The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) filed notice Wednesday with the Postal Regulatory Commission seeking a temporary 8 percent price increase on package deliveries, citing rising fuel costs.
The change, approved by the Postal Service governors on March 24, would apply to retail and commercial domestic competitive products, including Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select.
It would take effect on April 26 and remain in place until Jan. 17, 2027, pending review by the Postal Regulation Commission.
The temporary price increase, the USPS said, will help sustain the agency until a permanent market-based pricing approach can be established.
“While this price increase is a time-limited adjustment, it will provide a necessary bridge to a permanent mechanism to reflect market conditions in prices for competitive products that can support the Postal Service’s ability to achieve the universal service obligation in a more financially sustainable manner going forward,” the agency said in a statement.
The price hike is needed to cover rising transportation costs and to meet the actual costs of doing business, as required by Congress, the USPS said.
“Transportation costs have been increasing, and our competitors have reacted with a number of surcharges. We have steadfastly avoided surcharges and this charge is less than one-third of what our competitors charge for fuel alone, so even with this change, the Postal Service continues to offer great value in shipping with some of the lowest rates in the industrialized world,” USPS said.
The agency described the step as consistent with industry practices and essential to maintaining its nationwide delivery network six days a week in a cost-effective way.
Postal Funds Tight
The proposal comes as USPS confronts an immediate cash crisis.
Postmaster General David Steiner told a House Oversight subcommittee on March 17 that the agency could run out of money by October or November without congressional action.
“We’re in a crisis,” Steiner told lawmakers.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2026, USPS’s net loss widened by nearly $1.4 billion from the same period a year earlier. Higher transportation expenses accounted for $43 million of that increase, along with rises in workers’ compensation, retiree health benefits, and other operating costs.
Steiner has called for reforms that include higher stamp prices and greater borrowing authority to keep the agency solvent.
He also urged lawmakers to allow first-class stamp prices—now at 78 cents—to rise to nearly $1, warning that the current trajectory leaves the USPS unable to meet its universal service obligations without intervention.
