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Amazon forms U.S. Postal Service lobby group with other companies

AcademicSaucer

AcademicSaucer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,677
Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and other retail and logistics companies said on Wednesday they had started a new group to lobby to keep the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) package delivery services "reliable and affordable."

The announcement comes days before a task force set up by President Donald Trump is due to recommend postal reforms to the White House. Trump has said without evidence that the world's largest online retailer is making the postal service incur losses, mandating the task force review USPS pricing on package delivery.

While Amazon has steered clear of any quarrel with the president, the Package Coalition is now poised to take the company's case to the public as the government weighs changes affecting USPS.

McHugh, a former member of Congress who served as chairman of the postal service subcommittee, said package rate hikes not based on market prices could reduce demand and revenue for USPS, potentially undercutting its ability to deliver to any address in the United States.

USPS has lost $65 billion since the 2007-2009 financial crisis, according to the executive order establishing the postal task force. The service, which is supposed to be self-sustaining, must ask Congress for permission to raise rates and must pre-fund decades worth of retiree health benefits.

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1KM5X0
 
Keasar

Keasar

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,724
Umeå, Sweden
Beartruck said:
Fucking good. UPS and FedEx are shit.
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The sooner UPS dies as a company, the quicker those fuckers stop leaving packages at my goddamn doorstep!

I live in Sweden! This is not uncivilized America where you can just toss people's shit on their lawn and call it a job well done! We have postal delivery stations all over our cities where they take our packages and send reminders to us that they have them so we don't have to worry about our new stuff being drenched in fucking rain and/or stolen!

I've only been sent stuff with UPS two times or so, but that was enough for me to loathe them. The first time they left my package outside the door, a big no no. The second time they seemed to have learned that we Swedes hate having that shit done, so instead they sent the package to a gas station on the other side of town, when there is a postal dispatch station just a two-three hundred meters from where I live.
 
Everybody Lies

Everybody Lies

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,209
Greigor the FellHand said:
GoP hates a functional government body.

and the USPS is amazingly functional.
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They don't hate them. They actually love them just not in the people's hands. Its the standard GOP self fulfilling prophecy. They will underfund or add a poison pill to an agency to make it look like it doesn't work and make the case for privatization under the guise of efficiency and taxpayer relief. Then they sell it to one of their megadonors.

Don't believe their lies.
 

Deleted member 11413

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
22,961
Maybe we shouldn't treat public goods like the postal service as a business which needs to be self-sufficient. That $65 billion arent really losses if they are providing a service to Americans. The postal service has to operate even in areas where it isnt profitable to do so...so dont expect them to be profitable or to break even. It's a public good, that's what taxes are for, to provide services. The postal service is definitely one of the most reliable and efficient public services.
 
Muppet of a Man

Muppet of a Man

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,674
Everybody Lies said:
They don't hate them. They actually love them just not in the people's hands. Its the standard GOP self fulfilling prophecy. They will underfund or add a poison pill to an agency to make it look like it doesn't work and make the case for privatization under the guise of efficiency and taxpayer relief. Then they sell it to one of their megadonors.

Don't believe their lies.
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Exactly. They are full of shit. They try to extract easy money wherever they can by manipulating laws to their favor.

The postal service would go from a public utility that is cheap, reliable, and serves everyone to another mega corporation that serves the interest of a tiny number of shareholders and executives.
 
ScandiNavy

ScandiNavy

Banned
Apr 13, 2018
1,551
Norway
Keasar said:
The sooner UPS dies as a company, the quicker those fuckers stop leaving packages at my goddamn doorstep!

I live in Sweden! This is not uncivilized America where you can just toss people's shit on their lawn and call it a job well done! We have postal delivery stations all over our cities where they take our packages and send reminders to us that they have them so we don't have to worry about our new stuff being drenched in fucking rain and/or stolen!

I've only been sent stuff with UPS two times or so, but that was enough for me to loathe them. The first time they left my package outside the door, a big no no. The second time they seemed to have learned that we Swedes hate having that shit done, so instead they sent the package to a gas station on the other side of town, when there is a postal dispatch station just a two-three hundred meters from where I live.
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I have it on good authority that people don't steal in Sweden.
Also, judging by recent reports, rain doesn't seem to be a problem either
 
thatother

thatother

Member
Dec 12, 2017
345
Honestly I'm glad someone is looking out for USPS even if it's 100% self interest.

Considering they receive zero tax dollars and are funded exclusively by stamps and services it's amazing what they do.
 
PanickyFool

PanickyFool

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,947
djplaeskool said:
Does any other entity have to prefund benefits the way the USPS is mandated to? It seems provably untenable.



BRB Stocking up on Forever stamps
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Pension accounting is weird. But "prefunding" means that the funds for an employee's pension with an expected investment rate of return must be set aside.

If you do not do this, government and private entities typically overpay their employees in benefits, for retention (or legal vote purchasing), while not putting enough money aside. So it becomes tomorrow's problem with today's benefits.

If you do not set aside enough money to cover pensions, eventually you end up with the generational theft happening today. See The North East states.
 
F34R

F34R

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,990
I rarely have problems with UPS or Fed Ex. USPS on the other hand... I have to constantly deal with packages delivered to the wrong address, payment checks being stuck to other peoples mail and delivered to the wrong address. Checks coming a week late, packages delivered to the wrong state, packages delivered to my local PO just to be sent back because they thought I was mailing to that address (wtf??). This is CONSTANTLY. Every single week. My retirement check is already two days late this week for example.
 
Bony Manifesto

Bony Manifesto

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,587
Amazon are playing both sides here though. Where they can save money by using their own logistics network, they will, but they also want the government to fund the postal service so they can use them as a fallback where it makes financial sense. The problem is that in order for a postal service to be economically viable and a single price for everyone, the cheaper and simpler routes (in highly populated cities for examples) need to subsidise the complex, expensive routes (in isolated rural areas), and if companies are selectively choosing to deliver to the cheaper addresses, and leaving the postal service to do the expensive deliveries, the system falls apart.

We've seen this in the UK where the postal service was opened up to competition, and companies immediately swooped in to do the profit-making activities, while leaving the Royal Mail to do the loss-making things.
 
BackLogJoe

BackLogJoe

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
1,214
As a letter carrier and union steward, I'm continually amazed that we have anti-union Republicans in our ranks who want privatization to happen.
 
HadesHotgun

HadesHotgun

Member
Oct 25, 2017
871
The USPS should be a Republicans dream come true. While technically overseen by the federal government, the USPS is actually a private business that is NOT funded by tax payers, but instead has to actually make money for itself.

Amazingly enough it managed to do this until the government added the completely absurd requirement to prepay retirement for decades.

Both my parents are retired postal workers. And the retirement benefits have been getting slashed since the requirement was enacted.

Customers would regularly harass my mom by complaining that they paid her salary, despite the fact that the USPS actually does not operate on tax payer funding.

It's such an absurd thing for Republicans to target, because it specifically serves their own constituents and follows their own supposed principals of self-reliance. But then, we're clearly beyond any pretense of Republicans holding to principals.


Edit:
BackLogJoe said:
As a letter carrier and union steward, I'm continually amazed that we have anti-union Republicans in our ranks who want privatization to happen.
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My mom was a shop steward but is also a Republican and conversely opposed all other unions and voted for Trump. My dad was a manager and a Democrat and also voted for Trump. There is nothing that will stop them from hurting themselves so long as they're told they can blame brown people for their problems.
 
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Greigor the FellHand

Greigor the FellHand

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,125
HadesHotgun said:
The USPS should be a Republicans dream come true. While technically overseen by the federal government, the USPS is actually a private business that is NOT funded by tax payers, but instead has to actually make money for itself.

Amazingly enough it managed to do this until the government added the completely absurd requirement to prepay retirement for decades.

Both my parents are retired postal workers. And the retirement benefits have been getting slashed since the requirement was enacted.

Customers would regularly harass my mom by complaining that they paid her salary, despite the fact that the USPS actually does not operate on tax payer funding.

It's such an absurd thing for Republicans to target, because it specifically serves their own constituents and follows their own supposed principals of self-reliance. But then, we're clearly beyond any pretense of Republicans holding to principals.
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which is in my dreams, THe USPS runs the UNited States Peoples Internet
 
bevishead

bevishead

Member
Jan 9, 2018
885
Fedex and UPS here in Houston are awesome. The Postal Service is pretty awesome here too. I can take a package to either of these services and get great help. UPS and Fed Ex tend to be on the high side price wise, but very reliable.
 
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