New USPS Noncompliance Fee Could Take Sellers by Surprise

A surprising number of household goods are considered hazardous materials (hazmat), and new USPS fees taking effect next week could blindside some sellers.

Essential oils, nail polish (and nail polish remover), perfumes and colognes, hand sanitizer, inks, stains and varnishes, hairspray, and electronics with a lithium battery are among the products listed by the Department of Transportation as posing a significant safety risk while being transported. On July 12, USPS will begin charging a $7.

50 hazmat handling fee – and it will charge a $50 noncompliance fee for packages not properly declared and labeled. Note the USPS never allows explosives or metal mercury (such as mercury thermometers, mercury barometers, mercury blood pressure monitors) to be mailed.

As Pitney Bowes said, the new hazmat non-compliance fee going into effect next week is the “$50 mistake you don’t want to make.”

Among other rate changes going into effect on July 12 are higher dim-weight rates (USPS will lower the dimensional weight divisor from 166 to 139 across all domestic competitive products); and USPS is eliminating ounce-based rate differentiation for published Commercial USPS Ground Advantage prices.

Sellers should expect another rate increase to hit in October, just in time for the holiday shopping season.