The price for First-Class Mail single-piece letters will increase by just a penny when prices change in Jan. The new 46 cent Forever stamps will allow customers to mail letters to any location in the United States. Forever stamps are always good for mailing a one-ounce letter anytime in the future regardless of price changes.
Highlights of the new single-piece First-Class Mail pricing, effective Jan. 27, 2013 include:
- Letters (1 oz.) — 1-cent increase to 46 cents
- Letters additional ounces — unchanged at 20 cents
- Letters to all international destinations (1 oz.) — $1.10
- Postcards — 1-cent increase to 33 cents
The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) will review the prices before they become effective Jan. 27, 2013.
What About Shipping Services?
Several new Shipping Services products will be available in January. Free tracking will be offered to all competitive packages, including retail Priority Mail and Parcel Post (recently renamed Standard Post).
Also new, customers shipping Critical Mail letters and flats will now have the option of receiving a signature upon delivery as part of the service offering.
A large variety of flat-rate boxes and envelopes for Express Mail and Priority Mail, including the padded and legal-sized flat rate envelopes will continue to be offered by the Postal Service.
New domestic retail pricing for Priority Mail Flat Rate products include:
- Small box — $5.80
- Medium box — $12.35
- Large box — $16.85
- Large APO/FPO box — $14.85
- Regular envelope — $5.60
- Legal envelope — $5.75
- Padded envelope — $5.95
Do You Use FSM’s?
FSMs are letter-sized mail pieces that are not enclosed in envelopes. FSMs consist of one or more sheets of paper, folded together and sealed using tabs or glue, not bound. FSMs always have at least two “panels”. The folded sections of the FSM are either panels or flaps. Panels are generally the full size of the mail piece. For example, if a single sheet of paper is folded in half, that sheet has two panels. Shorter sections are called flaps.
The changes include new size requirements and new folding, tabbing and gluing requirements. The new specs are included below.
Height: A minimum of 3 1/2 inches and a maximum of 6 inches.
Length: A minimum of 5 inches and a maximum of 10 1/2 inches.
Thickness: A minimum of 0.007 inch; (0.009 inch if the height exceeds 4 1/4 inches or if the length exceeds 6 inches); the maximum thickness is 1/4 inch.
Maximum Weight: 3 ounces.
Shape: Rectangular, with four square corners and parallel opposite sides.
Aspect ratio: Within 1.3 to 2.5.
So What Are The Changes?
Piece size has shrunk. The final, folded FSM must be 3.5” - 6” tall, 5” - 10.5” wide, and can weigh up to 3 ounces. Heavier paper stock is now required. The outside panels of FSMs must now use at least 70lb paper if the piece is under an ounce, or at least 80lb paper if the piece is over an ounce. (However, 55lb newsprint can be used on quarter-fold designs common for newspapers.)
The fold that creates the final panel on the mail piece must be on the bottom or leading (right) edge of the mail piece when looking at the upright mailing address.
FSMs cannot exceed 12 panels, except for quarter-fold pieces, which must have 8-24 panels. A flap must be at least 1.5” long from the top fold, or at least 5” long from the lead edge. Flaps must not cover 1” from the opposite side of the mail piece. Flaps must always be on the unaddressed side of the piece, and be secured with glue.
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