Post Office Announces ‘Temporary’ Adjustment – How Much Will That Cost?

(KMDL-FM) For everyone who bemoans the quality and business acumen of the Waffle House model, prepare to eat crow. No, I don't think Waffle House serves that, but they did serve up a bit of a better business lesson that apparently the United States Postal Service must have been paying attention to.

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If you recall when the price of eggs was sky high, Waffle House initiated an egg surcharge, explaining that the higher costs were necessary to maintain the quality of the product being sold.

U.S. Post Office Taking a Page From the Waffle House Menu? For Real, They Are

Egg prices went down, and Waffle House took the surcharge back, thanking its customers for their patience. Will the U.S. Postal Service get the same feedback?

As you have probably guessed, the Post Office is about to raise prices on us. But instead of an unexplained or hard-to-understand reason, I think we can all figure out that it's the price of fuel that is the reason for the rise in prices.

The details of the reasoning behind the price increase were discussed in a press release from USPS. They explained their position quite well, and even though none of us wants to pay more for the same service, we kind of have to do that in this instance.

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Which Postal Services Will Have a Temporary Price Increase?

The Postal Service has announced a rate increase of 8% on the following base prices for these services. Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select. These price increases will go into effect as of April 26 of this year and will remain in place through at least January 17, 2027. The proposed increase will not affect the cost of first-class stamps.

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Just to put things into perspective for you, it is estimated that USPS vehicles drive 4.3 million miles per day. Based on an average mileage of 20 miles per gallon, that means the post office has to purchase 215,000 gallons of fuel each day.

The national average price for fuel is $4.00 a gallon. Do the math, and you can understand why the "temporary" rate adjustment is needed.

Regardless, you need to plan for the rate adjustment; you still have a few weeks before it goes into effect. And if need be, you can look at this list and reflect on the "Good Ol' Days" back when we complained about .08-cent stamps.