What You Need to Know About Changes to USPS Nonstandard Package Fees Effective January 2023

by EasyPost

You may have already heard about the new fees that were implemented by the United States Postal Service (USPS) in April 2022 as well as the changes coming in January 2023. USPS shippers should understand these fees to help determine whether their shipping costs will be affected, so we’ve explained everything you need to know about them below. For the new January 22, 2023 USPS Commercial rates, please see our updated rate chart.

What are nonstandard package fees?

Effective April 3, 2022, the United States Postal Service® (USPS) implemented two fees: a Non-Standard Package Fee and a Non-Compliance Fee. Further changes are being made on January 22, 2023 to apply a different fee amount depending on the mail class.

The following mail classes supported by EasyPost will be affected by these fees:

• Priority Mail Express® (PME)
• Priority Mail® (PM)
• Parcel Select® Ground (PSG)
• First-Class Package Service® (FCPS)

*For more impacted mail classes currently not supported by EasyPost, please see the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) websiteopen_in_new.

USPS Non-Standard Package Fee

A non-standard package fee will be applied to your postage cost for packages that exceed certain lengths and volumes. The length is the box's longest side, and the volume is calculated in cubic feet (example provided). See below for the non-standard package fees:

Length fee

• If the length of the package is greater than 22” up to 30”, there will be a $4 fee for PME, PM, PSG, and FCPS.
• If the length of the package is greater than 30”, there will be a $15 fee for PME and PM, and a $7 fee for PSG and FCPS.

Cube fee

• If the volume is greater than 2 cubic feet*, there will be a $25 fee for PME and PM and a $15 fee for PSG and FCPS.

*How to calculate cubic feet: length x width x height / 1728 (1 cu. ft) = total cubic feet

Note that fees are additive. For example, if a package is greater than 22” in length AND greater than 2 cubic feet, both length and cube fees will be applied. Here are a few examples of fees incurred based on varying dimensions:

The dimensions provided in shipment rate and buy requests are used to determine the fees which will be included in the shipment's total rate.

USPS Non-Compliance Fee

It’s important that shippers do not ignore these fees if applicable, because a non-compliance fee will be incurred on top of the non-standard package fees if dimensions are not provided or if dimensions provided are inaccurate. See below for the non-compliance fee:

Dimension Non-Compliance Fee

• If dimensions are not provided or are inaccurate, a $1.50 fee will be levied on packages greater than 1 cubic foot or 22” in length for PME, PM, PSG, and FCPS.

This fee plus any fees for non-standard package sizes will be assessed via the USPS Automated Package Verification (APV) system.

What to do from here

As the USPS aims to maximize transportation efficiency by implementing fees for larger package sizes and inaccurate reporting of dimensions, shippers should consider the following:

First, shippers with the USPS should understand these new USPS non-standard package fees and non-compliance fees and determine whether their shipping costs will be affected. More information on the new fees approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) can be found on their websiteopen_in_new. The new USPS Commercial rates can be found on our website.

Second, to avoid any unnecessary non-compliance fees and unexpected non-standard package fees, shippers should be sure to provide accurate dimensions when creating labels.

Finally, if you have any questions or would like to dive deeper into your available shipping options, please reach out to your dedicated EasyPost representative or our support team at support@easypost.com. As a multi-carrier shipping API, we can help provide guidance to best support your shipping needs.