USPS Postage Rate Increase January 2019

Each year the post office raises rates.   TrepStar raises rates accordingly.  The biggest change this year is in the small domestic first class package category.  If you're a TrepStar publisher that ships single quantity products to individual customers, this change affects you most.   Any package (parcel) under 16oz (which is just about all packages we ship) are affected.  Packages over 12oz but under 16 get an even higher price raise.

First Class Package Service:

• Overall rates for First Class Package Service will increase by 11.9%.
• Zone-based pricing is being added to First Class Package Service in 2019.
• Any package going across the country (Zone 8) is seeing a significant rate increase going up from $0.43 (Zone 8 – 1 ounce = $3.09) to $1.43 (Zone 8 – 13 ounces = $5.53)
• 13 ounce packages in particular are rising across all zones, increasing $0.84 (Zone 1/2 = $4.94) to $1.43 (Zone 8 = $5.53)
• Heavier items weighing 15 ounces to 15.999 ounces are seeing a smaller increase, going from no increase at all (Zone 1/2 = $4.94) to $0.59 (Zone 8 = $5.53)

What this means:

Zone pricing is new.  In the past, the price was the same whether you shipped a package to your next door neighbor, or from New York to LA.   This year, the zone is based on the distance between where the package is sent and the destination.  We're located in south eastern Minnesota (the Twin Cities).  This is centrally located between almost all points in the USA and Canada.   The good news is we will rarely have packages in the most costly zone 8 which keeps your costs as low as possible.

Over the years, the 1 pound media rate (which we can use for CD/DVD/USB media) was always the lowest cost (by far) for anything over one pound.  In those past years, first class parcels always cost less than the 1 pound media rate.  However, this year, anything over 8oz costs about the same or less than the 1 pound media rate (as you reach 12oz and up).  Thus, if you choose our 'Standard' shipping method and your package is over 8oz, it will ship at the lower cost, but slower media rate.  If you always choose our 'Standard + Tracking' shipping method, this means it will not ship at the media rate but will always be first class parcel service which is faster than media mail.   In both cases, tracking is provided.  Always choose 'Standard' if you want the lowest cost rates.  This is new for 2019. 

Summary:

Ultimately, it will cost you about 20c more to ship a single quantity CD/DVD/USB in a CD or DVD style case.  These ship at the 4oz weight.    The average increase for a 4oz first class parcel is about 25c to 30c.   We are not charging as much as our costs have risen, but once we see how the average rates look, perhaps we can lower rates or at least not increase them to 30c.