Postal Service Moves to Correct Its Own Math Mistakes
Published Date: 6/4/2026
Proposed Rule
Summary
The Postal Service wants to update how it reports costs for window services to fix math errors and reflect recent changes in operations. This affects anyone who follows Postal Service reports and could change how costs are understood and managed. Comments on these changes are open until July 27, 2026, so get ready to share your thoughts!
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Postal reporting method overhaul
The Postal Service proposes changing how it calculates window service costs by correcting mathematical and econometric errors and by using modern point-of-sale (RSS) data and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). The proposal updates visit time, network, waiting time, and non-acceptance variabilities and is intended to reduce the reported volume-variable window service costs.
Lower reported window-service unit costs
The Postal Service says the proposed methodology would lower reported unit window-service costs for many products. Examples in the filing: First-Class Mail unit window-service cost falls from $0.007 to $0.003 (−$0.004); USPS Marketing Mail from $0.002 to $0.001 (−$0.001); Periodicals from $0.0014 to $0.0006 (−$0.0008); Package Services from $0.049 to $0.028 (−$0.021); Domestic Competitive Products from $0.096 to $0.049 (−$0.047); Certified Mail from $0.652 to $0.431 (−$0.221); and Money Orders from $2.032 to $0.978 (−$1.053).
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Key Dates
Department and Agencies
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