A rolled poster or a set of drawings looks like the lightest thing you could mail, and USPS still adds a flat surcharge to it before the normal rate even starts. The free-supply lineup has no flat-rate tube to offset it either; the closest USPS comes is a squared tube box that still prices by weight and zone. Here is the actual rule, sourced from USPS's own price list, and what two real tubes cost when we quoted them on 2026-08-18.
The tube itself is cheap. The surcharge below is the part that surprises people.
USPS's Notice 123 price list, effective July 12, 2026 and read 2026-08-18, adds a flat $4.50 nonstandard surcharge when a parcel matches any of a short list of shapes. A cylindrical tube or roll is the first one named. The others are a can or a wooden or metal box, more than 24 ounces of liquid in a glass container, a gallon or more of liquid in a metal or plastic container, and any parcel whose contents may cause it to roll or keep the packaging from holding together during processing. The surcharge is not limited to one class of mail either: it reads across Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage alike, retail and commercial pricing both. Length draws its own separate rows in the same list — $4.50 once a parcel passes 22 inches, then $10.00 past 30 inches on Ground Advantage and $21.00 on Priority Mail at retail — so the 25-inch and 40-inch tubes below sit in those bands as well. The class-by-class ladder is laid out in our nonstandard fee guide.
The flat-rate lineup is the other half of the story. USPS's Priority Mail page, read the same day, lists flat-rate envelopes and boxes handed out at no cost, and none of them is a tube — there is no flat-rate tube price. The Postal Store does hand out one free tube-shaped carton, the Dual-Use Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express Small Tube Box, 25-9/16 by 6 by 5-1/4 inches, listed at no charge and read the same day. It is a squared corrugated box rather than a cylinder — not the shape the surcharge names — and it ships at ordinary weight-and-zone prices, though at over 25 inches long it sits in the over-22-inch length band regardless. Roll the item in your own round mailing tube instead and the cylindrical line applies on top of the normal rate.
Both ran Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922 to Denver, CO 80202. The first is a 24 by 36 poster rolled into a 25-inch tube at 1 lb; the second is a set of architectural drawings in a 40-inch tube at 2.5 lb. Totals are the checkout price a customer actually pays, whatever the carrier adds behind it for the shape.
| Carrier | Service | Price | Quoted transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPS | Ground | $12.40 | 5-6 business days |
| USPS | Ground Advantage | $15.29 | 5-6 business days |
| UPS | 3 Day Select | $16.23 | 5-6 business days |
| UPS | 2nd Day Air | $17.93 | 2-3 business days |
| FedEx | Express Saver | $23.14 | 2-3 business days |
| Carrier | Service | Price | Quoted transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPS | Ground | $14.78 | 5-6 business days |
| UPS | 3 Day Select | $21.05 | 5-6 business days |
| USPS | Ground Advantage | $22.16 | 5-6 business days |
| UPS | 2nd Day Air | $25.29 | 2-3 business days |
UPS Ground was the cheapest service on both tubes, and USPS Ground Advantage came in second on the short tube and third on the long one. USPS also publishes its own retail counter price for these two, separate from what we returned at checkout: $16.45 on the poster tube and $28.95 on the drawings tube. A tube is one of the few shapes where checking both carriers before buying is worth the extra minute.
USPS revises its price list without much notice, and the nonstandard surcharge itself has moved before. Check the current Notice 123 before relying on the figure above for a shipment you are about to pay for.
Yes. USPS's Notice 123 price list, effective July 12, 2026, adds a $4.50 nonstandard surcharge to any cylindrical tube or roll, and it applies whether the shipment moves on Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail or Ground Advantage.
Not a flat-rate one. USPS's Priority Mail page, read 2026-08-18, lists free flat-rate envelopes and boxes with no tube among them. The Postal Store does list one free tube-shaped carton, the Dual-Use Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express Small Tube Box at 25-9/16 x 6 x 5-1/4 in, a squared box that ships at normal weight-and-zone prices rather than a flat rate.
Not necessarily. In both tubes we quoted on 2026-08-18, UPS Ground beat USPS Ground Advantage: $12.40 against $15.29 on the shorter tube and $14.78 against $22.16 on the longer one. Price the exact tube before assuming USPS wins on shape alone.
USPS's own wording, from Notice 123 read 2026-08-18, lists a can or a wooden or metal box, more than 24 ounces of liquid in a glass container, a gallon or more of liquid in metal or plastic, and any parcel whose contents may cause it to roll or break the packaging during processing.