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elleng

(131,228 posts)
Sat Dec 30, 2017, 01:42 AM Dec 2017

Trump, 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

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Trump, Amazon and the Postal Service: The story behind the tweet (Original Post) elleng Dec 2017 OP
republican intent is to destroy the USPS, just like everything else, pangaia Dec 2017 #1
I agree, and that's been my thought/assumption for years, pangaia. elleng Dec 2017 #8
tRump also really hates Bezos... SeattleVet Dec 2017 #2
Trump just has a hate-on for Amazon because... LudwigPastorius Dec 2017 #3
The Republican Congress should be ashamed Fatemah2774 Dec 2017 #4
Right! Sophia4 Dec 2017 #5
+1000 Pachamama Dec 2017 #6
Republicans HATE the USPS because of it's UNION. In 2006 they set out to DESTROY it. Here's how: CousinIT Dec 2017 #7
sponsored by Waxman, D-CA (among others.) ;-( elleng Dec 2017 #9

pangaia

(24,324 posts)
1. republican intent is to destroy the USPS, just like everything else,
Sat Dec 30, 2017, 02:26 AM
Dec 2017

and to turn it into a private enterprise...

duh !!

elleng

(131,228 posts)
8. I agree, and that's been my thought/assumption for years, pangaia.
Sat Dec 30, 2017, 12:29 PM
Dec 2017

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)
2. tRump also really hates Bezos...
Sat Dec 30, 2017, 03:31 AM
Dec 2017

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)
3. Trump just has a hate-on for Amazon because...
Sat Dec 30, 2017, 03:57 AM
Dec 2017

Bezos is the richest man in the world. He's worth 32 times what Trump is, easily.

Fatemah2774

(245 posts)
4. The Republican Congress should be ashamed
Sat Dec 30, 2017, 04:03 AM
Dec 2017

Because the USPS is mentioned in our Constitution and should be fully supported not financially starved....

Pachamama

(16,887 posts)
6. +1000
Sat Dec 30, 2017, 04:27 AM
Dec 2017

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)
7. Republicans HATE the USPS because of it's UNION. In 2006 they set out to DESTROY it. Here's how:
Sat Dec 30, 2017, 10:05 AM
Dec 2017
http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/aug/14/letter-bill-was-poison-pill-usps/

USPS problems go back to 2006 law

On Dec. 7, 2006, HR 6407 was introduced. Designed to financially eviscerate the Postal Service, within days the bill passed a Republican House and Senate and was signed into law Dec. 20 by President Bush. Bill passage cannot be faster than this.

The bill’s name: The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. Irony: No one was accountable for their vote.

The bill’s “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? It’s to privatize another government service in the name of profit. Elimination of political influence from postal unions remains the final goal.
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