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The US Postal Service has proposed raising the price of a first-class stamp from 10% to 55 cents and raising the rates of a popular option used by
Amazon.com
Inc.
and other shippers more than 12%, the agency seeking to strengthen its finances.
The increase in first-class stamps would be the largest percentage in more than three decades.
The postal service stated that the increase in all postal products, including stamps for letters and postcards, totaled about 2.5%, as it reduced other prices, including the price charged for each additional ounce .
The postal service was closely scrutinized by President Trump, who criticized the agency for being the "delivery person" of Amazon and asked him to charge more competitive prices.
Higher prices for some products are limited by the consumer price index. Last year, the Postal Regulatory Commission authorized the postal service to increase rates applicable to a class of products including first class mail up to 2 percentage points more than inflation. .
The postal service has proposed more aggressive price increases for its parcel business, where it is allowed to adjust prices according to market demands. These include an increase of 3.9% in Priority Mail and 5.9% in Priority Mail.
The members of the postal service board were "convinced that these new rates would maintain the competitiveness of the postal service while providing the agency with the necessary revenues".
Some of the highest proposed increases are for a service called Parcel Select, large shippers like Amazon, and carriers like United Parcel Service Inc.
FedEx
Corp.
, allows to deliver to the customer's door the last leg of a trip. The last mile is usually the most expensive part of an online order trip.
The agency has proposed a 9.3% increase on Parcels Select parcels weighing more than 1 pound and an increase of 12.3% on the lighter parcels shipped via this service.
As part of this service, shippers deposit sorted parcels in the postal network and pay a fee to have them delivered to the doors.
The agency also proposed to expand the types of parcels subject to dimensional weighting, which takes into account package size rather than weight to determine tariffs. The pricing method, already used by FedEx, UPS and some postal service products, makes it more expensive to ship bulky but light goods, such as diapers and paper towels.
The quasi-government agency has proposed price increases for these products as part of larger increases subject to regulatory approval.
Prices will be reviewed by postal regulators in the coming weeks. It is proposed that they come into force on January 27, 2019.
Write to Paul Ziobro at [email protected]
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