The Postal Regulatory Commission published its notice on the USPS holiday price filing on August 31. It runs under Docket No. CP2026-10, Order No. 9703, and public comments close on September 4. (Federal Register, August 31)
That is the procedural half of a story we covered the day USPS filed it. Temporary holiday pricing on Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select, retail and commercial, from October 4 through January 17, 2027, with published increases running from $0.40 to $20.80 by weight and zone. (USPS newsroom, August 25) The breakdown is in our post from the filing.
Here is what did not travel with that coverage. Those dollar amounts are not landing on last year's prices.
The increase already sitting in your rates
On March 25, USPS announced a separate time-limited change: 8 percent on base postage prices for Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select. Retail and commercial both. First-Class Stamps and every other product were excluded. The Governors approved it on March 24 and it took effect at midnight Central on April 26. (USPS newsroom, March 25)
USPS gave the reason without much decoration. Transportation costs went up, and competitors had already responded with surcharges.
Now compare the end dates. The April change runs until midnight Central on January 17, 2027. The holiday change runs October 4 through January 17, 2027. Same day, same four products, same retail and commercial split.
For all of Q4, both are on.
Why this one slipped past everybody
The April change was not a surcharge line. USPS put it into base postage prices. You cannot find it on an invoice because there is nothing to find. The rate simply is what it is now.
Peak surcharges work the other way. FedEx and UPS publish theirs as named fees with dollar amounts and start dates, which is why they land in every trade newsletter and every planning spreadsheet. We put the parcel networks side by side in the 2026 peak fee stack for exactly that reason. A named fee is easy to model. A repriced base is invisible.
Read the August 25 release and you will notice it does not reference the April change at all. The two filings are separate matters, so that is not improper. It does mean a brand building its Q4 model straight from the holiday announcement will capture the fees it can see and miss the one that moved the floor underneath them.
Our position: for most DTC brands the April change is the more expensive of the two, and it gets almost none of the attention. Holiday pricing covers about 15 weeks. The base change covers roughly 38 weeks and applies to every USPS package you ship, in July the same as in December. Total dollars follow the calendar, not the headline.
What this means for your brand
If USPS carries a real share of your volume and you ship 1,000 to 25,000 orders a month, two things are worth doing this week.
Rebase your comparison. Pull one invoice from before April 26 and one from July at the same weight and zone. That gap is the base change, isolated, with no holiday pricing in it yet. Add the relevant line from the USPS holiday table on top of the July number, not the March one. Most Q4 models we see start from a spring rate, which understates October by the full 8 percent before peak pricing is even applied.
Read the filing before Friday. Comments in CP2026-10 close September 4. The complete price tables sit in the docket rather than in the press release, and they are the only place to see your exact weight and zone combinations.
Then the harder question. All four major networks now charge on the same calendar, so rotating carriers to escape peak pricing stopped working. What still moves is where the package starts and which service carries it.
Zone is the one most brands underuse. The USPS table shows it: a Zones 5 to 9 package at 26 to 70 pounds takes the $20.80 increase, while lighter and closer packages sit near the bottom of that range. Inventory in the middle of the country ships more orders in low zones by geometry, not by negotiation. From our warehouse outside Columbus, 60 percent of the US and Canadian population sits within 600 miles, and 90 percent of customers are reachable in two days by ground.
Service selection is the other. We shop USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL on every label using discounts aggregated across all the brands we serve, covered on our ecommerce fulfillment page. A percentage buried in one carrier's base rate matters less when every label picks the cheapest qualifying service.
Want your real Q4 USPS exposure modeled against your actual weight and zone mix before October 4? Get in touch.
FAQ
Is the April 8 percent increase still in effect right now?
Yes. USPS set it to run from April 26 through midnight Central on January 17, 2027. It applies to Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select at both retail and commercial prices.
Will the holiday increase replace the 8 percent or add to it?
They are separate filings covering the same four products, and both are scheduled through January 17, 2027. Nothing in either USPS release retires the April change when holiday pricing starts on October 4.
Does this affect First-Class Mail?
No. The March release excluded First-Class Stamps and all other products, and the August filing states no other products or services would be affected. Both changes are limited to the four package products named above.
Can the October 4 date still move?
The prices are pending Postal Regulatory Commission review under Docket No. CP2026-10, with comments due September 4. These seasonal filings have historically gone through. Build your landed costs as though October 4 is final.