The fees has gone up tremendously! This is primarily due to increasing demand which resulted in growing btc price. While the number of transactions is growing, the size of the block remains the same (1 mb), with that in mind it now takes longer to get a transaction confirmed, because miners aren't idiots... they prioritize those who paid a higher fee.
Unless the community decides to increase the size of the block, the fees will continue to grow and confirmations will continue to be delayed. The odds of that are slim, because 60% of the community consists of greedy miners
, Using bitcoin for conducting small transactions has become obsolete! I would suggest using ltc or ripple for amounts under 1k.