WASHINGTON — For years, the U.S. Postal Service has wanted to offer volume discounts on shipping and premium mail services. Now, it is about to begin doing so.
Beginning May 12, shippers using Express Mail, Priority Mail and certain parcel services will be able to get discounts for large and medium volume contracts, the agency said Wednesday.
The Postal Service had announced last month that the price for sending first-class mail would go up a penny — to 42 cents — on that date. But it did not announce new shipping rates at the time.
The February announcement did prompt people to stock up on Forever Stamps, which will sell for 41 cents until rates go up, but will remain valid for postage after that date without any additional stamps. Sales of Forever stamps jumped $95 million in February, compared to January.
Most of the newly announced changes apply to businesses, but flat-rate prices for residential and other small customers will still be available, and they will be eligible for a 3 percent discount for buying postage online.
Under the new rates, the Express Mail flat-rate envelope will go up a quarter to $16.50.
The Priority Mail regular flat-rate box increases to $9.80 from $8.95, and the price for a Priority Mail flat-rate envelope increases to $4.80 from $4.60.
There will be no price change for the new larger Priority Mail Flat-Rate Boxes that went on sale March 3. The new boxes will continue to cost $12.95 to mail domestically and $10.95 to mail to military APO-FPO addresses.
A new law restructuring postal operations allows the agency to drop its one-price-fits-all charges for shipping and to offer discounts for large volume shippers. The new approach, largely applicable to business, will include commercial volume pricing, minimum volume rebates, online price breaks and other pricing incentives, the agency said.
It said that its overnight Express Mail service will switch to a zone-based pricing system, resulting in lower prices for closer destinations.
Customers will be offered a 3 percent price reduction by purchasing Express Mail online or through corporate accounts and an additional 7 percent price reduction will be available for those who meet quarterly volume minimums.
Priority Mail will be eligible for an average 3.5 percent savings to customers who use electronic postage or meet other requirements.
Parcel Select, in which a company brings the material to a local post office and the Postal Service carries it the “last mile” to the customer, will have volume incentives for large- and medium-sized shippers.
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