Using your Illinois post office could now cost more. Here’s why & how much
Fees for some U.S. Postal Service transactions, including Ground Advantage shipping, have increased in Illinois and nationwide as of this month.
The USPS reported a lower net loss in fiscal year 2025 compared to the previous year, but the figure still amounted to $9 billion, officials said in a Nov. 14 news release. Additionally, revenues increased for several services, including First-Class Mail, Marketing Mail and shipping and packages.
“In surveying the results of the past year, the occasional appearance of financial progress — such as our profitable first quarter — is far outweighed by the reality of our significant systemic annual revenue and cost imbalance,” Postmaster General David Steiner said in the release. “To correct our financial imbalances, we must explore new revenue opportunities and public policy changes to improve our business model. Most importantly, we must operate more efficiently and compete more effectively to best perform our public service mission.”
Price increases took effect Jan. 18 for these services:
- USPS Ground Advantage: 7.8% average price increase
- Priority Mail service: 6.6%
- Priority Mail Express service: 5.1%
- Parcel Select: 6%
- USPS Connect Local: 4.9%
USPS officials say the agency will not raise prices in January for “Market Dominant products,” including First-Class Mail, so the price of a stamp for a First-Class letter will stay at $0.78.
Is the postmarking process changing for USPS?
The postal service’s postmarking practices themselves are not changing, the USPS said in a Jan. 2 news release, but there is a rule change that could affect time-sensitive deliveries.
“While we are not changing our 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,” USPS officials said in the release. “This means that the date on the postmarks applied at our processing facilities will not necessarily match the date on which the customer’s mailpiece was collected by a letter carrier or dropped off at a retail location.”
The rule change means a postmark date will now denote the day the postal service processed an item, rather than the day the postal service received the item, PBS reported.
Customers can still ensure the postmark reflects the date they dropped off the item, though, by going to the post office and requesting a manual or local postmark, which will be applied for no additional charge, according to the USPS.
Requesting a manual postmark may become an essential step for those mailing time-sensitive materials such as mail-in ballots or tax return documents.
What days will USPS close in 2026?
Post offices will be closed and regular mail service, excluding Priority Mail Express, will not run on these dates in 2026:
- Monday, Feb. 16 for President’s Day
- Monday, May 25 for Memorial Day
- Friday, June 19 for Juneteenth
- Saturday, July 4 for Independence Day
- Monday, Sept. 7 for Labor Day
- Monday, Oct. 12 for Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day
- Wednesday, Nov. 11 for Veterans Day
- Thursday, Nov. 26 for Thanksgiving
- Friday, Dec. 25 for Christmas Day
U.S. post offices also close for New Year’s Day.
Do you have a question about living in the metro-east or Illinois for the News-Democrat? We’d like to hear from you. Fill out our Metro-east Matters form below.
