Economy
Related: About this forumTrump, Amazon and the Postal Service: The story behind the tweet
'"Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer?" he wrote on Twitter. "Should be charging MUCH MORE!"
The tweet gave Trump the opportunity to slam Amazon (AMZN), which has been a frequent target of his ire. But with the tweet, the president also waded into a long-running, Byzantine debate over how much the Postal Service should charge for its services.
In short: Trump is likely right that the Postal Service charges less than it really costs to deliver packages, and Amazon is one of its biggest customers. But that's not the root of the agency's fiscal problems. . .
With email replacing snail mail, that first-class mail business has declined dramatically it's down by 40% since peaking in 2000. Meanwhile, the parcel delivery business has exploded. But the Postal Service hasn't been able to compensate for collapsing mail volumes due to a 2006 law that capped price increases at the rate of inflation and also limited the proportion of its budget that could be devoted to its parcel business.
Still, the Postal Service might be able to eke out a profit if it weren't for another way in which Congress has tied its hands: It requires the agency to pre-fund its retiree health benefits and count them as operating expenses. In fiscal 2016, the Postal Service brought in $69.4 billion in revenue, was liable for $5.8 billion in retiree health benefits and reported a $5.6 billion net loss.'>>>
http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/29/news/economy/trump-amazon-postal-service/index.html
pangaia
(24,324 posts)and to turn it into a private enterprise...
duh !!
elleng
(131,228 posts)Last night/this morning I read a little about the USPS issues, and learned that among others, Waxman, D-Cal, sponsored the sick 2006 legislation requiring pre-payment of employee obligations, big killer requirement.
SeattleVet
(5,480 posts)who not only owns the Washington Post (which does actual reporting, which by its very nature is generally critical of him), but is also much richer than him, which really must torque his jaws.
LudwigPastorius
(9,201 posts)Bezos is the richest man in the world. He's worth 32 times what Trump is, easily.
Fatemah2774
(245 posts)Because the USPS is mentioned in our Constitution and should be fully supported not financially starved....
Pachamama
(16,887 posts)Thank you for pointing out something many do not realize - that the Constitution specifically mentions the USPS...a fact of importance...
Yes the Republican Congress should be ashamed and this White House and President* should be ashamed...
Trump (who aside from clearly not being of sound mind and body) hates the Washington Post who has led the way in exposing many of the ugly truths behind Trump and his cabal, its owner Jeff Bezos (and also that he is truly rich unlike Trump) and thus by default Amazon the company by which Jeff Bezos made his money.
And the USPS has always had the ire of Republicans who have wanted to destroy, defund, dismantle and privatize the US Postal Service....
So that statement from Trump not only reveals so much about what is in the mind and matters and bothers Trump, but it in one fell swoop addresses the "Trifecta" of Trump's desired target for destruction...
CousinIT
(9,267 posts)USPS problems go back to 2006 law
The bills name: The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. Irony: No one was accountable for their vote.
The bills enhancement required the USPS to pre-fund $5.5 billion in annual installments for retirement and health benefits of employees for the next 75 years. This economic poison pill is to be paid by the USPS annually until September 2043. No other public agency, federal, state, or municipal, is required to pre-fund 75 years of benefits. Consequently, the USPS is without enough revenue to pay this unprecedented demand. Close to default, facing layoffs, planning closures of hundreds of post offices and eliminating Saturday deliveries is probable.
Why do corporate Republicans want to sabotage the postal system? Its to privatize another government service in the name of profit. Elimination of political influence from postal unions remains the final goal.