ShipAudit

USPS oversize fee: $200, up from $100

Effective July 12, 2026, the overweight and oversize item fee doubled. It applies to parcels that were never mailable in the first place — over 130 inches in length plus girth, or over 70 pounds.

The fee is $200 per piece. It is assessed to the mailer, and the parcel is held until it's paid. Before July 12, 2026 the same fee was $100.
DMM 601.1.2.3, revised by Postal Bulletin 22702, effective 7/12/2026.

What actually triggers it

Two conditions, either one is enough:

ConditionLimitResult
Length + girthover 130 inchesNon-mailable, $200 fee if found in the network
Actual weightover 70 lbNon-mailable, $200 fee if found in the network

Length + girth = longest side + 2 × (width + height). Girth is measured around the parcel perpendicular to the length.

Two things people get wrong

It isn't a surcharge — the parcel doesn't move

A surcharge is money added to a shipment that still ships. This is different. A parcel over the limit is non-mailable; paying $200 releases it to you or your customer for pickup. It doesn't re-enter the mail stream. If you were expecting a delivery, you're now expecting a phone call.

The oversize rate and the oversize fee are two different things

Between 108 and 130 inches, some services charge an oversize rate — higher postage, but the parcel ships normally. Over 130 inches it's the oversize fee, and shipping isn't an option. Mixing the two up is how people conclude "it's only a surcharge, I'll just pay it."

Check a box before you ship it

Enter the three outside dimensions. If the sum is over 130, do not hand the parcel over.

132.0 inches · L + 2W + 2H
Over 130 — non-mailable
2.0 inches over the limit

How to get under the limit

  1. Shrink the carton, not the padding. Length + girth weighs width and height twice, so an inch off the width is worth two inches off the length. Taking 2 inches off width and height removes 8 inches from the total.
  2. Split into two parcels if the item can be divided. Two parcels under the limit usually cost less than one non-mailable one plus a $200 fee — and they actually arrive.
  3. Switch to a service that accepts it. Some services have a 108-inch limit and no oversize option at all. For genuinely large items, parcel isn't the right tool; freight is.

The expensive version of this question

Checking one box takes ten seconds. The problem is the box you didn't check — the one already sitting in a stack of ninety days of shipments, the one that gets found in the network instead of at the counter.

If you ship regularly, the useful question isn't "is this box over the limit" but "how many of my last two thousand are, and which change fixes the most of them."

Send 90 days of shipments for review →

$49, 48-hour turnaround, refunded if it doesn't identify a package you should change.

Questions

Is the fee per parcel or per shipment?

Per piece. A shipment of three non-mailable parcels can carry three fees.

What if the counter catches it before I hand it over?

If it's discovered during a retail transaction and returned to you, the fee is not assessed. That's the entire value of catching it yourself — the fee applies to parcels found in the network or reported on a manifest.

Does this apply to Priority Mail and Ground Advantage alike?

The 130-inch and 70-pound mailability limits apply regardless of service. What differs is the oversize rate between 108 and 130 inches — that one is service-specific.

Did anything else change on July 12, 2026?

Yes. The dimensional divisor for USPS moved from 166 to 139 on the same date (DMM 123). Boxes that used to fall under 1 cubic foot now bill by dimension. If you set your packaging before July 2026, both changes are working against you at once.