USPS Is Hiking Mail Prices This Fall—Here’s What It’ll Cost You
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If you thought it was premature for stores to put out their Halloween merchandise in August, just wait until you hear what the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is up to. Beginning in early October, the USPS is temporarily raising mail prices for the holidays “to help cover extra handling costs to ensure a successful peak season.” Ahead, find out just how much extra you’ll have to pay and for how long.
RELATED: See a Sticker on Your Mailbox? Don’t Touch It, USPS Says .
The USPS released its 2025 holiday price increases.
According to a press release , temporary mail price changes for the 2025 holiday season will go into effect at midnight Central time on Oct. 5 and remain in place until midnight Central on Jan. 18, 2026, pending approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC).
The changes will apply to the following retail and commercial domestic rates: Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select. Depending on the distance shipped (also referred to as “zones”) and package weight, the price increases will be as follows:
Retail parcels
- Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage Zone 1-4: $0.40 cents to $3.00
- Priority Mail Zone 5-9: $0.90 cents to $7.00
- Priority Mail Flat Rate: $0.90 cents to $1.45
- USPS Ground Advantage Zone 5-9: $0.50 cents to $5.75
- Priority Mail Express: $1.10 to $16.00
- Priority Mail Express Flat Rate: $2.00
Commercial parcels
- Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage Zone 1-4 and Parcel Select: $0.30 cents to $2.25
- Priority Mail Zone 5-9: $0.70 cents to $6.50
- Priority Mail Flat Rate: $0.70 cents to $1.25
- USPS Ground Advantage Zone 5-9: $0.35 cents to $5.50
- Priority Mail Express: $1.00 to $13.00
- Priority Mail Express Flat Rate: $1.75
RELATED: 6 Ways Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Has Ruined the USPS, According to His Critics .
The USPS is also opening 11 new sorting and delivery centers ahead of the holidays.
Another way the USPS is gearing up for the holiday rush is by opening 11 new sorting and delivery centers in September and October.
These new locations are part of the 10-year Delivering for America plan that was initiated by former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in 2021. Among other changes , the plan includes higher postage prices to offset the USPS’s lack of tax funding, new electric delivery vehicles, and updated package sorting machines.
It also includes a $40 billion investment in new sorting and delivery centers (S&DCs), which will ultimately replace the USPS’s “network of nearly 19,000 delivery units where mail and packages are picked up by carriers to be delivered,” Best Life previously explained.
According to a recent USPS announcement , “The Postal Service has targeted key markets where it is beneficial to aggregate delivery units into fewer, larger, centrally located S&DCs — leveraging both repurposed and new facilities — to simplify the entire network and create a more reliable and efficient Postal Service.”
The new centers are opening on the following dates:
Sept. 6
- Bloomington, Indiana: 4738 W Vernal Pike
- Baltimore, Maryland: 1000 E Lexington Street
- Rochester, Minnesota: 1445 Valleyhigh Drive NW
- Springfield, Missouri: 3591 S Campbell Avenue
- Edison, New Jersey: 21 Kilmer Road
- Watertown, New York: 232 Commerce Park Drive
- Sioux Falls, South Dakota: 320 S 2nd Avenue
- Johnson City, Tennessee: 126 Roweland Drive
- Texarkana, Texas: 2211 N Robinson Road
- Woodbridge, Virginia: 3360 Post Office Road
- Martinsburg, West Virginia: 1355 Old Courthouse Square
Oct. 18
- Charlotte, North Carolina: 2901 Scott Futrell Drive
See a Sticker on Your Mailbox? Don’t Touch It, USPS Says
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Your mailbox serves a very simple purpose: receiving mail and leaving outgoing mail for a carrier to pick up. Still, some of us enjoy sprucing up our mailboxes, adding personal flair, color, or even decals to help an otherwise standard mailbox stand out. But if you notice a paw print sticker on your mailbox that you didn’t add, don’t start peeling it off just yet—it’s likely part of a program run by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to help keep carriers safe. Read on to find out what these stickers mean and why you shouldn’t remove them.
RELATED: USPS Wants to Raise the Price of Your Mail Again—Here’s When It Could Happen .
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In 2023, more than 5,800 Postal Service workers were attacked by dogs while delivering mail, up from 5,300 in 2022, according to a USPS press release.
Larger cities had the highest numbers of attacks, with Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, St. Louis, and Cleveland claiming the top five spots.
“Even though a customer’s dog is friendly to most people, it can always have a bad day,” said letter carrier Tara Snyder . “I know, from experience, even when a dog is in the house, customers need to make sure their door is secure so their dog can’t push it open and bite the letter carrier.”
To her point, the USPS writes that “all dogs can bite, even those perceived as nonaggressive.” In fact, many of the attacks that letter carriers report are by dogs whose owners told them, “My dog won’t bite.”
Such an attack can result in consequences for the homeowner, too. According to data from the Insurance Information Institute, the average cost per insurance claim for a dog bite is $64,555, the USPS states.
“When a postal employee suffers an injury, the owner could be responsible for medical bills, lost wages, uniform replacement costs, and pain and suffering for the employee,” they explain.
RELATED: USPS Is Making These Changes to Your Mail, Starting Now .
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To combat dog bites, the Postal Service shared tips on how pet owners can “support safe mail delivery.” These include keeping dogs inside the house or behind a fence, away from the door or in another room, or on a leash.
“Pet owners also should remind children not to take mail directly from a letter carrier as the dog may view the carrier as a threat to the child,” they state.
Mail carriers also follow protocol to keep them aware of areas where dogs might be present, and they’re equipped with scanners to remind them of possible dog hazards, as well as dog warning cards that are added during mail sorting.
In 2020, the USPS added another preventive measure: the PAWS Program . First introduced in Pennsylvania, the program uses mailbox stickers to keep carriers safe.
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The PAWS Program uses color-coded stickers affixed to mailboxes to inform mail carriers about dogs in the area. An orange sticker with a black paw print tells carriers that there is a dog at this home, while a yellow sticker with a black paw print tells them there is a dog at the next house.
Citizens are informed ahead of time that the stickers may appear on their mailboxes. In a notice sent to Lakewood, Ohio, residents, the Postal Service wrote, “Carriers will soon be placing a paw sticker on mailboxes to indicate that a dog or dogs live in the area —yellow indicates dog nearby/orange indicates dog at residence. The sticker will act as a reminder to the carrier that they should proceed with caution, especially when delivering packages to the door.”
RELATED: Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Resigns—What It Means for the USPS and Your Mail .
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Removing these stickers may do more harm than good, as your mail service can be halted if your carrier feels unsafe. Not only does this affect the home of the dog owner, but it also applies to the entire neighborhood, the USPS said in a previous press release . Service isn’t restored in these instances “until the aggressive dog is properly restrained.”
At the end of the day, these stickers are put in place to “reduce the risk of dog bites and attacks that occur while delivering mail,” which is just another reason you should leave the sticker on your mailbox.
“We all love our dogs,” Kimberly Tilley , acting postmaster for Winston-Salem, told WGHP. “We love our animals, but we … have to take responsibility to protect the carrier and the people around us as well from our animals.”
Tilley added that dog bites are more common than you think, and they can be traumatic for carriers. “Once a carrier has been bit, it sets some fear in them long term for the rest of their life,” she told the outlet.
However, although these stickers are strongly recommended, if you object to having a sticker placed on your mailbox, you can opt out , Kyle Stevens , Southwest Carrier Annex station manager in South Dakota, told KELO in 2021. To do so, the first step would be to contact your local post office.
This story has been updated to include additional entries, fact-checking, and copy-editing.
