Minimum Weight: None (if mailpiece is marked "Priority Mail").

Maximum Weight: 70 pounds.

Required Marking: "Priority" or "Priority Mail."

Priority Mail is First-Class Mail that weighs over 13 ounces. All matter that is mailable by air can be mailed as Priority Mail. Some things MUST be mailed as Priority Mail (or First-Class Mail), including:

• Handwritten or typewritten material.
• Bills, statements of account or invoices, credit cards.
• Personal correspondence (a letter to Grandma), personalized business correspondence (a handwritten letter to your customer).
• All matter sealed or otherwise closed against inspection.

If getting your mail there fast is your top priority, Priority Mail offers the best value. Priority Mail postage includes forwarding and return service. You can enhance the service, security, and convenience of Priority Mail by adding extra services such as Delivery Confirmation and Registered Mail. These services are available for a small fee.

Postage for Priority Mail weighing less than 1 pound is the same price, no matter where you are mailing it. For Priority Mail over 1 pound, the postage rate is determined by how far the mailpiece must travel to get to its destination: the farther it travels the more you pay in postage. The actual distance is measured by "zones." Zones range from zone 1 (local, close to you) to zone 8 (very far away from you). The farther the mail travels, the more zones it crosses, and the more postage you pay. You can access zone charts online. For some large, lightweight packages you will use dimensional weighting for postage
if going to zones 5-8.

The Postal Service offers special postage rates for Priority Mail flat-rate containers. Regardless of weight (up to 70 pounds) or destination, any amount of material that fits into a USPS-provided Priority Mail flat-rate container can be mailed for one low price. Priority Mail envelopes, boxes, and tubes are available for free from your local Post Office. See Quick Service Guide 120 - Priority Mail.

Priority Mail parcels that weigh less than 20 pounds and measure more than 84 inches in combined length and girth are charged a "balloon rate" (the rate for a 20-pound parcel to that zone addressed for delivery to zones 1-4).

Parcels addressed for delivery to zones 5-8 that exceed 1 cubic foot (1,728 cubic inches) are charged based on the actual weight, or the dimensional weight whichever is greater.

TIPS
--If you use your own envelope or box for Priority Mail, identify it with the marking, “Priority” or “Priority Mail.”
--Many mailers use a service called "Priority Mail drop shipment" to speed up the delivery of their Standard Mail. You mail your trays or sacks of Standard Mail via Priority Mail to the postal facility nearest the final destination of your mail. This is a very cost effective way to get your message to your customer sooner.

Calculate postage for Priority Mail

Decision Tree: Six easy questions will lead you directly to the information you need about Priority Mail.

Ratefold - Notice 123 (PDF)

Domestic Mail Manual - Rates and Fees (HTML)

Business Rate Calculator – Compute rates for all discount mail

Order Priority Mail supplies

Track and confirm Priority Mail packages

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