How Much Does It Cost to Mail 8x11 Envelope
An unofficial site by Jerry Nelson.
First Class letter 58 cents 3Oct2021
UPDATED ONLY FOR LETTERS AND "FLATS"
getting revised Oct2021
---=---
((PDF of rate tables only, finally for 2019 -- BareBonesPostageTables.pdf ))
FOREVER STAMPS can be used for anything, but what are they currently worth?
58 ¢ - classic forever stamp; good investment, always goes up, went up 3¢ on 3Oct2021.20 ¢ - "A dditional Ounce" went down from 21 to 15¢ 27Jan2019, and up to 20¢ on 3Oct2021
78 ¢ - "Two Ounce" (the wedding invitation stamp, heart symbol)
88 ¢ - the "butterfly" stamps for bad envelopes (square, stiff, metal clasp).
Although the stamp says "Non-Machinable Surcharge",
it is not the 30 ¢ surcharge, it is the entire cost.
40 ¢ - postcard - had been 35 ¢ since at least 2017
$1.30 foreign letter - up 5 ¢ in 2020, up 10¢ 3Oct2021 Note: mail that can't get through a sorting machine costs more.
A flat, flexible regular or business-sized envelope is cheaper than a flat, flexible manila envelope that needs bigger sorting machines and they are cheaper than thick, inflexible envelopes of the same size and weight that are unmachinable and have to go as small parcels.
Letters 1st Class 58 ¢+20¢ /oz (3Oct2021)
Not over: 1 oz $0.58 +20¢/oz. Bad envelope penalty is 30¢
2 ounces $0.78
3 ounces $0.98
3.5 oz $1.18 Heavier? Go to FLATS (next).
price history
dates when rates changed (helps you search for historic data)
USPS tables, not the rate calculator: DMM, the Domestic Mail Manual. Go to "Quick Refs" at end of this long pdf doc; stay in "Retail" chapters, we don't qualify for cheap corporate rates.
Rigid object inside? Metal clasp? Button & closure string? 
Add non-machinable surcharge ("bad envelope penalty").
Square? Goes though their machines but they can't tell which way? Add $0.30
Almost square (less than 30% height-width difference)? Add $0.30
Too skinny? (long length more than 2.5x short)? Add $0.30
Really cute little one for that note, under 3 ½" or 4¼"?
Hide it! You're illegal. Go home and start over.
Length over 11 ½"? Height over 6 1/8"? Go to "Flats" (next)
Max size in the stnd envelope series is #14 (5"x11.5"). Size 10 is normal (4.125" x 9.5").
If you want to send someone a stamped, self-addressed envelope ("SSAE")
for them to send you back something, it's nice to get a few Size 11 envelopes
to put the #10 into,
or to send a bounced envelope back when you get your friend's new address.
Thicker than ¼"? Go to "Flats".
You're a corporation using metered mail? Congratulations! Take off 1¢. Wait! Take off 3¢, we love corporations. Oct2021: take 5¢ off, we know how poor CEOs like Bezos are.
Pitney Bowes Inc. says
"Save 5¢ on every First Class letter you send vs. stamps by using your Pitney Bowes
Meter or SendPro Online to print postage."
Corporations are happy.
Not a corporation, tired? Sorry. Too bad. Congress gave away its power of oversight and let the Postal Service change rates by itself, every 5 minutes, it seems.
"Flats" (Large 1st Class Envelopes)
no change Jan2021
1 oz $1.16 Up 16 ¢ on 3Oct2021
2 ounces $1.36 Incrementing 20 cents each additional ounce since 2020
3 ounces $1.56 (3oz? Fold it & go in a business envelope for 98 cents)
4 ounces $1.76
5 ounces $1.96
6 ounces $2.16
7 ounces $2.36
8 ounces $2.56
9 ounces $2.76
10 ounces $2.96
11 ounces $3.16
12 ounces $3.36
13 ounces $3.56
FLATS:
Your envelope is inflexible, lumpy, not rectangular? Go to "Packages".
(No rigid, corrugated cardboard in flats for preventing creased photos, sorry.)
If you want to send the photo anyway,
pad the envelope with stiff paper to protect it, & do the flex test:
hang half of the short side over the edge of the table and check that it flexes 1" and back if you press down with your finger.
If the short side is 10 inches long or more, you'd better be able to bend 2".
Length over 15"? Height over 12"? Go to "Packages".
Thicker than 3/4"? Go to "Packages"
Under 3/4" but lumpy? Klutz! Go to "Packages", pay more.
Still confused? Make sure your letters are white, your flats are manila envelopes, and share user stories like these :-(
Exception: when mailing to your friend in prison, white envelopes are preferred because somehow you can hide particles of dope in manila.
- - - - - - - NOT UPDATED BELOW THIS POINT - - - - - -
27Jan2019 NOW YOU HAVE TO USE ZONES :-(
These are padded envelopes over 3/4" thick, rigid photo mailers, medical samples, small boxes under 1 cubic foot. If it's not cubic but very rectangular, then girth + length have to be under 108".
To get the zone, get your two zip codes, go here https://postcalc.usps.com/DomesticZoneChart , and either select "GET ZONE FOR my ZIP CODE PAIR", or print a chart that shows how all the zones look from where you live (you also need a chart like that below for parcel post).
Crossing the country coast to coast is Zone 8. From the MidAtlantic to Indiana is Zone 4; to Indiana from the West Coast is Zone 7.
Wichita, KS is zone 6 or 7 from either coast -- 6 in the middle (San Francisco), 7 up in the corners.
14,15, and 16 ounces were announced as acceptable on 7Jan2016,
but this remains a COMMERCIAL First-Class Package Service only, not a retail service for normal people 
THE CARTON SYMBOL: To get rates even if you can't purchase the postage on-line, enter the USPS site, click on the cartons symbol, and look for "First Class & Other Options" at the bottom, or perhaps a line labeled "Other Services". This is the "Parcel" (small pkg) rate. https://postcalc.usps.com/
Write "1st Class" and "Pkg" on the package.
Don't buy insurance unless you have receipt or written proof of value.
When they ask you "Is it over 12 inches?" that's the limit that throws you out of ordinary letters, it has nothing to do with limits on packa ges or even manila envelopes ("flats")
2011: No longer available on-line to the American public. Jan2018: nothing is available online except Priority.
Pitney-Bowes can print it for eBay Inc, PayPal can sell it for eBay, but you and I have to stand in line at the Post Office.
UNPUBLICIZED ON-LINE ACCESS
(Thank you, JohnD.) You will be coming in as a corporate customer with an 8% discount (5oz level) over the rest of us peon American citizens. Not to mention, you can do this online and we can't. Do you use https://goshippo.com/features/merchants/ ? I heard they didn't do 1st class pkgs at all, but small-volume individuals could use them, and they had good prices for on-line Priority.
WHAT NAME IS THIS SERVICE?
Full service name was "1st Class Airmail Small Pkg", then "First Class Package Service, Retail."
Avoid "parcel", you'll just confuse everybody. "Parcel Post" is abolished.
We send parcels by post, but not by Parcel Post. Doesn't exist.
Parcel Post was abolished on 27 January 2013 and became "Standard Post".
Standard Post was abolished on 17 January 2016 and became "Retail Ground".
Ground shipments 1st Class go by Air, of course.
((Write "1st Class PKG" on it, and be thankful you didn't have to go to the post office Name Deciding Meetings that worked all this out.))
<rant> Mail is scanned, parcels might still be private, you have a parcel, congratulations !!). </rant>
BIGGER THAN A "SMALL PKG"?
If over 13 oz domestic, try Priority Mail flat rate boxes (any weight if you can fit it in). Once you're over about 15 lbs, Retail Ground (formerly Parcel Post) will never be cheaper than a Priority Flat Rate box.
If you're not heavy enough (>15lbs) to make flat rate Priority a no-brainer, then try "Parcel Post Select" down below (online only, see top of the Parcel Post section).
When Parcel Post Select is purchased online, it includes free tracking.
Length plus girth for Parcel Post Select is 84 inches max.
Length plus girth over 108"? Go to the Retail Ground (Parcel Post) calculator. No even Priority will accept your package.
Length plus girth over 130" Go to UPS like I told you -- even the Post Office won't take it.
Call the brown trucks from
If over 13 oz and going overseas , you want "First-Class Package International Service" good up to 4 lbs. (Other names: "1st Class International Parcel", "1st Class Mail International Packages".) After that, try Priority Mail International's flat rate boxes (limited to 20 lbs to most countries; see International section next).
Posters rolled up? Maximum post office lengths: Global Express Guaranteed is only 46", Express Mail Intl. is 60", domestic Priority Mail is maybe 60", and sometimes there is a formula of length plus how tight you rolled it up, so you don't really get the maximum length. (Take 2 inches off the max length for every inch looser than a 3 inch diameter roll-up.)
International Airmail Ltrs $1.15 > 1.20 Jan2020;
current as of Dec 2020.
1 ounce any country $1.20
Thank you, dear P.O., for making the first ounce the same anywhere, and for giving us Global Forever stamps in 2013 :-)
Try this search to buy Global Forever stamps at store.usps.com The "wrong" forever stamps can be combined to get up to the foreign ltr amount.
One ounce is a business envelope with 5 sheets of typical Xerox paper, or 1 sheet and six 4x6" photos. Leave out 1 sheet or 1 photo to be safe.
"3.5" oz means you can't weigh more, but you pay for 4 oz.
Limits, all countries: value under $400, size under 6 1/8" x 11 1/2" x 1/4" thick (same envelope limit as domestic).
2 oz $1.20
3 oz $1.69 +49 ¢
3 1/2 $2.18 +49 ¢
MEXICO 1 oz $1.20
2 oz $1.81 We have to bribe them to take the letters, so they cost more.
3 oz $2.40 (+59-61 ¢ per added oz)
3 1/2 $3.00
Rest of World 1 oz $1.20
2
3 Check your country group below.
31/2
COUNTRY GROUPS
Group 1 Countries is CANADA (see above).
Group 2 Countries is MEXICO (see above).
Cheaper Countries, Groups 6-9
. Central and South America, Middle East, Africa,central Asia, New Zealand, South Africa, Philippines, Taiwan
1 oz $1.20
2 oz $2.08
3 oz $2.95 ( +87 or 88 ¢/next oz)
3 1/2 $3.82
Costly Countries, Groups 3-5. European Union (France, Italy,
places with chateaus & good food) ,
Russia, eastern Europe, Turkey; China, Hong Kong,
South Korea, Japan, & Australia
(kangaroos, spy satellite stations).
1 oz $1.20
2 oz $2.24
3 oz $3.28 (+$1.04/next oz)
3 1/2 $4.32
10April2016 5 ¢ increase revoked, first ounce back to $1.15. Steady 2017, 2018, 2019.
Price increases across the board Jan2020
some price history
check other countries: https://postcalc.usps.com/
Int'l Flats - "1st Class Mail International" unchanged 2018, 2019, 2020
Envelopes up to 15" x 12", weights up to 4 lb, not lumpy, not totally inflexible.
Weight increments are 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 oz then 12 oz, 16 oz, +4oz. So, if you cross 8 oz (or 12), print some photos on your camera -- 5 sheets/ounce of good paper, 6 sheets/ounce of ordinary copy paper (minus a sheet for safety).
TABLE BELOW
Canada, roughly $6 first lb, half as much gets you a quarter pound
Mexico roughly $10 first lb, ditto
ROW roughly $12 / first lb, ditto
FLEXIBLE: International Flat envelope cannot be rigid. And thickness? We are going up to 4 pounds here, folks, so the infamous thickness limits do not apply. Instead, the warning is,
don't have more than 1/4" VARIATIONS in thickness.
If you fail the thickness test, you are a First Class International Package box -- prices are 40, 50% higher, even double for the low weights.
OVER ABOUT 2 1/2 POUNDS a Priority Flat Rate Envelope will be cheaper. Get the legal size 9-1/2" x 15" -- same price as stnd size for international.
USE BIG ENVELOPES FOR "FLATS": Don't try to mail a small envelope that's over 3.5 oz. even if you pay for it -- it confuses some postal clerks. The small envelope will look like a letter, and "LETTER" service up to 64 oz was dropped on 12May2008, so now there's only big "FLATS". Fill the airplanes with big envelopes, that's what they want.
MAIL SOMETHING TO CHINA? If it's flat and under 4 oz, the postage alone needs to be $5.10 to cover the cost (Zone 3 above). Yet at any moment on eBay, the number of items whose total cost is $5 or less is between two and three million. If $5.10 is the true cost to the post office for us to mail a little envelope to China, then there's no way eBay's China traffic can cover what it costs our postal system to run their business and deliver their packages. I put the eBay story on a separate page. eBay's total China traffic is about 100 million items a year. The United States subsidizes the flood of Chinese stuff into the US. Our government pays for eBay's profits. eBay ran a conference between our post office and China's, gave away our first class service to them, and locked us into it with a treaty. Ebay collects the sellers' fees, we don't collect the postage.
Some prior history
Priority international boxes take up to 20 lbs, cost a fortune, and require the #2976 Customs Form. Sketched in Priority section below.
1st Class Mail Int'l PACKAGES - 4 lbs max - most but not all destinations increased in 2019
Flat rate Priority Int'l is reasonable, but, if you can't fit their flat rate boxes, then you need 1st Class Mail Int'l PACKAGES.
First-Class Mail Int'l PACKAGES is also called First-Class Pkg INTERNATIONAL SERVICE.
This is the "Letter Post" group which embraces everything that is not "shipping"; namely, LCs (Letters and Cards) joined with AO ("Air Mail -- Other").
Available online at discounts up to 10%. To get the appropriate USPS calculator, pick the small tan carton symbol, enter a weight under 4 lbs, and a country overseas. Skip all the Priority choices and click on a closed menu item labeled "First-Class Int'l Options" (or "Other Services") to open it. Hiding the choices most people need is not what a democratic government should do to its own people.
Size limit is 1 cubic foot maximum, and no one dimension over 24 inches.
Rolled up poster maximum: width: 36" x 3"diameter. If you roll it up 1" wider diameter, take 2 inches off your max length.
Customs Form 2976 (the green one) must be filled out, max value is $400. This is sooo tedious.
YELLOW IS YOUR COST TO SEND ONE eBAY ITEM BACK TO CHINA
Try the alphabetized list of the most common countries with their zones. The full list follows it; you can use "CONTROL-F for find" to jump-search the list in most browsers. Finally, I sorted the list by zone for those of us who need to get some idea how the shipping world is divided up (what each zone means).
For the chart above, use the first-class zones on the right of the list (any version).
Zones 1 and 2 are always Canada and Mexico.
Zone 3 is Australia, China & Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea -- in Asia, our three big trading partners and closest surveillance ally.
Zone 4 is Turkey, Russia, and Eastern Europe.
Zone 5 is Europe, east including Kosovo and Serbia.
Zone 6 is what most people think of as Asia, including India and Pakistan, but not China, Japan, Korea.
Zone 7 is Africa and some island nations (Seychelles east off Africa, Indian Ocean)
Zone 8 is the Middle East, Arab sheikdoms, Algeria.
Zone 9 is remote island nations and our neighbors in this hemisphere, in both nearby Central America and throughout South America.
THE COST DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN THESE ZONES
ARE IRRATIONAL
AND TOO SMALL
TO JUSTIFY THE ZONES EXISTENCE
IN THE FIRST PLACE.
<rant> MAIL SOMETHING TO CHINA? For the smallest box (8 oz or less), it recently (2017) took $13.75 to cover the cost (Zone 3 above).
Yet at any moment on eBay, the number of items listed for sale, whose total cost is $13.50 or less, is about 4 million.
If $13.75 is the true cost to the post office, there's no way eBay's China traffic can pay its way when the value of the item itself is less than Americans pay just for postage.
So many items are free shipping (85%) that there's no pot of gold anywhere from which China Post could compensate the United States.
I put the eBay story on a separate page. eBay's total China traffic is about 100 million items a year.
Ebay collects the fees, we don't collect the postage.
Don't tell me here that you need nine zones to avoid losses. You have losses because you can't collect costs from China. You gave away first class parcel delivery in quiet, binational negotiations driven by eBay for their profit at the nation's expense. </rant>
Some price history for First-Class Package International Service.
Priority international flat-rate boxes take up to 20 lbs, cost a fortune, and require the #2976 Customs Form . . .as sketched in Priority section below.
Postcard 35 ¢ International $1.15 world, unchanged 2019, 2020
Within the USA, the smallest permitted letters and postcards are the same: 3 1/2" x 5".
Minimum thickness 7 mills; cheap glossy ink jet photo paper is 10 mills, so mail it.
Max thickness 0.016" -- easier to say "16 mills", sound like a machinist who can actually make things.
A typical business card is 12 mills.
Too big? Too bad. Use rates for domestic first class letter.
International postcards same, but must be 5 1/2" - 6" wide vs 5"-6" domestic.
Thickness 7-16 mills (0.007" = 0.016")
Domestic postcards can be square-ish, up to 4 1/4" high by only 5" wide.
For all other mail, "rectangular" means "Let's have a 30% high-vs-wide difference."
That's a simple rule, so let's apply it inconsistently for postcards. There, done! Feel better?
Unchanged 22Jan2017.
Domestic PCs up 1 ¢ 21Jan2018,
Int'l PCs unchanged at $1.15, same as a letter !!!
more price history
Postcards offer no privacy and not much space.
Pricing International postcards up there with a 1oz International letter kills them,
kills a cultural tradition for tourists the world over when they visit and want to send home more than a selfie.
We need the money our tourists bring, we need cheaper postcards -- 27 ¢ in 2008.
16 mills
THICKNESS LIST
3 mills (0.003 inch) - El Cheapo copier paper
4 mills - brightest white copier paper
7 mills + is legal for postcards
9 mills - sheet of ordinary ("110 lb") card stock (good enough for post cards)
11 mills - glossy 4x6 photos (Postcards to anywhere can be 3.5 - 4.25 x 5.5 to 6 inches -- just mail your photo.)
BUSINESS CARDS
feels cheap: 8 mills
feels normal: 12 mills
feels impressive: 16 mills (=max mills for postcards)
Aerograms / Air Letter Sheets are discontinued by the postal service of the
Domestic PRIORITY Envelope & BOXES, up in 2017,2018,2019, 2020
Otherwise, let's concentrate on flat rate.
$7.35 flat rate envelope domestic, any zone, any weight, 2019
as long as you can seal the envelope without extra tape,
Add 30 ¢ for legal length; 65 ¢ for padded envelope.
10April2016: no more online discounts for citizens, only corporate customers.
$7.90 small flat rate box domestic, any zone, any weight,
as long as you can close the flaps on the seams.
10April2016: no more online discounts for citizens.
8-5/8" x 5-3/8" x 1-5/8" inside
$14.35 regular/medium flat rate box
any zone, 70 lb max, up 70 ¢ in 201910April2016: no more online discounts for citizens.
Two medium-size boxes are available:
11" x 8.5" x 5.5" and
13.625" x 11.875" x 3.375"
$18.45 for APO/FPO/Diplomatic up $1.05 in 2019
10April2016: no more online discounts for citizens.
12" x 12" x 5.5"
23 11/16" x 11 3/4" x 3" UNPUBLICIZED ON-LINE ACCESS
PRIORITY is the only thing ordinary slobs (American citizens) can buy online.
Corporate customers can buy all domestic services on line, some at nice discounts.
To send Priority Flat-Rate Boxes with the old ON LINE DISCOUNT, try this unpublicized Web address): https://www.paypal.com/ShipNow (Thank you, JohnD.)
You must be a registered PayPal user (initially owned by eBay). This page normally comes up only if you sold something on eBay and must ship it, so you would normally be signed in already. If the site sends you to a bad login page or can't get back to shipping after login, just log into PayPal on another browser tab, then go back to the ShipNow tab. Browser cookies will keep you logged in, and all will run smoothly.
Do you use https://goshippo.com/features/merchants/ ? I've heard "low volume" individuals can use it, and the rates are good for Priority.Meanwhile, if it's not a flat rate shipment, you can use your own box.
If it's virtually a local shipment, don't use flat-rate.
If it's local, Parcel Post ("Retail Ground") won't take it anyway, so you have to use Priority, and, as we just said, unzoned is cheaper if the distance is local.
If it's light (a fluffy sweater for Mommy), don't use flat rate -- they push up what those boxes cost because people usually ship heavy tools and supplies, not fluffy sweaters for Mommy.
70 lbs is the limit throughout the USPS, period: Retail Ground, Media Rate, Priority, anything.
If you don't have a written receipt, don't buy insurance.
go online because a lot of destinations don't have service for bigger sizes.
You need to do Form2976A (weight, value, all the addresses).
Presents can't be alcoholic drinks or tobacco or fresh fruits or veg, or
perfume ("fragrances" in alcohol). Lithium batteries are forbidden
while the airline industry reacts to spontaneous combustion of
early-tech batteries that have disappeared.
Be patient, battery issues are not the Post Office's fault.
The flat-rate-size Priority boxes may be used internationally (20 lb maximum; 4 lbs for the small one).
See Priority Mail International below. Cheer up, you're not mailing the Hope Diamond. TO GET FREE PRIORITY BOXES:
small boxes
medium boxes Why does this domestic box link say "International shipping"? Oh well, it works for now . . .
https://store.usps.com/store/browse/uspsProductDetailMultiSkuDropDown.jsp?productId=P_O_FRB2&categoryId=international-shipping
large boxes
https://store.usps.com/store/browse/uspsProductDetailMultiSkuDropDown.jsp?productId=P_LARGE_FRB&categoryId=free-shipping-supplies
If these links stop working, search on site:store.usps.com Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes
Look for a hit from store.usps.com.
Most search engines will do a "site search" like that, and they search better than any search facility on the site itself. Who knows why, just try it.
SIZE LIMITS -- Escape from a flat rate box.
Internationally, NON-FLAT-RATE PRIORITY
costs about as much as the large box, and gives you sizes up to 79" long and length plus girth of 108 inches. Forget Express Mail, not only more costly, but more limited in size: 42" long and length plus girth of 79 inches (2013). Sometimes there are country-specific surprises.Over 108", Priority stops (airplanes get crowded fast) and Retail Ground (formerly Parcel Post) is all you have left. Stay under the 70 lb limit, but your particular weight becomes irrelevant when your box becomes large. That's because, after 108" length+girth, you pay the "Oversize Penalty Price" until 130" for length + girth brings your expulsion from the Postal Service altogether. Remember that girth is width + height + width + height.
Check prices online. ABOUT THAT 70 LB WEIGHT LIMIT: the maximum box weight, any size, domestic shipment, is 70 lbs.
Pouring the small box full of liquid lead gets you 29 lbs, so I'd say, for small boxes, 70 lbs shows an intelligence limit. Maybe ship the small box to Jupiter, whose gravity will bring little box of lead up to 68 1/2 lbs.
You can fill any box with a solid block of aluminum and they'll ship it. (On the large box, leave 1/2" of free space on top.) The medium-sized boxes can be about half-full of solid iron. The large box needs to be under 1/3 full of iron to pass -- solid iron all the way up to the top of the box would be 225 lbs, lead would be 325 lbs., and don't even think of gold. I have a friend who could handle the 552 lb avoirdupois weight if you sent him a large priority box filled with it, but I don't have the $8 million to buy it. (552.5 lbs Au, 14.583 Troy oz per lb Av. With gold at $1000/Troy oz Troy, that's $8M. 2018, up to $1300 -- I waste my time with these stupid calculations while everyone else makes money trading on the precious metals market.
Insurance:
Pre-May 12, 2008: insurance up to $500 was available on-line;
up to $5,000 if you presented the package to a Post Office clerk. $5,000 is still the limit, 2016.
$50 worth of insurance is free. Declare even a dollar more, and you pay a $3..35 insurance fee.
For some easy-to-steal-and-sell items, you may be forced to get insurance when you fill out the customs form.
Packages larger than 1 cubic foot traveling far (Zones 5 through 8) are priced by size because such trips use air transportation. Or rather, you use the same old tables that price everything by weight, but you must use an imaginary weight calculated from your package size as 8.9 lbs per cubic foot. These "balloon rate" mythical weights work out to be LxWxH in inches divided by 194 (No idea. I just work here).
ONLINE DISCOUNT HISTORY: PRICE HISTORY
10April2016: no more online discounts for citizens, only corporate customers.
018: Dear USPS: Why no online discount for Click-N-Ship? Putting clerks on a service counter costs you money.
Answer #1: Amazon and UPS (the brown trucks) served on the USPS Board of Governors. They didn't care when online discounts were killed.
Answer #2: A Congressional bill made it hard to increase letter rates (only the post office carries letters, they could have made money on their monopoly)
and easier to increase package rates. Presto, the USPS prices itself out of the market. Get ready to paint 227,000 trucks brown.
Answer #3: Online purchases of all domestic services were killed, except for PRIORITY, where online discounts were canceled because revenues were too successful. On-line revenues nearly doubled between 2008 and 2014 for the USPS. Package traffic soared as eCommerce exploded. Here was an Internet effect that actually benefited the USPS (unlike email, online bill payment, and the collapse of subscriptions to printed news source). The myth that the USPS can't make money and the government can never learn how to run a business had to be supported. Therefore, the income was taken away. Get ready to paint 227,000 trucks brown.
you will be transferred to Click-N-Ship where you must set up an account.
Log in at cns.usps.com
4April2016: No more online discounts for the public. Try a corporation like stamps.com or use https://www.paypal.com/ShipNow
22Jan2017: prices up, still no online discount.
INTERNATIONAL Priority Mail Starting in 2014, nearly every country in the world refused to carry the United States' Postal Service maximum of 70 lbs, because nearly every country in the world went metric and 30kg is the limit everywhere, and 30 kg is 66 lbs not 70.
When it's bigger than a flat (they call manila envelopes "flats"), try these flat rate boxes (20 lbs max) or "1st-Class Package International Service" (4 lbs max).
Flat rate box sizes same as all other Priority boxes. 1. CANADA - FLAT RATE ENVELOPE (stnd or legal) & SMALL BOX (4lbs max -- could be $50 w/o flat rate)
envelope $25.85 .
small box $26.85
2. CANADA - MEDIUM FLAT RATE BOX (20 lbs max -- could be $101 if you didn't have flat rate)
$49.60 3. CANADA - LARGE FLAT RATE BOX (20 lbs max -- could be $101 if you didn't have flat rate)
$64.50
27 January 2019The non-flat rate price table for Canada 2019 is here: https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#_c330
Normally, in the 1,2,3,4, etc., country list, "1" is Canada and "2" is Mexico, but we can't have "1" because Canada herself gets a whole set of rate zones.
The rates depend on where YOU live, not on where your pkg is going. West Coast USA costs more. The flat rates above are easier.
TO USE THE TABLE ABOVE, GO FOR ZONE "B" in the COUNTRIES LISTS
We have an alphabetized list of the most common countries with their zones.
On the country list, the so-called zone "B" column gives you the correct 2,3,4,5,6,7, or 8 column to use in the table above.
The full list follows the "most commons". Also, you can use "CONTROL-F for find" to search the list in most browsers. Finally, I sorted the list by first class zone .
The missing column 1 is Canada.
Column 2 is Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico. But some countries are in the "doghouse" column (8): Costa Rica, El Salvador.
Column 3: China, Indonesia, Japan, S. Korea
Column 4: EU countries (European Union), but not Hungary (8, doghouse)
Column 5: India, Norway . . . naturally, look what they have in common.
Column 6: New Zealand, Pakistan
Column 7: Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria
Column 8, doghouse: Hungary, Greece, Algeria, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Uganda, Cost Rica, El Salvador. some price history
METRIC SYSTEM: 66 LBS MAX IN MANY COUNTRIES
Although 20 lbs is the official limit, some countries will go up to 66 lbs if you go outside the flat rate system and pay $200, even $300 to some places.
because the prices are ridiculous?
2019: Domestic express is only a "commercial" service -- probably not sold online at all. Let me know.
$22.80 for a flat rate envelope, flat rate boxes dropped, nobody used them; $372 to impress someone with a 70 lb carton shipped across the country.
To find the the free stuff page, search on site:store.usps.com $0.00 express mail box like this: sample search.
some price history
https://postcalc.usps.com
Media Mail Rates -- BOOKS
OK for: books, sheet music, movies and music on CDs, DVDs, educational maps & charts if there's not a lot of text.
Because advertising is forbidden, you must take all magazines out of your box. The books themselves may add only incidental announcements of other books -- as old-fashioned publishers so often did on the otherwise blank end-pages.
No video games (they're media, yes; but educational, no). No blank hard drives, no blank tapes (not a movie, not music, just merchandise). At the Post Office, be prepared to open and reseal the box. So, if you want to support book bindings, wrap the books tight in "stretch (plastic) wrap" not brown paper, because you can see through it, and you can even unwind it and kind of wind it back on. Liquor store cartons are stronger than supermarket cartons, but you have to obliterate anything that makes it look like you're shipping alcohol. (Use up your old aerosol spray cans, or buy a new one in Pro Shipper tan.) Yes, it goes to 70 lbs, see https://postcalc.usps.com If you don't qualify, regular "Retail Ground" (formerly Parcel Post) is double to triple the cost, depending on zone.After 21Jan2018: Domestic Rates 27Jan2019: 1st lb increases $2.66 to $2.75, increment rises from 51 to 52¢ /lb, 70 lbs is $38.63
1 pound: $2.75 One CD/DVD in a padded env is $3.66 to $4.06 (4oz; it became zoned in 2019) as a small parcel (1st class service, 13 oz max) .
Two CDs in an env is a $4.39-$4.81 parcel (7oz; it became zoned in 2019), so media mail is cheaper both times.
Add 52¢/lb until the end at 70 lb for $38.63
Up to 5 pounds: $ 4.70 in 2018 -> $4.83 in 2019
Up to 20 pounds: $12.35 -> $12.63
Up to 40 lbs $22.55 -> $23.03
70 lbs max $37.85 -> $38.63 UNPUBLICIZED ON-LINE ACCESS
To get Media Mail shipping labels on-line, try this unpublicized Web address): https://www.paypal.com/ShipNow (Thank you, JohnD.)
You must be a registered PayPal user. You must enter a PayPal user name and password. I suggest logging in on the normal paypal.com home page and **then** going to the paypal.com/ShipNow page (which assumes you are completing a sale and are already logged in). Specify USPS, not UPS. After entering an address (no address book facility, sorry) you want to get to a page that asks you to specify a SERVICE TYPE. There you can select MEDIA MAIL.
April2016: still not available online from the post office.
BEGIN PARCEL POST (this is horrible)
For DIYers (Do It Yourselfers), here are the parcel post rate charts with zones. So now you need a zone number. A chart to give you the zone # from your own ZipCode can be printed here -- as illustrated below. To look up Retail Ground costs online, the calculator page is https://postcalc.usps.com But you can only buy Priority shipping labels online -- we're talking Parcel Post service here (cheaper). If the USPS doesn't sell Parcel Post shipping labels online, where can you turn?
UNPUBLICIZED ON-LINE ACCESSTo send Retail Ground (parcel post) pkgs ON LINE , try this unpublicized URL (" Universal Resource Locater" or Web address): https://www.paypal.com/ShipNow (Thank you, JohnD.) As a corporate customer, you will enjoy lower rates ("Parcel Select") not available to American citizens ("Retail Ground"). The rest of you please line up at the counter. (Here's the in-line-at-the-counter vs on-line rate chart comparison for a coast-to-coast box.)
Have your carton dimensions, address & weight handy.
You must be a registered PayPal user (initially owned by eBay, Inc). This page normally comes up only if you sold something on eBay and must ship it, so you would normally be signed in already. If the site sends you to a bad login page or you can't get back to your carton shipment after login, just log into PayPal on another browser tab, then go back to your ShipNow tab. You won't be stuck anymore. Browser cookies will keep you logged in, and you can get your shipping label and pay for it. We're all praying for you. <rant>THE COUNTRY & ITS MAIL STREAM WOULD BE MORE SECURE IF WE COULD PRINT USPS SHIPPING LABELS online. We would be more secure because your identity and your shipping data are better known when you are online, longer remembered and easier to search and retrieve, compared to just pushing a box across the counter (as retail customers are supposed to do). And the USPS could compete better with corporate UPS and its little brown trucks. Why are you holding us back? Doing this page for many years has shown me a postal service being mis-managed on purpose to make it unprofitable and to justify taking it over. </rant>
I hope you're done and just mailed someone a present. Everything below is just details. PARCEL POST ("Retail Ground") - SHIPPING RESTRICTIONS
ANY 1-PAGE LOOK AT GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS THAT RESTRICT MAIL SERVICE IS GOING TO BE INCOMPLETE <- complete restricted materials sec'n
- never: alcoholic beverages (the Internal Revenue Service wants to catch all the taxes)
- never: ammunition
- never: explosives, even fireworks
- never: any invitation/advertising to use money to participate in a lottery or raffle
- Clubs/non-profits doing a charity raffle can say something like this: check box: " Please enter my name in the drawing. I do not wish to make a donation at this time." If you're running the raffle, you can even enclose the little raffle ticket to keep in case they win.
- lots of rules for firearms (the ATF -- the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the Dept. of Justice -- wants to control this)
- never for most of us: switchblade knife -- Armed Forces, National Guard, state and municipal procurement officers, they all can get their switchblades in the mail; the rest of us will just have to meet our buddies in a bar or have a barbecue and trade our best ones.
- lots of rules for aerosols, flammables, liquids of any kind, even a urine specimen. My quart bottles of epoxy always come with extra tape to hold the cap on tight.
- powerful magnets able to deviate a compass needle at 7 feet because their magnetic flux was not short-circuited away by putting iron "keepers" on them (the Department of Transportation looks bad when planes fall out of the sky--it's their rule).
- Lithium batteries. You can avoid special labeling with 7 or fewer non-rechargeable "lithium metal" cells of under 20Wh each (roughly C-cell or smaller) or a single rechargeable "lithium ion" (aka lithium polymer) battery (e.g, notebook battery) under 100Wh. Otherwise, here's what I've learned about batteries so far, glad to get better information from you.
- Replicas: Post Office and law enforcement take weapons replicas very seriously. A fake replica of a hand grenade has to be registered mail,
so it can't be Parcel Post (aka " Retail Gro und"). You have to write "Replica Explosive" in letters at least 1/4" high on the box. Yes, it's legal, but get it boxed and keep it in the box. If you want to shut down your own post office and the rest of your day, just walk in with a hand grenade and tell everyone it's just a replica.
- Contraceptives. If she asked for help getting her birth control pills, get a letter proving "solicitation" before you get a criminal record. "Unsolicited samples of an article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for preventing conception is permitted in the mail only when sent to a manufacturer or a dealer of such an article or things, to a license d physician or surgeon, or to a nurse, pharmacist, druggist, hospital, or clinic (39 USC 3001; 18 USC 1461)." - -> 18USC1461? The post office regulations are citing the wrong law of the land. This citation by the US Postal Service of United States Code1461 in their own postal regulations (it's at the bottom when talking about "preventing conception") suggests some people at the USPS don't see any difference between contraception and abortion. 1461 is about abortion, not contraception. I can't believe lawyers inscribing the law of the land into the federal statute books use language like this:
BOTTOM LINE ABOUT ANYTHING: If in doubt, go to the Post Office. I would just see if they'll take whatever it is and not ask questions because they're not supposed to answer: "Postmasters are not authorized to give opinions on the legality of any shipment of firearms." I'm quoting official regulations here: 433 Legal Opinions on Mailing Firearms PARCEL POST OVERVIEW
RETAIL GROUND (PARCEL POST) is the cheapest postal service, and the one that takes very large, very heavy boxes. Write "USPS Retail Ground" on the box if using stamps instead of a mailing label. Parcel Post will not take local traffic to Zones 1 to 4. (A ZipCode-to-Zone chart is below, and you can easily make one centered on the place where you live.) Try regular (not flat rate) Priority for just local or lightweight stuff.
PRIORITY, PARCEL POST, or BROWN TRUCKS? I use flat rate Priority if it fits the box, parcel post (Retail Ground) for small stuff that doesn't fit, and the brown UPS trucks for heavy boxes (over 5 lbs or so).
http://www.ups.com/dropoff?loc=en_US&WT.svl=PriNavDon't buy insurance if you don't have the receipt. More precautions here.
Please pack nicely. DON'T JUST DROP YOUR ITEM INTO THE CARTON & THEN FILL IT.Place padding into the bottom of the box first, THEN add the shipment. You want the item floating away from the walls, not crashing into them when you shake the box.
.
THE BIG BOX PENALTIES in PARCEL POST ("Retail Ground") SERVICE
AVOIDING THE TWO PITFALLS OF RETAIL GROUND (Parcel Post)
Retail Ground (Parcel Post) can be cheaper than UPS if you avoid two pitfalls.
1. AVOIDING THE RETAIL GROUND BALLOON RATE PITFALL AT 84 INCHES
When you are under 20 lbs (as most gifts and eBay shipments are), then keep the box length plus girth under 84"or you will pay for 20 lbs (up to $62.25 across the country, 2019) regardless of actual weight. Think of a balloon rate box as a flat rate box at the 20 lb rate. If you're stuck with the size, enjoy the weight -- put something else in. (Ordinary, non-flat-rate Priority Mail has the same 20lb/84 inches penalty in the more local zones 1-4.)
2. AVOIDING THE PARCEL POST OVERSIZE PITFALL AT 108 - 130 INCHES
If your length + girth goes over 108 inches, you pay an oversize penalty. Going across country with 70 lbs., your oversize cost is $196.61 (2019; $183.75 in 2018; $132.20 in 2014), when a smaller box would have been "only" $136.17 (in 2019; $130.51.$105.83 in 2014).
Once you're penalized with this "dimensional weight" charge, you can pack your shipment up in as large a carton as you want (up to the maximax of length+girth of130 inches) and throw in some extra items . . . the price isn't going to change with either your weight (up to 70 lbs) or your size (up to 130 inches length + girth).
Over 130", you are expelled from the Postal System. Go directly to UPS or FedEx Freight, do not pass Go, do not pay any more penalties.130" and 70 lbs are the limits no USPS service can exceed.
To get parcel post in the USPS rate calculator, choose "package" or "large package". https://postcalc.usps.com
Measure and weigh the carton first, get your two Zip codes.
some price history
GETTING YOUR OWN 1.ZONE AND 2.RATE TABLES for PARCEL POST
Still trying to run a small business? Need to get six boxes out this morning without going online or to the post office?
You need two charts, your own stamps, and you'll have to present your packages in person at the Post Office counter,
unless you use the corporate privileges that eBay and PayPal have gotten for their customers, the ones I told you about above ("unpublicized").
but you have to bring everything to a BMEU, Business Mail Entry Unit.
See if there's a BMEU near you: https://ribbs.usps.gov/locators/find-bme.cfm
If you figure out how to qualify, write me jerry_postage@nelsonic.org so I can share it. Meanwhile, for the retail-level DIY route:
- You need to go from destination Zip code to a postal zone, and then
- You need a chart of rates per pound (for all those postal zones).
PARCEL POST ("Retail Ground") -- Do It Yourself w/ZONES FROM ZIP CODES
A personalized chart from my town McLean to ZIP XXXxx
It's easy to get your own chart at https://postcalc.usps.gov/Zonecharts/ .or same thing 2019: https://postcalc.usps.com/DomesticZoneChart
These charts work for Priority boxes that are not flat rate, and for Parcel Post. Both have big-box penalties.
Parcel Post and non-flatrate-Priority have the same 20lb/84inch balloon box problem, but only for local-ish Priority boxes (Zones 1-4).
Parcel Post big boxes have the oversize dimensional weight penalty at 108".
Priority starts its oversize dimensional weight penalty at 60", but only for distant Priority boxes (Zones 5-8).
Go to the zone chart, then the rate table, and you're done? Not so fast.
THE SPECIAL CASE OF PARCEL POST ZONES 1 THROUGH 4
Parcel post zones 1-4 do not exist. You have to use Priority. (Try the non-flat-rate kind of Priority; it is probably cheaper for local, zone 1-4 shipments).
So why do we have 1-4 zones if we can't use them? Wrong!! They are used, just not by you. Ground shipment is required for all stuff that knocks airplanes out of the sky, so we keep zones 1 thru 4 alive for people forced into ground transportation. If it weren't for dangerous materials shippers, we'd never send our trucks out on such short routes. .
If we don't use zones 1-4, why not abolish them? Clarity of vision is a key part of the leadership we do not have. Just mail your silly box.
PARCEL POST ("Retail Ground") - Do It Yourself w/THE PRICE CHART (RATE TABLE)
THE PARCEL POST RATE TABLE - 2019 PRICES BY ZONES
You've got the zone number. Now you need a table of charges to that zone for all the weights up to 70 lb max.
Because of its large size, the parcel post rate chart is on a page all by itself, from which you can print it out.
Money Orders up 5 cents (domestic) in 2019
Domestic:
$1.25 up to $500
$1.70 up to $1000
$12.20 in 2018 -> $13.95 in 2019 for sending up to $750
$18.45 in 2018 -> $19.95 in 2019for sending up to $!,500
Sources of official US Postal Service information:
https://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm300/Notice123.pdf
https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm
Search terms: site:pe.usps.com Notice 123 Effective January 2019 (or whatever year you seek)
END OF POSTAGE CHARTS
(return to top) HOW THIS PAGE STARTED, WHAT HAPPENED TO OTHER ONES?
I still remember the day I was ready to put out a letter and then come back in for coffee. I started this site in 2007 when I couldn't find out what stamp to pu t on the envelope. "Forever stamps" weren't around, and besides, I loved pretty "commemorative" ones. The government websites drove me crazy with a hundred questions and no information. Reveal the secret!! What stamp goes on the envelope? I finally found a web page that told me the postage so I could just mail the envelope and have my coffee. I decided to put up the simplest postage charts, the ones everyone wants first. My page was inspired by a similar rate page at a local post office in Lafayette, Tennessee. Some guys who work there and one or two of their buddies put up a web page with the few rates that most of us need most of the time. By putting up something myself, I could be less formal than the government, add some common sense, such as, "If it isn't machinable, it costs them more, so we pay a penalty of X cents." I could tease everyone and have some fun.
Then what?
Soon the rates were changing two different times a year. The rate structure was getting complicated. Zones were added for Priority service that used to b e the same for the whole country. Rates to Canada and Mexico that used to be the same became different. What a headache for everybody. Tennessee gave up. That's right -- the town post office took down their rate page and never put it back. I challenge you to find any place that posts the postage rates of the USA -- the ones you need, all on one page. I also apologize for any errors on my page, but at least you can get an overview and the logic -- if there is any -- behind the rules. Maybe I helped you pick the service you want before you went to the https://postcalc.usps.com page. It was worth it if you didn't stand in line as I once did, only to discover you chose the wrong envelope (and had to go home to fix it).
I never dreamed doing a chart of how many stamps to put on an envelope would become as political as this task has I poked fun at changes that seemed only silly at first. But it wasn't a game. They weren't just stupid. Someone wanted to destroy the postal system.
They change the rates, I look things up. You see FedEx, UPS, DHL, Amazon or junk mail execs at the top, you see people lower down "retiring" early to start a second career at triple the salary in the shipping industry. The wolves want the hen house -- destroying it makes sense when you want the business for yourself.
OK, so the world has a lot of selfish people in it, what's new?
What's new is telling me you're saving the system (Revenue! Profitability!) as you slip the dagger in. What's even better is setting up the rules so the US Postal Service slowly prices itself out of the market -- no one has to put on gloves for the strangulation. Don't be caught bringing the system down if what you really want is to pick up the pieces, all the business yourself later -- get the trucks, get the real estate, get the business for years ever after. Instead it's death by complexity, death by letting them increase rates where they should go down, death by preventing them legally from earning profits where they still could have.
You always know you're dealing with scum when they have to hide what they're doing. The clever ones learn to lie about it, the rest hire think tanks to lie for them.
The last straw was discovering how eBay gave away our 1st class parcel service to China. eBay pulled together a bi-national conference -- China Post and the United States Postal Service -- and now the rest of us have to live by their treaty. Chinese sellers on eBay ship about 100 million items into the country annually.
Ask the Inspector General for the USPS, ask the Chief Postal Inspector, How much postage does the USPS collect from China Post for delivery of an item costing under one dollar? How can you possibly collect anything? Why do you deliver items whose cost, profit and delivery charge are less than it would cost an American for return postage? Ebay collects the sellers' fees, we don't collect the postage -- our postal system is eBay's welfare check.Why did I ever start this page? I still try to have fun, but my postage page is turning into a murder mystery. Who killed the post office?
(return to top)
P.S. Robin says she'll take me out to dinner when I get a million hits, and I've been stuck at 800,000-ish for years. Send a friend a
real birthday card -- maybe they'll be clueless how to write back and come here. Visit old friends now -- if you were compatible then, you'll enjoy each other now. Write and say you're coming.
home for this Website
Vacation over.
Back to reality and 35 lbs of mail.
Maybe next time ask if they offer a shredder option.
1Jun2016 -- remove eBay China story to separate page, the politics should either be funny (laughable) or out of here.
30June2016: show on-line ShipNow access for all domestic services. State CH's discount for Priority Medium FlatRate/
19Aug2016 -- put link to forbidden items in the parcel post section, not just buried in Domestic Priority section. .
31Jan2017, 1Feb2017; 11Feb 1st class letters heading--thank you, Carolyn
12Feb2017 Media Mail compares Small Parcel prices for 2017; make ParcelPost rate table for 2017; change Domestic, Int'l Priority rates, Int'lMoneyOrders.
14Mar2017-state that postcard rate did really stay unchanged.
10Apr2017 - rename the pdf of the postage tables something besides "SimplePostageCharts.pdf" because all the search engines are sending people to the crummy pdf
instead of the main page. Should've thought of that. 100,000 frustrated people wasting their time?
8July2017 - Got some old stamps--add the one about the invention of postage stamps -- UK 1840, USA copies them 1847. People used to refuse letters rather than pay-on-delivery,
so postal systems world-wide rushed to a pre-paid system. IMAGE "PostageStampCentenary1947...."
10July2017 - IMAGE "Postcard-AncientTypefaces"
Jan2018 major update; 8Feb18 #11envs for bounced mail
5Mar2018 - Chris Maginniss caught the 3 oz flats error. 20Mar typo
5Apr2018 https://goshippo.com/features/merchants/ added to 1st Cl Parcels and domestic Priority
31May2018: add lithium battery page on occasion of EnergyFlux recall event; "Simple Postage - shipping or flying with . . . "
3Feb2019 cleaning up 2019 changes 29April, finally did the new Parcel Post table, cleaned out 2018 numbers from Media Mail (book rate).
8Sept2019 Don's fix on no blank hard drives, no blank tapes in Media Mail. 12Sept2019, top of the page: Pitney Bowes is getting 5 ¢ off.
Friday the Thirteenth (of Sept 2019): bitter rant on destruction of USPS because small parcels are now zoned and too complicated to use.
2020,Jan2021 - Family illness; sorry updates were slow. I will beat the 24Jan2021 changs, I will get the new rates up before they hit.
How Much Does It Cost to Mail 8x11 Envelope
Source: https://www.nerdylorrin.net/jerry/postages/
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