Going to cost extra to send those packages for the holidays. Depending on the service, $.05 to $$. Starts before Thanksgiving in some cases. So, the way I read it, there will be surcharges on the already added charges for the holidays from UPS and FedEx.

With all the online ordering during this pandemic, I would think they were making money hand over fist...
Both UPS and FedEx are coming thru my cul-de-sac just about every day.

It seem like the shipping rates have sky-rocked already. We mostly ship equipment between offices. The last test equipment I had to ship one state away was about 40% higher than I expected.

I agree that the higher volume should help make things more efficient. USPS does seem to have counter-intuitive ideas on how to handle things though. Certainly couriers are busy on our street (16 houses) with several deliveries daily.

Shipping rates have really skyrocketed since COVID.

My hypothesis is that there's not nearly as much available commercial airliner (or passenger bus*) cargo space to shuttle things around so their rates are higher.

*A buddy and I just did a quick CT->FL->CT run to grab some scooters. We both noticed that we saw exactly zero passenger buses the whole trip. None.