(NEXSTAR) – If you’re planning to order or send gifts by mail this year, put a little extra aside for shipping.
As the United States Postal Service looks ahead to the peak holiday shipping season, the agency is planning to offset added costs by temporarily upping prices.
This “peak-season pricing” would be in effect from Oct. 2, 2022 to Jan. 22, 2023, USPS says.
Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, First-Class Package Service, Parcel Select and Retail Ground prices are all affected, though international products are not.
The change in price depends on the weight of the parcel and the distance it’s being shipped. Some changes are minor — as low as 25 cents — while others are substantial. The biggest price jump is $6.50 for shipping heavier, commercial Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express packages over long distances. (See a product-by-product breakdown from USPS.)
Businesses that use USPS to ship products, like small business owners on Etsy, for example, could raise shipping and handling fees to cover the peak pricing changes.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is also planning to request another permanent stamp price hike in January, the Associated Press reports. The price increases are necessary as inflation is expected to add $1 billion to USPS’ budget, DeJoy said.
The price of Forever stamps just went up in July from 58 cents to 60 cents. Less than a year ago, the stamps cost 55 cents.
“The fact of the matter is that we have a long road and a lot of hard work ahead in our 10-year transformation to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the Postal Service,” DeJoy said to the Board of Governors earlier this month.
As the name of Forever stamps suggests, they can be used to mail a letter regardless of when they were purchased (or what price they were at the time).