Neither carrier sells one. A USPS Forever stamp covers a one-ounce letter for $0.82; UPS and FedEx have no matching product, and the cheapest thing either will quote for a single document is a small tracked parcel. We priced the smallest realistic envelope both carriers take on 2026-08-11: $10.06 on FedEx, $10.69 on UPS.
USPS prices a letter by the ounce. UPS and FedEx price it as a parcel, with a floor well above a stamp.
A 9 × 6 × 1 in padded envelope holding a paperback-thin stack of paper, half a pound on the scale, quoted from Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922 to Atlanta, GA 30303 through the SMKlog checkout on 2026-08-11. This is as close to a "letter" as either carrier's network will price.
| Service | Price | Transit window |
|---|---|---|
| USPS Ground Advantage | $8.86 | 3-4 business days |
| FedEx Ground Economy | $10.06 | 5-6 business days |
| UPS Ground | $10.69 | 2-3 business days |
| UPS 3 Day Select | $15.13 | 2-3 business days |
| UPS 2nd Day Air | $15.38 | 2-3 business days |
FedEx narrowly undercut UPS on this box, $10.06 against $10.69, and FedEx's own retail counter price for the identical envelope was $15.15 — so the checkout price already sits well under what a FedEx counter would charge. Set either figure against the USPS stamp rate below and the real story is not which courier wins; it is that couriers do not compete with a stamp at all.
USPS Notice 123, prices effective July 12, 2026, sets the First-Class Mail letter rate at $0.82 for one ounce, read at pe.usps.com on 2026-07-28. That single sticker price is the whole product: no tracking number, no scheduled delivery window, drop it in any blue box.
USPS sells the one-ounce letter rate with no scan history attached. A sender who needs proof of delivery is already outside what a stamp does, which is the actual reason people search for a UPS or FedEx price in the first place.
Both couriers run ground networks built around scanned, tracked handoffs. That infrastructure has a cost per package regardless of what's inside it, and a half-pound envelope pays close to the same floor a heavier box does.
FedEx Ground Economy's 5-6 day window in this capture is slower than a First-Class letter usually runs. The nine extra dollars over a stamp buys tracking and a carrier commitment, not a faster document.
Both carriers reprice their networks on their own schedule. Requote your own envelope before assuming either figure still holds.
UPS does not sell a per-ounce letter rate. The closest thing it will quote is a small parcel: our own checkout priced a 9 x 6 x 1 in envelope at half a pound through UPS Ground at $10.69 on a Berkeley Heights, NJ to Atlanta, GA lane, captured 2026-08-11. That is the price of a tracked parcel, not a stamp.
The same as UPS in kind: FedEx has no per-ounce stamp product either. The same half-pound envelope quoted $10.06 on FedEx Ground Economy, captured 2026-08-11 on the same lane. FedEx's own retail counter price for that box was $15.15.
No. A USPS Forever stamp covers a one-ounce letter for $0.82, per Notice 123, prices effective July 12, 2026. Neither UPS nor FedEx runs a comparable retail counter product; both price by the shipment, with a practical floor around ten dollars once a label, tracking and their ground network are attached.
Keep it as light and flat as the carrier's own minimum box will allow and quote all three carriers, because the ranking is not fixed. In our capture FedEx Ground Economy narrowly beat UPS Ground, $10.06 to $10.69, on this exact envelope and lane; a different weight or ZIP pair can flip that order.
Tracking and a delivery date. A stamped letter has no tracking number and no committed transit window; both UPS Ground and FedEx Ground Economy came back with one in this capture. That is what the extra nine dollars buys, not speed — FedEx's window was 5 to 6 business days, slower than the stamp-rate letter usually takes.