Using a KY post office is about to get more expensive. How much & what to expect
The U.S. Postal Service is implementing several changes as it works to address a net loss of $9 billion during its 2025 fiscal year.
Among those changes: higher prices for several of its shipping services, set to take effect Sunday, Jan. 18.
“To correct our financial imbalances, we must explore new revenue opportunities and public policy changes to improve our business model,” Postmaster General David Steiner said in a November news release. “Most importantly, we must operate more efficiently and compete more effectively to best perform our public service mission.”
Additionally, a new rule change applying to postmarks means the date on the postmark will not necessarily match the date you dropped it in the mail or when a letter carrier picked it up. It took effect Dec. 24, 2025.
The new rule could affect time-sensitive mail, such as absentee ballots, your property tax bill or important legal documents.
If you regularly depend on the USPS, here’s what to expect from the changes rolling out this year.
Postal Service announces higher shipping costs for needed revenue
USPS is raising prices for several of its shipping options, the agency previously announced in November. Starting Sunday, these price increases will include:
- 6.6% increase for Priority Mail service
- 5.1% increase for Priority Mail Express
- 7.8% increase for USPS Ground Advantage
- 6% increase for Parcel Select
Meanwhile, the postal service announced it will not raise prices for mailing services in January. The price of a First-Class Mail stamp will remain unchanged for the time being.
So what’s contributing to the rising prices? In November, USPS revealed a net revenue loss of $9 billion. That follows a $9.5 billion net loss reported for the prior fiscal year. The USPS ended its 2025 fiscal year with an operating revenue total of $80.5 billion — an increase of $916 million, or 1.2%, compared to the previous year. Price increases helped contribute to that rising operating revenue, the agency said.
“The increase was due largely to continued growth of our USPS Ground Advantage shipping service as well as strategic price increases in both of our mail and shipping categories,” the USPS said in the release.
To address its financial issues, the postal service said it’s seeking further reforms to “remedy outdated and unwarranted financial and regulatory burdens.”
These include:
- Changes in retiree pension benefit funding rules for Civil Service Retirement System benefits
- Diversifying pension assets
- Raising the statutory debt ceiling
- Workers compensation administration reform
New postmark rule change could affect your time-sensitive mail
Beginning late last month, the postal service is implementing a new rule that applies to postmarks.
While the agency said it’s not changing postmarking practices, “we have made adjustments to our transportation operations that will result in some mailpieces not arriving at our originating processing facilities on the same day that they are mailed,” a Jan. 2 statement reads.
What that means is the postmark applied at the Postal Service’s processing facilities will not necessarily match the date you mailed it.
Some election officials and voting rights advocates have criticized that move, arguing it could disenfranchise absentee voters who aren’t aware of the change and don’t get their ballots in on time. Postmaster Steiner acknowledged the confusion sparked by the new rule, and said it was meant to clarify existing postmarking practices, as reported by Votebeat.org.
If you are considering voting by mail for this year’s midterm elections, be aware of Kentucky’s key absentee ballot deadlines.
The online portal to request one opens Saturday, April 4. To vote in Kentucky’s Tuesday, May 19 primary, all mail-in absentee ballots must be received by 6 p.m. Election Day. Ballot drop boxes are available in each county. To find one near you, visit govote.ky.gov.
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