TULSA, Okla. — Small businesses prepare for increased costs that may be passed on to customers
The U.S. Postal Service is temporarily raising shipping rates during the holiday season, with increases ranging from 30 cents to as much as $16 depending on various factors.
The temporary rate hike will begin October 5 and continue through January 18, potentially impacting both businesses and consumers during the busy holiday shipping season.
Dean Bingham, whose chocolates
business relies heavily on online orders during the holidays, is preparing for the impact. Most days his shop relies mostly on walk-in traffic for sales but normally during the holidays his shop daily ships 50 to 100 orders across the country.
"It's great," Bingham said.
But that could change because USPS is temporarily increasing increasing shipping rates during the holiday season to "help cover extra handling costs to ensure a successful peak season."
Mark Murrell, understands that challenge even though his business uses FedEx and UPS to ship goods. He said those haven't haven't yet announced holiday rate increases but he has been surprised in the past.
"It was frustrating. So, we had to eat that," he said.
Bingham says he may need to add 50 cents to a dollar to customers' shipping charges this holiday season.
"Well, it's something we don't really want to charge our customers. " Bingham said.
He adds he's not trying to profit from shipping — just break even.
To avoid the increased rates, consumers may want to complete their holiday shopping that requires shipping before the temporary rate hike takes effect.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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