2024 USPS Mail Growth Incentives
Did You Know?
On September 27th, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) approved the U.S. Postal Service’s two newly proposed growth incentives targeting Marketing Mail (MM) and First-Class (FC) Mail. The incentives are projected to be provide relief from the twice-per-year price increases, running concurrently starting January 1, 2024 and ending December 31, 2024. In this article, we cover all you need to know about the following:
- What Mail is Eligible?
When Can You Register?
- How Will Credit Be Distributed?
- How is Credit Calculated?
- How To Participate
Current USPS Estimation for Participation
Eligible Marketing Mail Volume
Eligible First-Class Mail Volume
Product Quality Index
Energy Generation
What Mail is Eligible?
To be eligible, you must mail over 1,000,000 pieces in the 2024 calendar year – yes, you read that right. Credits are earned on any 2024 volume that exceeds 2023 USPS fiscal year volume. If you mailed less than 1,000,000 pieces in 2023 USPS fiscal year, you are only eligible to receive credits on any 2024 volume that exceeds 1,000,000 pieces.
For First-Class Mail Presort Letters, this includes:
- First-Class Mail Presort Cards
- First-Class Mail Presort Flats
For Marketing Mail, these include:
- Marketing Mail Letters and High Density/Saturation Letters
- Marketing Mail Flats and High Density/Saturation Flats & Parcels
- Marketing Mail Carrier Route
- Marketing Mail Parcels
When Can You Register?
Registration for these incentives opens in November of 2023 and closes in June of 2024.
How Will Credit Be Distributed?
The credits will come in the form of three credits that can be used on future mailings beginning in July 2024 and must be used by the end of the 2025 calendar year.
Credit distributions are expected in July, 2024, October, 2024 and either January or February of 2025.
All credits may only be used for postage spend on mailings of the same class of mail in which the credits were earned. Credits can be used immediately once they are received but must be used by the end of calendar 2025. You will need to add an indicator in eDoc when claiming the credit similar to what was done in the past for promotions like Earned Value Reply Mail.
How is Credit Calculated?
Credits earned are equal to the average actual price per piece paid the prior USPS fiscal year (October 2022 – September 2023) for all qualifying volumes, after other incentives and promotions (net postage paid.)
Consider this example:
Assume you mail 6 million qualifying pieces in the 2024 calendar year and mailed 5 million qualifying pieces in the 2023 USPS fiscal year.
The 5 million pieces were paid at an average postage rate of $.60 after all promotions and other incentives have been removed. Since you mailed 5 million pieces in 2023, you would receive credit for 30% of the average postage on 1,000,000 2024 pieces. (1,000,000 x 0.60 x 0.30 = $180,000) That is substantial savings!
How To Participate:
- Mail at least 1,000,000 pieces in the 2024 calendar year
Register your CRIDs starting November 2023
Take inventory of 2023 eligible volumes and keep accurate track of 2024 volumes
Verify volume numbers with USPS calculations before agreeing to credit amounts
Call to talk to the experts at GrayHair
The Experts Take
“For over 20 years, GrayHair has been helping our customers achieve successful outcomes through the reconciliation of Negotiated Service Agreements and various credit types, along with postage reconciliation. Participation in the upcoming incentives is a no-brainer for mailers of Marketing and First-Class mail as long as you allocate sufficient funds for the increased volume and communicate effectively with your Mail Service Providers to ensure they allocate capacity for the additional volume. While this incentive is a good first step, we encourage the USPS to do more, while at the same time refining eligibility. This is one of the many ways that GrayHair helps our customers with postal optimization.”
– Angelo Anagnostopoulos
VP of Postal Affairs, GrayHair Software