USPS deliveries will take longer beginning this week as we head into holiday season

You may be standing by your mailbox a little longer waiting for your Christmas card or gifts this year.

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%, according to the USPS.

There will be major delays depending on what you are sending and where you are sending it from, but according to the USPS, 61% of first-class mail and 93% of periodicals will not be affected by these changes.

If you’re sending first-class single-piece, light-weight mail, you can expect the normal two-day delivery time, but for those first-class packages, you will see an impact beginning Friday.

INCREASED PRICES

Beginning Oct. 3 and ending on Dec. 26, the USPS will temporarily increase prices on all “commercial and retail domestic packages” because of the holiday season.

ALL PART OF A PLAN

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

“The need for the U.S. Postal Service to transform to meet the needs of our customers is long overdue,” DeJoy said in announcing the plan.