USPS Adds New Fee in 2025 and Doubles Overweight Item Charge to $200

When the US Postal Service raises rates on January 19, 2025, it will introduce a brand new surcharge for certain USPS packages called the “Live Animal and Perishable Handling fee.” For Priority Mail Express and USPS Ground Advantage, the fee is set at $7.50. For Priority Mail, the fee is $15. The USPS said the fees will “cover the additional costs associated with handling and transporting these items.”

In addition, the USPS is doubling the $100 Overweight Item Charge it introduced in 2019, which read at the time: “The Postal Service will introduce a charge for items identified in the postal network that exceed the 70 pound weight limit for Postal Service products, and are therefore nonmailable.” Next month, the fee for deterring overweight/oversized items found in the system will be increased to $200.

The information above comes from the November 21, 2024, filing in the US Federal Register, which contains details not included in the USPS announcement released on November 15th. The USPS filing included the following information for the popular USPS Ground Advantage service:

“USPS Ground Advantage, introduced in July 2023, is the Postal Service’s flagship ground package product. The existing structure will be maintained for 2025. Overall, USPS Ground Advantage prices will increase 3.9 percent on average. Retail prices will increase 4.9 percent on average, while Commercial prices will increase 3.2 percent on average. The Alaska Limited Overland Routes (LOR) price category will see a 9.0 percent average increase for January 2025. New for 2025, a Live Animal and Perishable Handling Fee of $7.50 will be introduced under USPS Ground Advantage to cover our additional handling costs for these items.”

The USPS filing on the Federal Register also contains additional details on other rate changes going into effect on January 19, 2025 – the same date that the 2024 seasonal rate hike expires.