The Cheapest Ways to Ship With USPS®

For most packages up to 70 lb, USPS Ground Advantage is the cheapest USPS service. Priority Mail Flat Rate takes over for heavy packages going a long way at retail prices, and Priority Mail Cubic is the low-cost option for small, dense packages at commercial prices. Media Mail applies only to books and other qualifying media.

Which price list you are on matters as much as which service you pick. At retail, a Medium Flat Rate Box beats Ground Advantage on a 5 lb package to Zone 8. At commercial prices, Ground Advantage wins that same package. Every price on this page comes from the USPS price list effective October 4, 2026, and prices are retail unless a table says commercial.

Quick answer by package

• Under 1 lb: Ground Advantage.
• 1 to 5 lb: Ground Advantage for nearby zones. For long zones, a Flat Rate Envelope or Small Flat Rate Box often costs less if the item fits.
• Heavy and going far: a Medium or Large Flat Rate Box at retail prices. At commercial prices, check Ground Advantage first, because it wins the 5 lb Zone 8 example below.
• Small and dense, 0.5 cubic foot or less, at commercial prices: Priority Mail Cubic.
• Books, printed music, recordings, and other qualifying media: Media Mail.

USPS Ground Advantage: the default for packages up to 70 lb

Ground Advantage replaced First-Class Package Service, USPS Retail Ground, and Parcel Select Ground when it launched in July 2023, so a rate sheet that still lists First-Class Package is describing Ground Advantage.

Packages up to 15.999 oz are priced in 4 oz, 8 oz, 12 oz, and 15.999 oz steps, and heavier packages are priced by the pound up to 70 lb. Expected delivery is 2 to 5 days, and $100 of insurance is included.

Zones measure distance from the origin, so Zone 1 is the shortest band and Zone 8 the longest shown here. If you are not sure which zone a package falls in, look up the zone between two ZIP codes before you compare prices.

Commercial prices charge one amount for anything from 4 oz to 15.999 oz, so a 15 oz commercial package to Zone 8 costs $8.95 while the same package at retail costs $13.65. Zone matters more as weight climbs: a 10 lb retail package costs $16.75 in Zone 1 and $40.85 in Zone 8.

Priority Mail Flat Rate: one price up to 70 lb

Flat Rate envelopes and boxes ship up to 70 lb to any state at one price, as long as you use USPS Flat Rate packaging and the flaps close normally. Priority Mail delivery is 2 to 3 days with no money-back guarantee.

Whether Flat Rate beats Ground Advantage depends on which price list you are on. At retail, a 5 lb package to Zone 8 costs $27.45 by Ground Advantage, so the $25.80 Medium Flat Rate Box is cheaper. At commercial prices the same package costs $20.24 by Ground Advantage against $22.02 for the box, so Ground Advantage wins. Send that 5 lb package to Zone 1 instead and Ground Advantage is cheaper on both lists, at $13.75 retail and $10.35 commercial.

If you need a delivery guarantee, see Compare USPS Priority Mail to Priority Mail Express. For a fuller cost comparison, see USPS Ground Advantage vs Priority Mail.

Priority Mail Cubic: small, dense packages at commercial prices

Priority Mail Cubic is a commercial-only Priority Mail price for packages of 0.5 cubic foot or less. It is priced by the outer dimensions of your own packaging and the zone rather than by weight, and USPS named it the recommended alternative to Regional Rate Boxes A and B.

The smallest tier, 0.10 cubic foot, costs $9.46 in Zone 1 and $16.36 in Zone 8, and the largest, 0.50 cubic foot, costs $12.24 in Zone 1 and $32.31 in Zone 8. A 5 lb item packed in a 0.20 cubic foot box to Zone 8 costs $17.22 by Cubic, against $20.24 by commercial Ground Advantage and $22.02 in a Medium Flat Rate Box. Ground Advantage has its own commercial cubic table for the same kind of package, starting at $7.85 for 0.10 cubic foot in Zone 1.

How the tiers work and how to get access: USPS Priority Mail Cubic: How It Works and When to Use It.

Regional Rate Boxes are discontinued

USPS discontinued Priority Mail Regional Rate Boxes A and B effective January 22, 2023 and ended their pricing. Leftover boxes are processed as ordinary weight-and-zone Priority Mail packages with no special price. Regional Rate Box C lost its own price earlier: as of January 17, 2016 it is charged the applicable Priority Mail price by weight and zone. Do not build a rate card around Regional Rate Boxes. USPS Regional Rate Shipping covers what replaced them.

Media Mail: only for qualifying media

Media Mail costs $4.39 for a package up to 1 lb and $7.34 up to 5 lb, with no zone pricing. Eligibility is limited to a fixed list, mainly books of at least eight printed pages, printed music, sound and video recordings, and computer-readable media, none of which may contain advertising. General merchandise does not qualify. USPS may open and inspect Media Mail packages, non-qualifying contents are charged higher postage, and expected delivery is 2 to 8 days.

How to get commercial prices

USPS gives commercial prices to anyone who buys Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, or Ground Advantage postage online with Click-N-Ship, and businesses can opt in to the Business Rate Card for additional savings.

Simpl ships orders through UPS, USPS, and FedEx at a flat per-order rate that includes postage. Carrier surcharges, when they apply, are billed per our terms. See Simpl pricing.

Sources

• USPS Notice 123, Price List, effective October 4, 2026
• USPS Ground Advantage
• USPS Priority Mail
• USPS Mail and Shipping Services
• DMM 173.4.1, Media Mail eligibility
• USPS newsroom, introducing USPS Ground Advantage
• Postal Bulletin 22613, Regional Rate Boxes A and B discontinued
• Federal Register 80 FR 65149, Regional Rate Box C pricing