New United States Postal Service postage rates will be going into effect on January 21, 2018. It’s important to think about these changes now because they will have an impact on your policyholder communications budget this year. Planning for them now can help to minimize budget disruption later in the year.

These rate changes may not seem that significant at first glance, but when you’re mailing thousands of policyholder communications per year, these changes can add up very quickly.

If you’re a MassPrinting client, you’ll be receiving a full analysis of how these changes will affect you directly. If you have specific questions about the changes, feel free to contact us and we can walk through the implications with you.

What Are the Changes?

There are a number of new rates (you can find the full list here), but the ones we think will be most pertinent to you are:

● Commercial Letters: The Mixed AADC rate is increasing from $0.423 to $0.424, the AADC rate is increasing from $0.403 to $0.408, and the 5-Digit Automation rate is increasing from $0.373 to $0.378.

● Commercial Flats: The 5-Digit rate is increasing by $0.028 and the 3-Digit rate is decreasing by $0.037.

● There will be a certificate of mailing increase from $0.39 to $0.40 and a meter mail charge increase of $0.46 to $0.47, resulting in a net increase of $0.02.

● Parcel Select Ground: Increases for packages weighing between 1 and 5 pounds; decreases for packages greater than 6 pounds (see the chart below for details).