The United States Postal Service is increasing the cost of some mail and shipping services.
“Everything else is going up, so why wouldn’t the post office not go up,” said Liz Bednorz, Los Osos resident.
Starting Sunday, the Postal Service will increase the cost of mailing services by 7.4%.
“I'm not looking forward to the increase, definitely,” said Michelle Kealm, Los Osos resident.
Kealm regularly uses the post office.
“I have friends out of state, family out of state, so I do mail quite a bit,” Kealm said.
She says the increase is just another added expense.
“You know, I struggle each and every day to pay my bills and have food on the table, and now it’s just going to cost more to mail items, which is frustrating,” Kealm said.
Rates for mailing letters and postcards both in the United States and internationally will increase by five cents. For example, mailing a one-ounce letter will now cost 78 cents instead of 73 cents.
“Now I’ve heard it’s a five-cent increase, which seems a little dramatic, but maybe it’s not. I have to look at the cost of everything these days,” said Gerald Bednorz, Los Osos resident.
He says he depends on the post office for some of his paperwork.
“There are still plenty of things that are going to have to go through the U.S. Postal Service that we won’t be able to do through a simple sign the form online,” Bednorz said.
The increase is part of the Postal Service’s 10-year Delivering for America Plan, which aims to help the agency work on financial stability over time.
“Do I like the increase? No. But it is what it is,” Liz Bednorz said.
While prices are not changing for Priority Mail Express service, you will pay more in domestic shipping for Priority Mail Service, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select. As far as the cost to insure an item mailed through the post office, that will drop 12 percent.
