USPS Media Mail Rates 2026: Price Chart by Weight

USPS Media Mail costs $4.39 to ship a package that weighs up to 1 lb, at the retail price in USPS Price List Notice 123, effective October 4, 2026. The price depends only on weight: under Notice 123, a 3 lb box of books costs $5.86 whether it goes across town or across the country.

Media Mail prices by weight, effective October 4, 2026

These are the retail single-piece prices for large envelopes and parcels in USPS Notice 123, checked October 7, 2026. Find the first row your package's weight doesn't go over.

How Media Mail postage is calculated

Under DMM 173.1.2, USPS charges Media Mail by the pound, counts any fraction of a pound as a full pound, and charges the 1 lb price as the minimum. A book that weighs 2.4 lb therefore bills at the 3 lb price, $5.86, in Notice 123.

Each extra pound adds $0.73 or $0.74 across the whole 1–70 lb range in Notice 123, so keeping a parcel under the next pound line saves 73 or 74 cents.

Notice 123 lists one Media Mail price per weight with no zones, while USPS Ground Advantage and Priority Mail prices also change by zone. Our USPS zone map shows the zone between two ZIP codes for those services.

Buying postage at commercial prices doesn't lower the Media Mail price. The Media Mail commercial single-piece prices in Notice 123 match the retail prices row for row, and the commercial table also lists a $0.25 per-piece Package Quality Noncompliance Fee.

What you can send by Media Mail

Only the items listed in DMM 173.4.1 can go at Media Mail prices (USPS also summarizes them on its Media Mail page, checked October 7, 2026):

• Books of at least 8 printed pages, with no advertising other than incidental announcements of books
• Printed music, bound or in sheets
• Sound and video recordings, such as tapes, albums, CDs, and DVDs
• Playscripts and manuscripts for books, periodicals, and music
• Printed test materials used by or for educational institutions
• Printed educational reference charts: single sheets that teach mainly through graphs, diagrams, or tables
• Films 16 mm wide or narrower, as finished prints for viewing
• Loose-leaf pages and binders of medical information sent to doctors, hospitals, medical schools, and medical students
• Computer-readable media with prerecorded information, plus guides made only for use with that media

A book sent by Media Mail can have one envelope or one addressed postcard and one order form bound into it, plus incidental announcements of other books, under DMM 173.4.2.

What you can't send by Media Mail

Anything missing from that list is excluded, because DMM 173.4.1 says only those items may be mailed at Media Mail prices. USPS also names these exclusions:

• Video games, computer drives, and digital drives (USPS Media Mail page)
• Books carrying advertising beyond incidental announcements of books (DMM 173.4.1)
• Films and film catalogs sent to or from commercial theaters (DMM 173.4.1)

Delivery time, weight limit, and inspection

The USPS Media Mail page estimates delivery in 2–8 days and sets a 70 lb maximum weight (checked October 7, 2026). That estimate isn't a promise: under DMM 173.2.1, USPS does not guarantee Media Mail delivery within a specified time.

USPS can open Media Mail packages. DMM 173.2.2 says Media Mail isn't sealed against postal inspection, and mailing at Media Mail prices counts as your consent to inspection. If a package holds something that doesn't qualify, the USPS Media Mail page says you or your recipient will have to pay higher postage.

Is Media Mail cheaper than Ground Advantage?

At retail prices, yes. Every USPS Ground Advantage retail parcel price in Notice 123, from 4 oz to 70 lb and in every zone, is higher than the Media Mail price for the same weight. The trade-off is timing, since USPS does not guarantee Media Mail delivery within a specified time (DMM 173.2.1).

Notice 123 also lists separate commercial Ground Advantage prices, so if you buy postage at commercial prices, compare both services for your package's weight and ZIP codes in the USPS Price Calculator.

Our UPS Ground vs. USPS Ground Advantage guide covers Ground Advantage speeds and prices in more detail.

What's the cheapest way to send Media Mail?

Where you buy the label doesn't change the Media Mail price, because the retail and commercial single-piece prices in Notice 123 are the same. Weight is the part you control. For other ways to ship books, including options outside Media Mail, see the cheapest ways to ship books, compared.

For how Media Mail fits with the other USPS mail classes, see USPS First-Class Package and other USPS mail classes. If you'd rather hand off packing and shipping altogether, Simpl ships client orders with UPS, USPS, or FedEx, and carrier cost is included in our flat per-order rate.