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It’s that time of year again when online shopping surges and package deliveries soar -- along with costs and customer expectations.

The beleaguered U.S. Postal Service reported a financial loss Nov. 14 for the 11th straight year, citing declining mail volume and costs of its pension and health care obligations even as it predicted another strong holiday season of package deliveries.

As consumers demand ever-quicker and convenient package delivery, the U.S. Postal Service wants to boost its business this holiday season by offering what few e-commerce retailers can provide: cheap next-day service with packages delivered Sundays to your home.

Spartan Motors Inc. announced its Spartan Fleet Vehicles and Services business unit has won a $214 million contract from the United States Postal Service for more than 2,000 cargo-body fleet vehicles.

Regulators appear likely to accept the financially beleaguered Postal Service’s request for more freedom to raise the price of mailing letters. It would be the biggest change in the Postal Service’s pricing system in nearly a half-century, allowing stamp prices to rise beyond the rate of inflation.

The U.S. Postal Service is projecting about 750 million packages will be delivered this holiday season, a 12% increase in volume compared with last year.

The U.S. Postal Service awarded contracts to six companies to produce prototype vehicles as part of a program to replace aging mail delivery trucks with vehicles that are better suited to carrying packages and that utilize alternative fuels.

The U.S. Postal Service is seeking approval from regulators for a two-year test to deliver groceries for Amazon.com in several cities.

The U.S. Postal Service ended its fiscal third-quarter with a loss of $2 billion, compared with a loss of $740 million for the same period a year earlier.