that can add up. If your business sends invoices, notices, or marketing mail, now is the time to prepare for rising postage rates.
Create a Postalocity account and upload your mailing today to see how much you could save.
