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Home > Guides > January 2026 shipping rates
One honest note first: this was a US-only change, and LetterAgent shipping labels are Canada-only Xpresspost with a 5 kg limit, so it never touched them. For US shippers, USPS raised parcel prices on January 18, 2026: Priority Mail went up about 6.6 percent, Priority Mail Express about 5.1 percent, Ground Advantage about 7.8 percent, and Parcel Select about 6 percent. Stamp prices did not change.
USPS filed the increase with the Postal Regulatory Commission on November 14, 2025, and the commission reviewed it before the new rates took effect January 18, 2026 (logged as Docket No. CP2026-2). The headline numbers:
| Service | Average increase | Who felt it |
|---|---|---|
| Priority Mail | About 6.6 percent | Small businesses and anyone shipping 2-3 day parcels |
| Priority Mail Express | About 5.1 percent | Overnight and urgent shippers |
| USPS Ground Advantage | About 7.8 percent | Everyday shippers: the biggest percentage jump of the four |
| Parcel Select | About 6.0 percent | Volume shippers using last-mile handoffs |
These are averages across each product: your specific lane and weight may have moved more or less. But the ordering held for most shippers: Ground Advantage, the cheapest option, took the steepest percentage increase.
USPS prices two different families of products on two different calendars. Mailing services (letters, postcards, Marketing Mail) are market-dominant products priced against inflation, and USPS had already said it would not raise them in January 2026. Shipping services are competitive products priced by market conditions, so they moved in January. The governors' stated logic: keep rates competitive while bringing in revenue, since shipping competes directly with UPS and FedEx.
This split is worth remembering every January. When USPS announces a January price change, check which family it covers before assuming your stamps are affected. In 2026, anyone who stocked up on stamps expecting a January hike wasted the effort: the increase came in July instead.
The Ground Advantage increase mattered most in practice, because it is the service budget shippers use for light parcels. A nearly 8 percent average rise there is the one that showed up in small-business shipping budgets and Etsy seller forums. Priority Mail's 6.6 percent was gentler on paper, but Priority Mail starts at a higher base, so the absolute increase on a typical parcel was larger.
There is a wrinkle worth knowing: a few months later, in April 2026, USPS added a temporary 8 percent transportation-related increase on top of these rates for the same four products. That temporary bump is scheduled to end January 17, 2027, so January 2027 will be another month where parcel prices, not stamps, are the story.
Ready to ship it? Get a shipping label with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and get your label.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
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