Next week will see the United States Postal Service roll back the costs of sending packages to rural communities off of the road system from any Alaska ZIP code and vice-versa.

The USPS announced that it would roll back the price increases that they put in place on January 26, and create a new category labeled “Limited Overland Routes,” or LOR.

This new category will affect 187 ZIP codes within the state of Alaska. Those 187 communities are villages not on the road system. Three other larger hub communities have also been added to the list, including the state capitol of Juneau, the northern city of Nome and the southwestern city of Bethel. Even though they are much larger than their rural counterparts, they are also off of the road system.

By next week, USPS customers in the affected communities will be able to mail packages for a lower rate than can be had by the rest of the country.

Alaska’s Senator Begich met with the Postmaster General earlier this year. That meeting resulted in a promise by the Postmaster General address the issue. Approval by the regulatory department of USPS of the request to roll-back the rates in rural Alaska took place two weeks ago,