Decision on Postal Rate Hike Could Be a Holiday Downer

This year, the Grinch may go postal with an extraordinary rate increase. The U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission is expected to decide whether to allow the U.S. Postal Service to raise rates above the annual inflation rate increase on Dec. 22, on the eve of the holidays.

The proposed exigent increase would raise postal rates three times the rate of inflation for magazines, newspapers and other mail-dependent media beginning Jan. 26, adding hundreds of millions in costs.