Bah Humbug! Postal Rates on the Rise As Holiday Season Approaches

Here’s a gift that definitely didn’t make your holiday wish list: the United States Postal Service is raising its shipping and mailing rates, just in time for the most wallet-draining time of the year.

Yep, your friendly neighborhood mail carrier is about to slip a big old lump of coal into your mailbox, and didn’t even gift wrap it. Bah humbug!

According to Dakota News Now, starting next week, it will start costing more to send your holiday cheer through the USPS here in the Sioux Empire and throughout the rest of the country. And by “cheer,” I mean that glitter-covered, oddly shaped, suspiciously heavy box you swore would fit into a flat-rate envelope.

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So why the extra cost?

Postal officials say the price hike is due to increased expenses during the holiday rush. You know all that extra handling, sorting, and caffeine-fueled chaos they do behind the scenes.

Almost every shipping method is getting the Grinch treatment: Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select are all on the naughty list. Depending on the size and shipping speed of your package, you could be shelling out anywhere from an extra 30 cents to a whopping $16.00 more! Yes, that’s right; in some cases, the cost could increase as much as $16.00 per item.

But don’t worry, this isn’t a forever thing. USPS promises to drop the holiday surcharges on January 18, 2026.

Regardless, it sounds like it might be a very good idea to plan ahead and budget wisely.

I also get the feeling that the holiday fruitcake you typically like to give your mail carrier during the most wonderful time of the year might be a little smaller this season.

Hey, times are tough everywhere, right?

Source: Dakota News Now