Latest news with #PriorityMail
Time Out
16-05-2025
- Business
- Time Out
Are banks, post offices and retailers open on Memorial Day 2025? Here's what to know
Memorial Day is landing on Monday, May 26, this year, which means a long weekend for most, but a hard stop on your Monday errands. If you're planning to mail a package, hit the bank or ship something out, here's what's closed, what's kind of open and what you should absolutely check ahead of time. Let's start with the obvious: Memorial Day is a federal holiday. That means post offices will be closed, and regular mail delivery is paused for the day. No stamps, no lines, no awkward 'is this Priority Mail?' questions at the counter. If you're in a rush, Priority Mail Express will still run, but otherwise, your snail mail will have to wait until Tuesday. Banks? They're also closed. Major players like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Capital One, PNC and Truist are all taking the day off. So if you need to deposit a check or speak with a teller, do it before Friday, May 23—or be prepared to do it all from an ATM or your phone. UPS and FedEx are hitting pause, too. UPS won't make regular pickups or deliveries on Memorial Day, and most UPS Store locations will be closed (though a few independently operated ones may stay open—check locally). FedEx is taking a similar approach: no standard pickup or delivery services, and FedEx Office locations may have modified hours. Both companies' emergency services—UPS Express Critical and FedEx Custom Critical—will still run, but they don't come cheap. While government buildings and the stock market will also be shuttered, retailers are mostly open. Many are leaning into the holiday weekend with major sales. Costco is the notable exception, closing all its warehouses for the day. Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer and one of the busiest travel weekends of the year—AAA expects more than 45 million Americans to hit the road or take to the skies. If you're not leaving town, cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and more will be hosting a slew of rooftop parties, parades and plenty of other ways to make your three-day weekend count.
Epoch Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
US Postal Service to Raise Shipping Charges by Over 6 Percent
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) intends to increase shipping prices effective July 13 and has filed a notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission on the matter, the agency said in a 'The changes would raise domestic shipping services prices approximately 6.3 percent for Priority Mail service, 7.1 percent for USPS Ground Advantage, and 7.6 percent for Parcel Select. Prices are not changing for Priority Mail Express service,' the company said on May 9. Priority Mail is one of the fastest delivery services offered by USPS, with packages arriving at destinations in two to three business days. Ground Advantage delivers in around two to five days, while Parcel Select is a solution for high-volume shippers, with packages taking two to eight days for delivery. The rate increases were approved by the Board of Governors last week. 'The USPS governors believe these new rates will keep the Postal Service competitive while providing the agency with needed revenue.' The rate changes will support USPS's $40 billion investments and continue the improvement and modernization of its operations, the postal service said. Pricing changes have been implemented as part of the Delivering for America initiative, a 10-year plan introduced in 2021 that aims to Related Stories 4/10/2025 5/9/2025 USPS revealed its Q2 financial 'As we mark 250 years of service to the nation, our organization continues to face economic headwinds. We are working diligently to control costs, increase revenues, and transform and modernize our infrastructure,' said acting Postmaster General Douglas Tulino. 'At the same time, we are seeing strong market acceptance of shipping products like USPS Ground Advantage and adopting an increasingly competitive posture across our product portfolio.' In fiscal year 2024, USPS reported a net loss of $9.5 billion, up by $3 billion compared to the previous fiscal year. USPS has initiated several cost-cutting measures to improve its financial position. On March 13, former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said USPS had Leadership Change USPS is currently changing leadership. Following DeJoy's resignation in March, the USPS Board of Governors elected David Steiner as Postmaster General and CEO, the agency said in a May 9 Steiner serves on the board of USPS competitor FedEx and other companies. He is expected to leave the FedEx board before joining USPS, the service said. 'We anticipate Steiner will formally join the organization in July, assuming his successful completion of the ethics and security clearance vetting processes.' The National Association of Letter Carriers, a union representing 295,000 active and retired letter carriers, had Appointing Steiner to lead USPS is a 'clear conflict of interest,' it said. 'His selection isn't just a conflict of interest—it's an aggressive step toward handing America's mail system over to corporate interests.' 'Private shippers have been waiting to get USPS out of parcel delivery for years. Steiner's selection is an open invitation to do just that.' Nonprofit advocacy Keep US Posted, dedicated to the long-term health of USPS, supported the appointment of Steiner in a May 7 Kevin Yoder, Keep US Posted executive director, said the group aims to work with Steiner to make sure the postal service prioritizes its long-term sustainability and ensures affordable access to mail for Americans. 'This is a pivotal moment for the Postal Service, as self-inflicted service failures, ever escalating costs, and volume-killing rate increases by Louis DeJoy under the Delivering for America plan have pushed USPS to the brink of failure,' he said. 'We are optimistic that Steiner's leadership will strengthen the institution's mission of delivering reliable, affordable mail services to every American, every day.'
Newsweek
11-05-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
USPS Update on New Shipping Services Prices for 2025
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The United States Postal Service (USPS) has announced that it plans to raise prices on its shipping services this summer. Why It Matters The Postal Service, the largest mail carrier in the country, is rolling out the rate increase as it strives to make its package delivery business more profitable. The independent federal agency has been facing financial struggles in recent years, having implemented a 10-year plan to stabilize in 2021. It reported a $9.5-billion loss in the fiscal year ending in September 2024, compared to a net loss of $6.5-billion in the fiscal year 2023. It reported a $3.3-billion net loss in the first quarter of 2025—nearly double during the same period last year. The USPS does not receive tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services in order to fund its operations. What To Know The USPS has announced it plans to increase prices for its Ground Advantage, Priority Mail and Parcel Select products beginning on July 13, according to a filing from the agency made on Friday. Priority Mail service will increase in price by 6.3 percent; 7.1 percent for USPS Ground Advantage; and 7.6 percent for Parcel Select. "Although mailing services price increases are based on the Consumer Price Index, shipping services prices are primarily adjusted according to market conditions," the postal service said in the announcement. "The USPS governors believe these new rates will keep the Postal Service competitive while providing the agency with needed revenue." A USPS mail truck leaves for a delivery in Fullerton, California, on July 18, 2020. A USPS mail truck leaves for a delivery in Fullerton, California, on July 18, 2020. GETTY There will be no price increases for Priority Mail Express, Domestic Extra Services, International Ancillary Services, or International Products. It follows on from the last price hike for shipping services, which took effect in January 2025. A separate request to the Postal Regulatory Commission made in April would also see the price of stamps rise this year. What People Are Saying The USPS said in a press release issued on May 9: "As part of the 10-year comprehensive strategic Delivering for America plan, these proposed changes will support the Postal Service in creating a revitalized organization capable of achieving its public service mission—providing a nationwide, integrated network for the delivery of mail and packages at least six days a week—in a cost-effective and financially sustainable manner over the long term, just as the U.S. Congress has intended." What Happens Next The price increases were approved by the USPS Board of Governors this week, and will be implemented on July 13 pending approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission.
Atlantic
07-05-2025
- General
- Atlantic
How the Most Remote Community in America Gets Its Mail
Just after 8 o'clock one spring morning, 2,000 feet below the rim of the Grand Canyon, Nate Chamberlain, wearing chaps and cowboy boots, emerged from the post office in Supai, Arizona, with the last of the morning mail. He tucked a Priority Mail envelope into a plastic U.S. Postal Service crate lashed to one of the six mules waiting outside. Then he climbed into the saddle on the lead mule, gave a kick of his spurs, and set off down the dirt road leading out of the village. It was the beginning of what may be the country's most unusual USPS route—the very last to deliver mail by mule. The mule train would travel eight miles along a creek lined with cottonwoods, through a narrow gorge, and up a switchbacking trail carved into the cliffside to reach a hitching post at the top of the canyon, where a sign reads US MAIL DELIVERY ZONE. There, Chamberlain would drop off the outgoing mail with a driver—who would take it another 68 miles to the next post office, in the town of Peach Springs—and pick up the incoming mail to deliver back to the village. Philip F. Rubio: Save the Postal Service Supai, the only village on the reservation of the Havasupai Tribe, is one of the most remote communities in the country. It is accessible only by foot, and by helicopter when the weather allows. The mule train, which makes the 16-mile, six-hour loop up and down the canyon five days a week, is perhaps the most extreme manifestation of the USPS mandate to 'render postal services to all communities.' Mail delivery in Supai involves a feat of logistics, horsemanship, and carefully placed hooves. It is slow and drudging work—starting at 3 a.m., when Chamberlain rises to feed the pack string, and continuing to sundown as fences are fixed and horseshoes are replaced—that belies an era of instant delivery, optimized everything, and 'government efficiency.' It also offers a glimpse into what the Postal Service can mean for rural America, at a moment when the agency's future is uncertain. For centuries, the Havasupai Tribe ranged across the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, hunting and foraging along the plateau in the fall and winter, and descending into the canyon in the spring and summer to grow corn, beans, melons, and sunflowers along Havasu Creek. But that changed as America pushed westward. In 1882, President Chester A. Arthur signed an executive order restricting the tribe to 518 acres at the bottom of the canyon. Just over a decade later, the federal government established a school in the village—aimed, like others of the era, at assimilating Native children. With it grew demand for better connection to the outside world. Rufus Bauer, the first teacher sent to Supai, wrote in an 1896 report to the commissioner of Indian Affairs that getting the mail required the Havasupai to make 'a horseback ride of 60 miles over a stony, grassless desert, where there is not one drop of water for man or horse.' He added, perhaps unnecessarily, 'They do not exactly enjoy the trip.' The Supai post office was established later the same year. At the time, rural postal delivery was expanding across the country. The postal system is older than the Declaration of Independence; it was founded in 1775 to allow consistent communication across the colonies—uniting America even before there was a federal government. As the nation grew, Congress gave the organization a monopoly over letter delivery as a way of ensuring affordable access to mail for all Americans—not just those who lived along profitable urban routes. From the January 1875 issue: The American post-office Over time, Supai would come to depend on the post office. With the loss of the tribe's hunting grounds and much of its farmland, the traditional Havasupai way of life started to disappear, and pretty much everything the village needed—groceries, household goods, medicine—arrived there on the back of a USPS mule. 'That old saying, you ever look that up?' Charlie Chamberlain asked me when we met at a café near the post office in Peach Springs. 'I used to know it by heart, the old saying, that we deliver mail in all kinds of weather.' He pulled out his phone to search for it: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. 'That's not a false statement, for what we do.' Chamberlain moved to Supai with his wife, a member of the Havasupai Tribe, back in 1973. Her uncle had delivered the mail there for many years, and offered to train Chamberlain. The route involves risks not listed in the unofficial USPS motto. In the winter, ice can accumulate on the narrow switchbacks, which drop 1,000 feet in the first two miles. Temperatures in the summertime can exceed 110 degrees. Mules (and horses, which are sometimes used in the pack string) can get spooked by blowing debris and the occasional rattlesnake. During monsoon season, rainwater rushing down the canyon walls can turn the desert floor into a surging river within minutes. Mail delivery in Supai involves a feat of logistics, horsemanship, and carefully placed hooves. Chamberlain recalled once taking shelter with 11 of his animals at a high point above the trail as floodwater rose below them. He could hear boulders crashing against one another in the water. When he rode back up the trail the next day, the marks left by the water were higher than his head, even on horseback. Staying out of trouble means learning to watch the sky, he told me—and beyond that, having 'a real strong faith in God.' Chamberlain still holds a contract with USPS for delivery to Supai but no longer rides the route himself; after 25 years on the trail, he and his wife, who was ill, left Supai to be closer to a hospital. He now employs Nate—his nephew—and other locals to handle the deliveries. Nate Chamberlain told me he has broken bones and taken spills that have required hundreds of stitches. Last summer, he had to spend the night under a rock overhang with his mules after a severe flash flood raised the creek some seven feet in 15 minutes, washing out the trail. In the worst scenarios, animals have died. (Charlie and the packers who work for him rotate their animals on a regular schedule to prevent them from getting worn down.) Supai is home to about 200 people, according to the latest census, though some estimates range much higher. (The Havasupai tribal council, which tracks tribal enrollment, declined to participate in this story.) For residents of the small village, the mule train helps set the rhythm of daily life. Lynanne and Scott Palmer told me that when they moved to Supai, in the late 1970s, the arrival of the mail in the afternoons was a social event: Residents would gather outside the post office as their letters and packages were unloaded, along with food and other supplies to restock the small village store. This has changed somewhat over the years, as the tourism industry has grown. Tens of thousands of visitors now pass through Supai each year to see the waterfalls that cascade down Havasu Creek to the confluence with the Colorado River. Helicopters run several days a week during the high season, carrying tourists from the canyon rim to the village. The helicopters also bring in some supplies, and carry residents out of the canyon to go on weekend shopping trips in the cities of Kingman and Flagstaff, hours from the rim. But the helicopter schedule is seasonal, and weather-dependent: High winds can easily blow the aircraft against the sandstone cliffs. Mules are still the most reliable form of transport—bringing with them, as Charlie described it, 'everything that you can put a stamp on.' Besides letters and packages for community members (including lots of Amazon orders), the USPS mule train transports medicine and lab work for the village clinic. Supai doesn't have a traditional bank, so the post office supports an informal financial system, bringing in cash for the tribe's use and letting residents send and receive money orders. The tourism industry, now the main source of income for the tribe, also relies on the mule train: Nate told me that the supplies for the lodge where tourists stay—linens, even mini fridges—come through the mail. Even now in Supai, as Lynanne Palmer put it, 'Life runs around the post office.' In late March, while the mules continued their work in Supai, demonstrators gathered in 150 cities across the United States to speak out against an anticipated 'hostile takeover' of the Postal Service. President Donald Trump has, in recent months, mused about a major reorganization of USPS, which he describes as a 'tremendous loser for this country.' He has said he is considering merging the independent agency with the Commerce Department. Trump suggested that such a move would help the Postal Service—which has been losing billions of dollars a year, amid declining mail volume and rising operating costs—turn around its fortunes. But many see the proposal as a prelude to privatization, an idea Trump floated during his first term and raised again just before taking office a second time. Experts believe that even partially outsourcing delivery to companies such as Amazon and FedEx would disproportionately affect rural America, where longer distances and fewer consumers mean that many postal routes operate at a loss. Brian Renfroe, the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, told me that without the USPS's universal-service obligation, consumers in rural areas could expect higher prices or even to lose service altogether. 'I can assure you a private delivery company is not going to have any interest in delivering mail by mules,' he said. The reason the mule train has persisted for more than a century, Charlie Chamberlain told me, is that it's the most cost-effective way to deliver the mail to Supai. 'We can do it cheaper than they can in a helicopter,' he said. 'When it's time to bid on a new contract, I can outbid them.' As a contractor, he doesn't collect benefits. 'I never have taken a vacation in all the years I've done this,' Chamberlain said. 'There's no such thing.' The route may seem like the opposite of government efficiency. But that's true only if you don't accept the premise that the post office should be for everyone. The Postal Service reflects the nation's founding vision: to create a country both expansive and united. Supai has seen the worst of that vision. But the mules, unbothered by politics as they trod up and down the canyon, still carry with them a reminder of what America promised to be.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
USPS updates service standards, impacting mail delivery times
Changes to United State Postal Service just took effect and it could impact how you get your mail. USPS says it's refining its service standards for First-Class Mail, Periodicals, Marketing Mail, Package Services, USPS Ground Advantage, Priority Mail, and Priority Mail Express. Under the new approach, some mail will have a faster standard, and some will have a slightly slower standard. The changes took effect on April 1st as part of the ongoing Delivering for America 10-year plan. It's in an effort to save at least $36 billion dollars over the next decade. USPS says upwards of 75% of customers will not notice a change in First-Class Mail service, but that number is up for debate. The agency also estimates 14% will see faster delivery times and 11% will face longer delivery times. Overall for First-Class Mail, USPS says the current service standard day range of 1-5 days is staying the same. 'The new service standards are easy to understand and provide more precise expectations for mailers, as they are based on 5-Digit ZIP code pairs, rather than current standards that are based on 3-Digit ZIP code pairs,' the USPS stated in a recent FAQ fact sheet. Click this link to read the full document. USPS has also released a new Service Standards Map on its website that allows customers to see how many estimated days it would take mail to arrive based on their zip code. Implementation will be in two phases. The first began on April 1 and the second on July 1, 2025. To find more on the changes, check out coverage from News Nation here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
