After the fiasco last year during the holiday season, I guess USPS needs more money.  Last year during the holiday season, mail was piling up at every post office. We all know that covid was the "only" reason that some Christmas cards and presents weren't delivered until February.  This past week, my packages were finally starting to arrive on time again, 3-6 days.  Up until recently, first class parcels were taking 7-12 days.  Hopefully, things won't get as bad this holiday season and hopefully this increase will be temporary!  Several traders have told me they probably won't trade during the holidays.  

October 3rd–December 26th temporary USPS rate increase:

First Class Package Service

• $0.30 increase for all Weights and Zones

Priority Mail Cubic

• $0.25 increase for all Cubic Tiers, Zones 1-4
• $0.75 increase for all Cubic Tiers, Zones 5-9

Priority Mail Flat Rate and Priority Mail Express Flat Rate

• $0.75 increase for all Flat Rate Boxes and Envelopes

Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, and Parcel Select Ground

• $0.25 increase for 1-10 lb, Zones 1-4
• $0.75 increase for 1-10 lb, Zones 5-9
• $1.50 increase for 11-20 lb, Zones 1-4
• $3.00 increase for 11-20 lb, Zones 5-9
• $2.50 increase for 21-70 lb, Zones 1-4
• $5.00 increase for 21-70 lb, Zones 5-9

Good information, Thank You!

I haven't heard anything about this seasonal rate increase! I'll have to talk to my Mom about this and see what she knows. She hasn't told me anything about it and I'd think that she would know about it due to her position within the USPS.

Went to the post office today to grab a new booklet of Non-Machinable stamps....price was $0.88/stamp...up from $0.70/stamp when I previously purchased them.  Just wanted to give the heads up.  Also a friendly reminder that Non-Machinables are good for up to 2oz.

If they need more money they should renegotiate their union contracts.  Not sure throwing money at the problem is going to be the solution.  I bought a books of First class and extra ounce forever stamps a while ago.  Are those going to work?

As long as the stamps have "forever" on them, they'll take them.

... and service standards to be slower too.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/28/usps-delivery-get-slower-more-expensive-during-holidays/5893001001

Nice to meet another PWK (postal worker's kid) 

Compounding the price increase, looks like we should expect some delays according to this article:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mail-delivery-slower-usps-october-1/?ftag=CNM-00-10aac3a

Yeah, USPS is in trouble. I dont ever remember so many price increases and now they have to warn us that they're not capable of getting our mail out in a timely manner.  I had a package arrive this week after it bounced around different routes in my small city. I was told that they had new scanners, very little training, and my package for two days in a row was scanned to the wrong route. If I hadn't gone to local PO, not sure when the problem would have been corrected.  I did ask if this "new scanner" was nation wide and the supervisor said he thought so. He said they had received a good amount of mail from regional facilities that they shouldn't have.  They had to ship it back to the regional facility. More wasted money because of limited or no training.  With all the price increases, trading by mail will soon stop.