Your holiday packages and mail will cost more this year – starting Sunday

Mail delivery for Nevadans will be pricier and slower for some customers starting Friday, when the U.S. Postal Service will start to implement its new service standards.

Delivery times for certain mail traveling longer distances will increase by up to two days.

The agency said in a press release that 61 percent of first-class mail and 93 percent of periodicals will be unaffected, meaning it will continue to take about two days for local mail to be delivered. USPS said local mail is “within a three-hour drive between originating and destinating processing facilities.”

The agency said consumers should plan ahead and encouraged customers to send their mail early, especially for mail traveling long distances.

Ahead of the holiday shopping season, there will also be a temporary price increase on mail and packages starting Sunday and lasting until Dec. 26.

The increases will range from an additional 75 cents to as much as $5 for priority mail, priority mail express, and first-class package service, according to the agency’s price list.

The standards are part of a 10-year plan called “Delivering for America” that was unveiled earlier this year by the agency’s Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. DeJoy took over in June 2020, after being appointed by the Postal Service’s board of governors, and has faced numerous criticisms from lawmakers over the agency’s slow delivery times and its 10-year plan.

The agency has been touting its new plan as a guide toward helping “improve service reliability and predictability for customers and enhance the efficiency of the Postal Service network.”

Contact Subrina Hudson at shudson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @SubrinaH on Twitter.