Small and dense beats big and light
Cubic tiers reward a tight pack. Squeezing a 0.42 cubic foot box down to 0.29 moves it a tier and takes real money off a long-zone shipment.
The second column
USPS commercial pricing, and who the second column is for
USPS Notice 123 lists two prices for the same parcel: a retail price for the Post Office window and a commercial price for labels bought electronically. On the list effective July 12, 2026, 5 lb to Zone 4 reads $15.80 and $11.02. The commercial column is not a promotion and not a negotiated deal, it is a published price with conditions attached.
Every zone, three weightsCubic tiers includedSourced to Notice 123
Published, not negotiated
The commercial column is printed in the same document as the retail one. The difference is where the label is bought.
The gap, zone by zone
Here are both Notice 123 columns for USPS Ground Advantage at three weights, across all eight zones, with the plain subtraction in a third column. Every figure is copied from the price list effective July 12, 2026.
| Weight and zone | Retail | Commercial | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lb, Zone 1 | $9.55 | $7.61 | $1.94 |
| 1 lb, Zone 2 | $9.95 | $7.68 | $2.27 |
| 1 lb, Zone 3 | $10.20 | $8.00 | $2.20 |
| 1 lb, Zone 4 | $10.60 | $8.15 | $2.45 |
| 1 lb, Zone 5 | $10.95 | $8.74 | $2.21 |
| 1 lb, Zone 6 | $11.35 | $9.63 | $1.72 |
| 1 lb, Zone 7 | $11.95 | $9.98 | $1.97 |
| 1 lb, Zone 8 | $12.90 | $10.67 | $2.23 |
| 5 lb, Zone 1 | $12.95 | $9.70 | $3.25 |
| 5 lb, Zone 4 | $15.80 | $11.02 | $4.78 |
| 5 lb, Zone 6 | $19.60 | $15.89 | $3.71 |
| 5 lb, Zone 8 | $26.05 | $19.19 | $6.86 |
| 10 lb, Zone 1 | $15.95 | $11.91 | $4.04 |
| 10 lb, Zone 4 | $19.40 | $14.44 | $4.96 |
| 10 lb, Zone 6 | $27.50 | $19.94 | $7.56 |
| 10 lb, Zone 8 | $39.45 | $25.34 | $14.11 |
The 1 lb block is the interesting one. Across eight zones the difference wobbles between $1.72 and $2.45 with no clean trend, which means the two columns are separate rate structures rather than one column with a percentage taken off it.
The same box, six cities, priced live
Published tables describe the system. This is the system meeting a specific parcel: a 12 x 10 x 6 in box at 5 lb leaving Newark, NJ 07102 on 2026-07-28, with the counter figure the carrier returned beside the amount our checkout charged.
| Destination | Counter figure returned | Price at our checkout | Transit window returned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta, GA 30303 | $18.40 | $14.02 | 8-9 business days |
| Chicago, IL 60601 | $18.40 | $14.02 | 8-9 business days |
| Dallas, TX 75201 | $21.05 | $16.00 | 6-7 business days |
| Denver, CO 80202 | $24.35 | $16.97 | 7-8 business days |
| Los Angeles, CA 90011 | $28.35 | $19.64 | 5-6 business days |
| Seattle, WA 98101 | $28.35 | $19.64 | 8-9 business days |
Two destinations that share a zone share a price, and the transit window is free to differ anyway. Seattle and Los Angeles priced identically at $19.64 while the quoted windows came back three business days apart.
Cubic, the commercial price that ignores the scale
Sitting underneath the weight grid is a second commercial structure. Cubic pricing charges USPS Ground Advantage on the volume of the box, in tiers of a tenth of a cubic foot, and for a small dense parcel it is often the lower of the two. Notice 123 prints these tiers under commercial Ground Advantage only.
| Tier | Zone 1 | Zone 2 | Zone 8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.10 cu ft | $7.45 | $7.51 | $10.13 |
| 0.20 cu ft | $7.82 | $7.89 | $11.84 |
| 0.30 cu ft | $8.39 | $8.45 | $14.67 |
| 0.40 cu ft | $9.07 | $9.13 | $17.29 |
| 0.50 cu ft | $9.59 | $9.66 | $18.90 |
The conditions are strict, and USPS spells them out in DMM 223: each cubic mailpiece must measure 0.50 cubic foot or less, weigh 20 pounds or less, and have a longest dimension of no more than 22 inches. Measurements round down to the nearest quarter inch and volume is length times width times height divided by 1728. A soft pack uses length plus width, capped at 36 inches combined.
What changed on the July 2026 list
USPS filed the current package prices with the Postal Regulatory Commission on May 11, 2026, effective July 12, 2026. One line of that filing lands directly on this page: the elimination of ounce-based rate differentiation for published Commercial USPS Ground Advantage prices, which the Postal Service said will not impact customers that have negotiated commercial rates for USPS Ground Advantage (about.usps.com news release dated May 11, 2026, checked 2026-07-28).
That is a structural change to the commercial column itself, not a percentage. It is also the clearest sign that the two columns move on separate schedules, so a page that shows one and infers the other is guessing.
Beyond the printed commercial column sit arrangements negotiated between USPS and individual shippers. Archived USPS material gives conflicting qualifying volumes for those, so this page names none. If a competitor page quotes you a piece count, check the date on the source it came from.
The difference is not a fixed percentage
It ranges from $1.72 to $14.11 across the rows above. Any rule of thumb built on one of them falls apart on the next.
Two columns, one network
Nothing about the cheaper column changes the truck, the scan events or the delivery standard. It changes where the label was bought.
Commercial pricing, answered
What is USPS commercial pricing?
It is the second price column printed in Notice 123 beside the retail one, and it applies to labels bought electronically rather than over a counter. For USPS Ground Advantage at 10 lb it runs from $11.91 in Zone 1 to $25.34 in Zone 8 on the list effective July 12, 2026.
How far below retail does it sit?
That depends on weight and distance, and the spread is anything but flat. Subtracting the two Notice 123 columns gives $1.94 at 1 lb to Zone 1, $4.78 at 5 lb to Zone 4, and $14.11 at 10 lb to Zone 8.
Do I need a volume commitment for commercial prices?
Not for the published commercial column, which Notice 123 prints as a price list rather than a reward. Tiers beyond it are settled in agreements between USPS and individual shippers, and we do not quote qualifying thresholds because the sources we could reach on 2026-07-28 contradict each other.
What is cubic pricing?
A commercial Ground Advantage price based on the volume of the box instead of the pounds inside it. USPS requires each cubic mailpiece to measure 0.50 cubic foot or less and weigh 20 pounds or less, with the longest dimension no more than 22 inches, under DMM 223.