Your postage went up on July 12. The Postal Service is arguing to raise it again in January. Nothing about that breaks the once-a-year rule — the year it counts starts October 1.

Nobody in a mail shop budgets in fiscal years. You quote a nonprofit's spring appeal in November, you lock a retailer's drop in March, and you carry one number the whole way: what postage does in July. That is the rhythm. The last market-dominant increase took effect July 12, 2026 — the Postal Service filed for it in April and the Commission ran a comment period on it.

Nine days ago the Postal Service filed something that moves the month, and it arrived as a procedural motion on a Thursday. On July 16 it asked the Postal Regulatory Commission for a partial waiver of the rules governing density rate authority — 39 CFR 3030.160, .161 and .162 — so it can run the calculation on a mix of actual and forecast fiscal-2026 data. The reason is in the filing's own words: to “transition to a January rate change cycle in 2027 in a financially responsible manner.” The Commission docketed it as R2027-1 and gave the public until July 29 to respond.

As a sentence about you, that is generous. As arithmetic on your calendar it is something else. Last increase: July 12, 2026. Next one, if this goes through: January 2027. Roughly six months apart, not twelve. The Postal Service is direct about the money — it says waiting for a July 2027 change would mean “foregoing this rate authority for nearly six months.” Six months of rate authority for them is six months of budget for you, pointed the other way.

Now the part that will catch people. Half your clients have been told there is a rule against this. There is, and it holds. In January the Commission adopted a final rule restricting the Postal Service to one above-de-minimis increase per fiscal year, running March 1, 2026 through September 30, 2030. The federal fiscal year begins October 1 — that is 31 U.S.C. 1102, one sentence long. July 12, 2026 falls in fiscal 2026. January 2027 falls in fiscal 2027. One apiece. Nobody violates anything.

So the protection is real and it is measured on a calendar nobody in this business uses. I would not spend the week arguing about whether that is fair. I would spend it on the word July sitting inside every 2027 estimate you have already handed a client — and on whether you want to be the one who tells them, or the one they forward a trade headline to in October.

All three are in the filing. None of them is on a price list yet.

Kept honest: no January 2027 price increase has been announced or filed. What exists is a motion, filed July 16, 2026, asking the Commission to waive part of the density-rate-authority rules so a January change would be possible; the Postal Service says it is “evaluating” the shift and that any move is “subject to the approval of the Governors.” The Commission has not ruled — Order No. 9650 only recognizes the filing, sets the response date and appoints a Public Representative. Density rate authority is one component of the rate authority available to the Postal Service, and this edition does not try to explain how the formula works; read 39 CFR 3030.160–.162 if you need that. The once-per-fiscal-year restriction carries its own exceptions for rate decreases and de minimis increases, quoted above. The six-month figure is arithmetic on two dates — the July 12, 2026 effective date and a January 2027 cycle — not a forecast of any particular percentage.

Sources (primary, verified today): Postal Regulatory Commission, “Market Dominant Price Adjustment,” Docket No. R2027-1, Order No. 9650, 91 FR 46803 (July 24, 2026) — text extracted from the govinfo PDF with pypdf; every quoted line about the January cycle, the modified inputs, the 5 percent reduction, the March 2027 reconciliation, the September Governors deadline, the July 29 response date and the appointment of Public Representative John Avila is quoted from it. The once-per-fiscal-year restriction is quoted from PRC final rule, Order No. 9426, Docket Nos. RM2021-2 et al., published January 16, 2026, effective February 17, 2026 (govinfo PDF, quoted verbatim). The July 12, 2026 effective date and the May 11 comment close for the last adjustment are from Docket No. R2026-1, Order No. 9512, published April 14, 2026 (govinfo PDF). The federal fiscal year is 31 U.S.C. 1102: “The fiscal year of the Treasury begins on October 1 of each year and ends on September 30 of the following year.” No trade coverage was used for any fact in this edition.

Postage went up on July 12. The Postal Service is now arguing to raise it again in January — and the rule that limits it to one increase a year would still be kept.

Here's how both of those are true.

On July 16 the Postal Service filed a motion at the Postal Regulatory Commission asking for a partial waiver of the density rate authority rules, so it can run the calculation on a mix of actual and forecast fiscal-2026 data. Its stated reason, verbatim: to "transition to a January rate change cycle in 2027 in a financially responsible manner." It's docket R2027-1. Responses are due July 29.

The filing says a January cycle "would generate much needed additional revenue sooner" and "is preferable to the majority of customers, as it aligns with most budget-planning cycles."

Read as a sentence about you, that's generous. Read as arithmetic on your calendar it's this: last increase July 12, 2026. Next one, if it goes through, January 2027. About six months apart instead of twelve. The Postal Service is blunt about which side of that it's on — it says waiting for July 2027 would mean "foregoing this rate authority for nearly six months."

And the protection everybody's been told about? It holds. In January the Commission adopted a final rule restricting the Postal Service to one above-de-minimis increase per FISCAL year, from March 1, 2026 through September 30, 2030.

The federal fiscal year starts October 1. That's 31 U.S.C. 1102, one sentence long.

July 12, 2026 is fiscal 2026. January 2027 is fiscal 2027. One apiece. Nobody breaks anything.

So the rule is real, and it's counted on a calendar nobody in this business plans on.

What I'd actually do this week, if you quote postage for anyone:

— Go find the word "July" in every 2027 estimate you've already handed a client. You don't need to re-price. You need to know who's holding that assumption.

— If you or your clients ever meant to be on the record about a January cycle, the record is docket R2027-1 at prc.gov, and it closes July 29. Five days from publication. The April price case gave 27.

— Put September in your own calendar. The Postal Service says it needs approval from the Governors no later than September 2026, and that "the full picture of the Postal Service's rate authority must be resolved in the immediate future." Whatever gets announced later was decided then.

One more thing worth knowing before you repeat any of it: nothing has been approved. No January increase has been filed. And the January number, if it comes, would be built on unaudited April–June volumes, a forecast fourth quarter, a fiscal-2025 cost ratio, and a 5% haircut the Postal Service applies — in its words — "to provide a conservative estimate." The real figure gets reconciled in March 2027, after the prices would already be live.

Source: PRC Docket R2027-1, Order No. 9650, 91 FR 46803 (July 24, 2026); PRC Order No. 9426, effective February 17, 2026; Docket R2026-1, Order No. 9512 (April 14, 2026). Quoted from the govinfo PDFs.

FIRST SOURCE · one verified original-source finding, composed for one reader · this edition: direct mail — written for the agencies, mail shops, printers and presort operators whose clients budget postage on a calendar year, not a fiscal one