Market Dominant Postage Prices to Officially Change on July 12th, 2026

The Postal Regulatory Commission has officially approved the U.S. Postal Service’s planned price adjustments and structural classification changes for Market Dominant products, with one notable exception.

The PRC did not approve of the introduction of the new NCOA+ API service. Following strong industry feedback regarding fair competition and strict technical standards, the Commission ruled that a complex dispute under 39 U.S.C. § 404a cannot be properly vetted within the 21-day comment period timeline. 

The concerns of the introduction of the NCOA+ API were raised in comments from PostCom, NPPC, and NAPM. 

The USPS must re-propose NCOA+ under a separate 39 C.F.R. part 3040 classification proceeding if they choose to move forward. 

The Postal Service has not yet declared if they will file for a reclassification for NCOA+ as a new Market Dominant product in its entirety as it was originally proposed in the R2026-1, or make modifications to their proposal based on any of the concerns introduced by industry in its comments.  

While the price hikes comply mathematically with current regulatory caps, the Commission expressed ongoing concerns regarding substantial mail volume declines, service performance, and the Postal Service’s long-term financial trajectory. Structural system reviews will continue under the Commission’s open rulemaking docket, Docket No. RM2024-4. 

The full decision can be found under the PRC docket R2026-1 as Order No. 9584

The new Postage statements, SKUs, and price files are on Postal Explorer for download.

Approved Price Adjustments (Effective July 12, 2026):

• First-Class Mail: 4.803% increase (0% unused authority remaining)
• USPS Marketing Mail: 4.714% increase (0.089% unused authority remaining) – this new figure was determined from CHIR-5 under the R2026-1 docket.
• Periodicals: 6.803% increase (0% unused authority remaining) reflects an additional 2 percentage points on the non-compensatory surcharge.
• Package Services & Special Services: 4.803% increase (0% unused authority remaining)

Major Structural & Classification Changes:

• First-Class Mail Pricing Flexibility: Mailers can now combine Presorted Letters and Postcards to satisfy the 500-piece minimum volume requirement for presort rates.
• New Technical Fees: Introduction of a $0.25 Package Quality Noncompliance Fee for USPS Marketing Mail, Bound Printed Matter, and Media/Library Mail parcels that fail to meet Intelligent Mail package barcode validation criteria. (exempt from this for now is Heavy Printed Matter and Periodicals).
• Streamlined Periodicals Structure: Simplification of Outside County Periodicals pricing structure, transitioning to per-piece and per-pound components while eliminating separate bundle and container processing metrics.
  • Along with the elimination of bundle and container charges USPS is introducing pallet incentives in Periodicals to align with those already offered in Marketing Mail.
• Expanded Marketing Mail Flat Weight: In July, the maximum allowable weight for Marketing Mail flats will be lifted from 16 oz. to 20 oz. and 24 oz. for the Carrier Route. This move will now allow marketing pieces that have been mailing in the BPM category to move to Marketing and utilize the promotions and incentives.
• New Product HPM: Heavy Printed Matter, a new Marketing Mail parcel category was introduced and will cover marketing parcels up to 15 lbs.
  • HPM will be eligible for Mail Growth Incentives, promotions, and pallet incentives both for SCF and direct sort pallets.

CY 2027 Promotions & Incentives: 

Seven promotions were approved (including the new Impact Messaging and Direct Mail Discovery initiatives), with First-Class Mail Single-Piece mailpieces now explicitly eligible for applicable discounts. Two promotions from 2026 are not returning for 2027: Continuous Contact and Catalog Insights.

The 2027 Promotions are:

• Integrated Technology: Will continue with the pick six model of mailers, choosing their promotion period. Discount will stay 5% (FCM/MM)
• Tactile, Sensory & Interactive: The same promotion period of Jan – June will be used, but New in 2027 a two-tier system will be implemented, 3% for simple treatments, and 5% for complex treatments. (FCM/MM)
• First-Class Mail Advertising: The promotion period is being expanded from its current four-month window to now be the nine months of April – December. New in 2027 is the allowance of free-standing marketing inserts in First-Class mail pieces for qualification. (FCM)
• Direct Mail Discovery: New in 2027. This promotion will give a 40% discount on postage of 5,000 pieces of each mailing up to a total of 100,000 pieces throughout the promotion period of April – September for new mailers, or mailers who have not mailed in the last two years. Additionally, USPS is giving eDoc submitters 5% postage discounts on those same pieces. (MM)
• Impact Messaging: New in 2027. This promotion will run from May through September and gives the mailers a 5% discount for mail pieces that include messaging that promotes the impact of mail. 
• Add Ons: Both Sustainability and Informed Delivery remain year-round at 1% (FCM/MM)

Incentives:

• Full Service and Seamless Incentives: remain for Marketing Mail, First-Class, Periodicals and Auto Flats in Package Services. 
  • New in July is the increase of both in Periodicals. Full Service increases 400% from $0.001 to $0.005, and Seamless increases 100% from $0.001 to $0.002. 
• Catalog Incentive: Returns in July at the $0.001 per/ piece for all self-declared qualified catalogs in Marketing Mail and Package Services. 
• Marriage Mail: New for 2027 the USPS is increasing the incentive from 10% to 20% for marriage mail pieces under 2oz of Saturation and High Density + presort that mail a minimum of ten times per year and contain at least four advertisers. 
• Mail Growth Incentive: Returns in 2027 for First-Class and Marketing Mail giving 30% postage credits on all pieces in excess of the 2026 base at a minimum of one million pieces. New for 2027 Heavy Printed Matter as Marketing mail qualifies, as do the newer heavier weight Marketing flats. 
• Pallet Incentives: Periodicals and Heavy Printed Matter introduce New pallet incentives both for SCF and Direct Sort Pallets. SCF pallet incentives for letters remain the same, the incentives for flats for SCF and Direct Sort pallets are all increasing. The 2025 incentives introduced for First-Class Mail on SCF pallets remain, but the incentive amount for letters and flats decreases slightly.