USPS 2026 Rate Changes: What Direct Mailers Need to Know

USPS proposed new market-dominant prices on April 9, 2026, and the approved July schedule took effect July 12, 2026. A later price list edition — USPS Notice 123, effective October 4, 2026 — has since superseded it, and that current schedule is what every campaign drops against today. The rates below were verified October 27, 2026 against the current Notice 123 edition; not every price moved on October 4.

What the July 12, 2026 change did

The July 2026 case adjusted First-Class Mail, Marketing Mail, Nonprofit, and EDDM prices. We no longer publish a before/after table for July because we could not verify the superseded July figures against a final official document line-by-line — instead, the tables below show the current verified rates, and the archived July 2026 Notice 123 (final, PDF) and the USPS April 9, 2026 announcement document the July schedule itself. For the full current rate picture, see our USPS 2026 rate guide.

Postcards: current 2026 rates

Letters: current 2026 rates

Flats and nonprofit

A 1 oz First-Class flat is $1.69. Marketing Mail and Nonprofit flat pricing is grid-based — sortation, weight, and destination entry all move the number — so we quote the exact Notice 123 line for every job rather than publishing a range that would be wrong for most mailings. The nonprofit grid stays well below comparable commercial rates, still the single largest lever any authorized 501(c)(3) has on cost-per-impression.

What a rate bump actually costs you

On a 10,000-piece campaign, a 4% postage move is typically a few hundred dollars — real, but small next to creative quality. If your artwork still has issues to fix, the right move is to fix them; the postage savings rarely justify a rushed proof.

A simple decision rule for rate-change timing

• Drop before the change if: artwork is approved, list is finalized, and the drop volume is 50,000+ pieces. Locking in the old rate is meaningful at scale.
• Drop after if: you're under 25,000 pieces, creative is still being refined, or your in-home date matters more than a small postage delta.
• Either way: ask us to quote both scenarios. We re-price live against the current USPS schedule and show you the delta in writing.

Official sources

Current rates verified October 27, 2026 against the Notice 123 edition effective October 4, 2026; July 2026 change documented by the USPS announcement and archived July price list:

• USPS Notice 123 — Price List (edition effective October 4, 2026)
• USPS newsroom — April 9, 2026 price proposal (July 12, 2026 effective date)
• Archived July 2026 Notice 123 (final, PDF)