Well my desire has been to reopen my bakery shipping business soon. This recent article however, is putting a huge wrench in my plans, forcing me to think it may never happen for me. The article does not mention Priority Mail 2 Day Shipping, but my most recent experience had my packages through this method arriving up to a week late, resulting in stale deliveries. I can no longer trust the US mail to deliver my packages on time. Oy vey!

BUSINESS

Mail Delivery Is About To Get Permanently Slower And Pricier For The Holidays

September 28, 20218:08 PM ET

JONATHAN FRANKLINFacebookTwitter

A USPS logo is seen on a mailbox in New York. The postal service is implementing new service standards for first-class mail, as the new service standards will increase delivery reliability, consistency and efficiency for customers, officials say.John Smith/VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images

You better get those holiday packages mailed out sooner rather than later: Mail delivery is about to get slower and more expensive.

Beginning Friday, the U.S. Postal Service will start to “implement new service standards” for first class mail and periodicals — slowing its target delivery time by about 30%, USPS spokesperson Kim Frum told NPR.

POLITICS

The Postal Service Presses Forward With Unpopular Plan To Slow Some Mail Delivery

According to Frum, some of the changes will result in increased time for some pieces of mail to go cross-country and other long distances. However, she tells NPR that 61% of first-class mail and 93% of periodicals will not be affected by these changes.

Single-piece first-class mail (smaller, lightweight mail) traveling in the same region will still have a two-day delivery time, Frum said. First-class packages, however, will be impacted by the new standards starting Friday.

Additionally, beginning Oct. 3 and ending on Dec. 26, the postal service will temporarily increase prices on all “commercial and retail domestic packages” due to the holiday season, Frum said.

The price increases will not affect international products.

The changes are part of the Postal Service’s 10-year strategic plan announced by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy this past March.