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Trump orders Postal Service review after blasting Amazon deal

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Re: Trump orders Postal Service review after blasting Amazon deal

#11

Post by IAmEveryone »

smoyer wrote: post #6

In the last week I've received packages shipped via DHL and via Fedex that used SmartPost, where the USPS actually delivers the package. I don't remember ever having a UPS-to-SmartPost shipment. If the USPS is cheaper than these global shippers for the last-mile deliver, it might be a sign that they're not charging enough. At least in my town, they also don't seem to be very efficient - two Saturdays ago I was workin…

If what the USPS charges for packages is "enough" depends entirely on your definition of "enough":

Does package delivery lower the USPS' losses? Absolutely!

Do they charge enough for package delivery to spin it out into a separate, viable business? Probably not.

This unusual situation stems from the fact that the USPS is mandated by law to pass by every house in the country at least once a day, six days per week.

Re: Trump orders Postal Service review after blasting Amazon deal

#14

Post by mieseratte »

dsparkman wrote: post #8

The package delivery business side of the USPS is a profitable venture. The USPS is in the state it is in not because of Amazon or last mile delivery that is doing for other businesses. The core problem is Congress and the requirement they put is the USPS that they prefund 75 years of pensions. A requirement placed on no other institutions in the US.

> The core problem is Congress and the requirement they put is the USPS that they prefund 75 years of pensions. A requirement placed on no other institutions in the US.

Why is this? Did the USPS have some kind of retirement funding scandal, or was someone trying to smother it?

Re: Trump orders Postal Service review after blasting Amazon deal

#15

Post by pavlov »

empath75 wrote: post #3

This is the kind of authoritarian bullshit that putin does to keep the oligarchs in line. You can be sure that if trump remains in office, he’ll keep going after wealthy people that criticize him using any lever he can reach in the federal government, and there are a lot of levers. And he’ll use different levers to reward people that fall in line. It’s bullying, mob-boss tactics.

This is the president who invited the FBI director to a private dinner and said “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.”

Mob boss seems right.

Re: Trump orders Postal Service review after blasting Amazon deal

#16

Post by mcbits »

mieseratte wrote: post #14
dsparkman wrote: post #8

The package delivery business side of the USPS is a profitable venture. The USPS is in the state it is in not because of Amazon or last mile delivery that is doing for other businesses. The core problem is Congress and the requirement they put is the USPS that they prefund 75 years of pensions. A requirement placed on no other institutions in the US.

> The core problem is Congress and the requirement they put is the USPS that they prefund 75 years of pensions. A requirement placed on no other institutions in the US. Why is this? Did the USPS have some kind of retirement funding scandal, or was someone trying to smother it?

Probably because it forces them to buy and hold long-term US debt.

Re: Trump orders Postal Service review after blasting Amazon deal

#17

Post by ilamont »

What they should do is review the subsidization of Chinese companies shipping to U.S. customers, often at the expense of makers and merchants in the U.S.:

According to the terms set out in Universal Postal Union treaty, the USPS in 2014 gets paid no more than about $1.50 for delivering a one-pound package from a foreign carrier, which makes it hard to cover costs. [1] The USPS inspector general’s office estimated that the USPS lost $79 million in fiscal year 2013 delivering this foreign treaty mail. (The Postal Service itself declined to provide specific figures.)

In an effort to ride the e-commerce boom, the Postal Service signed a deal in 2010 with China’s state carrier to sell a special service for small packages entering the U.S. For a small premium, the USPS offered tracking and delivery confirmation, an essential feature for online retailers, as well as expedited shipping.

... In 2012, USPS was paid only 94 cents on average for each piece of Chinese ePacket mail, according to a February report from the Postal Service’s inspector general’s office. That report estimated that the Postal Service was losing about a dollar on each incoming item, adding up to a $29.4 million net loss in 2012.

Forums on eBay are filled with angry notes about ePacket. “I must say that it is simply an economic disaster for US Sellers,” one person wrote. “One product that we sell for 2.00 with 2.50 shipping a chinese company is selling for .99 with free shipping,” another complained.

Washington Post: USPS loses millions each year on local delivery of mail from abroad (2014) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/09/12/...

Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14651884

Re: Trump orders Postal Service review after blasting Amazon deal

#19

Post by briandear »

snarfy wrote: post #12

It's a government service, not a business. It's not supposed to be profitable. It's supposed to provide a service.

As a voter and taxpayer, then I demand an end to this service. The last time I received an actual piece of valid mail was probably years ago. The USPS has become an ad-delivery network subsidized by my tax dollars. Perhaps charging bulk-mailers full price could end the problem of junk mail or create financial solvency. Why should junk mail literally nobody wants be subsidized? For official notices, the government could contract with a commercial carrier for far less than paying billions to operate a fleet of trucks that mostly carry junk.

Re: Trump orders Postal Service review after blasting Amazon deal

#20

Post by jiveturkey »

ilamont wrote: post #17

What they should do is review the subsidization of Chinese companies shipping to U.S. customers, often at the expense of makers and merchants in the U.S.: According to the terms set out in Universal Postal Union treaty, the USPS in 2014 gets paid no more than about $1.50 for delivering a one-pound package from a foreign carrier, which makes it hard to cover costs. [1] The USPS inspector general’s office estimated tha…

i guess they should review that but not as a financial concern. 30m of 5bn loss is just 0.5%. at such small percentage it doesn’t seem like it is the low hanging fruit wrt finance.
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