Parcel price index
What a parcel actually cost in August 2026
Six cartons we picked once and will not change, priced to five cities from one Newark address, on one day. Thirty quotes, captured 2026-08-11. This is the second issue, so for the first time there is a previous month to hold it against, and the comparison is unusually clean: twenty-five of the thirty prices came back identical to July, to the cent.
The five that moved were all the same box. The 3 lb shoebox rose on every lane, and the whole rise in the basket average, from $26.60 in July to $26.97 now, comes from that one carton. Nothing else in the basket changed price at all. That is a more specific finding than a percentage across a fleet, and it is the kind of thing a general rate increase notice cannot tell you.
Read the prices for what they are. The headline figure in each cell is a checkout price on our own site, and our fee is inside it, averaging $3.93 per parcel across this basket and ranging from $2.49 to $7.86. Underneath each one we print the carrier cost the fee sits on top of. A carrier's own retail counter price shows up in the last column wherever the carrier publishes one.
The basket, August 2026
| Carton | Atlanta, GA | Chicago, IL | Miami, FL | Los Angeles, CA | Seattle, WA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book box 8 x 5 x 1.5 in, 1 lb | $9.91 USPS Ground Advantage carrier cost $7.42 | $9.91 USPS Ground Advantage carrier cost $7.42 | $10.09 USPS Ground Advantage carrier cost $7.60 | $11.12 USPS Ground Advantage carrier cost $8.13 | $11.12 USPS Ground Advantage carrier cost $8.13 |
| Shoebox 13 x 9 x 5 in, 3 lb | $12.07 UPS Ground Saver carrier cost $9.08 | $9.48 USPS Ground Advantage carrier cost $6.99 | $11.06 USPS Ground Advantage carrier cost $8.07 | $13.04 USPS Ground Advantage carrier cost $10.05 | $13.04 USPS Ground Advantage carrier cost $10.05 |
| Clothing box 16 x 12 x 8 in, 5 lb | $13.65 UPS Ground Saver carrier cost $10.66 | $14.15 UPS Ground Saver carrier cost $11.16 | $15.62 UPS Ground Saver carrier cost $12.63 | $19.25 UPS Ground Saver carrier cost $15.26 | $19.25 UPS Ground Saver carrier cost $15.26 |
| Appliance box 18 x 14 x 12 in, 10 lb | $22.62 UPS Ground Saver carrier cost $18.63 | $22.62 UPS Ground Saver carrier cost $18.63 | $25.87 UPS Ground Saver carrier cost $21.88 | $34.16 UPS Ground Saver carrier cost $30.17 | $34.16 UPS Ground Saver carrier cost $30.17 |
| Tool carton 16 x 16 x 16 in, 20 lb | $28.77 FedEx Ground Economy carrier cost $24.78 | $29.52 UPS Ground carrier cost $25.53 | $34.39 FedEx Ground Economy carrier cost $30.40 | $47.56 FedEx Ground Economy carrier cost $42.46 | $47.56 FedEx Ground Economy carrier cost $42.46 |
| Oversized light carton 24 x 18 x 18 in, 12 lb | $43.77 UPS Ground carrier cost $39.08 | $43.77 UPS Ground carrier cost $39.08 | $54.95 UPS Ground carrier cost $49.06 | $73.30 UPS Ground carrier cost $65.44 | $73.30 UPS Ground carrier cost $65.44 |
Basket average across all thirty quotes: $26.97 at checkout, on $23.04 of carrier cost. In July those figures were $26.60 and $22.70. Our fee follows a published formula that did not change between the two issues, so the movement in the top figure is movement in what carriers charge.
Three things August showed
One box moved the index
Twenty-five of thirty prices were unchanged to the cent. All five moves were the 3 lb shoebox, all upward, and they account for the entire rise in the basket average.
The counter did not follow
USPS charged more for that carton on every lane while its own retail counter price stayed at $14.95 to Atlanta, $16.45 to Miami and $22.40 to the coast. The online-versus-counter saving narrowed from 22.0% to 19.5%.
A cheapest quote disappeared
July's cheapest cell in the whole basket was the shoebox to Atlanta at $8.48. In August USPS was not among the five services returned for it, and the lane cost $12.07 on UPS Ground Saver.
Behind one cell: the 3 lb shoebox to Atlanta
This is the cell that moved most, so here is everything that came back for it. In July the same request returned USPS Ground Advantage at $8.48 as the cheapest of five, ahead of the UPS Ground Saver line at $12.07. In August the UPS line is unchanged and USPS is not in the list at all, which is what a lane looks like when one carrier prices itself out of the top five.
| Carrier | Service | Checkout price | Carrier cost | Counter price | Transit window |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UPS | Ground Saver | $12.07 | $9.08 | not published | window not quoted |
| FedEx | Ground Economy | $12.42 | $9.43 | $17.96 | 6-7 business days |
| UPS | Ground | $12.47 | $9.48 | not published | 2-3 business days |
| UPS | 3 Day Select | $17.61 | $14.62 | not published | 2-3 business days |
| UPS | 2nd Day Air | $21.05 | $17.06 | not published | 2-3 business days |
On the four lanes where USPS did stay cheapest for this carton, the same pattern shows in the carrier cost: Chicago went from $8.48 to $9.48 at checkout, Miami from $8.56 to $11.06, and both Los Angeles and Seattle from $11.04 to $13.04.
The counter is still the expensive door, by less
Across the 62 rates in this basket that carried a retail counter price, buying the same label online came in 19.5% below walking into the retail location, reaching 51.9% on one carton. In July the same measurement on 59 rates gave 22.0% and 56.7%. The gap narrowed because the online prices moved and the counter prices did not: a counter price is a published tariff that changes on an announcement, and the price you are actually quoted online is not.
How the number is made
Everything starts from 07102 in Newark, New Jersey, and lands in one of five cities that sit at different rungs of the zone ladder. The six cartons were chosen in July to cover the shapes a small shipper actually posts, and they are now fixed: whatever a box costs to send this month, it is the same box that was sent last month. Each price is a live request to the production system that quotes real orders, made on the capture date and never carried over from a previous issue.
Three separate figures ride on every rate and this page refuses to blend them. There is the cost the carrier charges us, there is our fee on top, and there is the total a customer pays at checkout. Where a carrier also publishes a retail counter price, that is a fourth figure and it belongs to the carrier, not to us. No cell here is a published tariff, an average across carriers, or a model.
Two facts about this issue belong on the page rather than in a footnote. The July basket was captured on the 28th and this one on the 11th, so fourteen days separate them instead of a month; the cartons, lanes and method are untouched and only the spacing is short. From here the capture falls on the 11th of each month, which puts September onto an even monthly step. Any future change to a carton or a lane will be announced the same way, on the issue that changes it.
These figures are free to quote. A link back costs you nothing and lets a reader see which month they are reading, which matters more for prices than for most things.
Questions
What does the parcel price index measure?
Thirty quotes: six fixed cartons priced to five fixed destinations from one fixed origin in Newark, New Jersey, on the same day. The figure in each cell is the cheapest of the five services returned for that carton on that lane. Because the boxes and the lanes never change, the month-to-month movement is a price change and nothing else.
What moved between July and August 2026?
One carton out of six. Twenty-five of the thirty prices came back identical to July, to the cent. All five that moved were the 3 lb shoebox, and all five moved up. The basket average went from $26.60 to $26.97, and every cent of that rise came from that one box.
Why did the shoebox get dearer?
The carrier cost of USPS Ground Advantage on that carton rose on all five lanes, while the same carrier's own counter price for the same box stayed exactly where it was in July at $14.95 to Atlanta, $16.45 to Miami and $22.40 to the west coast. The 1 lb book box did not move at all, so this was not a general increase.
What happened on the Atlanta lane?
In July the shoebox to Atlanta was the cheapest quote in the whole basket at $8.48 on USPS. In August USPS did not appear among the five services returned for that box at all, and the lane was won by UPS Ground Saver at $12.07. That is the largest single-cell move in the index so far.
Which carrier came out cheapest most often in August 2026?
UPS, on 17 of the 30 quotes, up from 16 in July. USPS took 9, down from 10, and FedEx took 4 for the second month running. USPS still wins the lightest carton on every lane.
Is your own fee inside these prices?
Yes, and the page prints it. Each cell leads with what a customer pays us at checkout and prints the carrier's charge to us directly underneath. Our fee averaged $3.93 a parcel across this basket, from $2.49 on the lightest carton to $7.86 on the heaviest. Subtract it if you want the carrier line on its own.
How much cheaper is online than the Post Office counter?
On the 62 rates here that came with a counter price, online was 19.5% cheaper on average and 51.9% cheaper at the extreme. Both figures are narrower than July's 22.0% and 56.7%, because the online prices moved up this month and the counter prices did not.
Can I reuse these figures?
Yes. These are measurements, not opinions, and a direct quote with a link serves your reader better than a paraphrase. Cite the month, because they will move.