Merry Christmas! The U.S. Postal Service – ever the beacon of reliability – has decided to bless us with special holiday surcharges. Starting October 5, you’ll enjoy paying a little more for the same snail-paced “service” during the busiest season of the year (if the new rates get approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission).

According to a USPS news release, these temporary price hikes, which will last until midnight Central on Jan. 18, 2026, will target Priority Mail, Ground Advantage, Priority Mail Express, and Parcel Select – are designed to cover “extra handling costs” (i.e. the USPS workers actually doing their jobs).

The USPS says this is a “strategic part” of their ten-year plan (a.k.a. Delivering for America) aiming to… well, do something that doesn’t noticeably improve things while charging us more.

So here’s to USPS: still delivering disappointment, now at a premium price.

And if you’ve been hoarding “forever” stamps like a doomsday prepper, congratulations – you just dodged the latest USPS cash grab. For everyone else, First-Class stamps now cost 78¢ as of July 13, 2025.