No More Free Shipping - thank the Postmaster

Well it was going to happen sooner or later - guess later is here. I'd held off eliminating free shipping for the last few year - waded thru every shipping rate increase and just kept absorbing it.  Today I went to ship a $14 item and the shipping fee was $4.26!! AND it was only 2 oz. Just can't do it anymore. It's gotten to the ridiculous stage. My choices are - raise my prices or eliminate free shipping. Since I would have to change prices on thousands of items I've opted for simply implementing a flat shipping rate of $3.00 per order. So you will be paying the first $3.00 on an order and I will be absorbing the rest. Best I can do and still stay in business. Hope you understand. Many thanks for your patience.  Bonnie