Trump claiming USPS losing money on Amazon

In trump's press conferences he is saying we lose so much money delivering for them. He is bashing us pretty hard just because he doesn't want mail in ballots. I wouldn't either in his position, but he's spreading lies.

I used to follow politics, and pick sides but now I listen to both and don't fully support either side.

Just want to shed some light on that particular statement about amazon. Keep in mind we go to every house everyday regardless of Amazon. Amazon is pure profit for the USPS, because they transport their parcels to each office everyday. So we have no transport costs. We get paid a flat rate per parcel no matter how big or small. Like I said earlier we're going to the addresses regardless if we have amazon or not. It isn't possible to lose money on the amazon deal as long as they transport everything to every office.

Wasn't exactly sure where to put this.

a reply to: Crumbles

I drove through a town near me two weeks ago.
I saw at least 100 Amazon delivery vans parked there.
Amazon will be delivering their own packages in the near future.

Hopefully the USPS is ready to lose most of their Amazon deliveries.

a reply to: Crumbles

The USPS may in fact be losing money from working with Amazon, sure from your perspective it may seem the costs are incurred by Amazon since they're dropping the boxes off, but you have no idea what staffing is required by the USPS to receive those deliveries, damages, labor. All of these Amazon packages, they got to be tracked, there has to be some type of cost to it. Flat rate is actually a good way for your costs to exceed your revenue, so it could be a combination of internal staffing, the negotiated rate, fuel costs, and a bunch of stuff you can't see as a worker bee.

a reply to: Crumbles

For every Amazon package it delivers, the Postal Service loses $1.46

www.washingtonexaminer.com...

Amazon is happy because it has a deal that takes advantage of a loophole in the law that gives it a taxpayer-subsidized deal none of its competitors could get or match.

That's how it is that, according to a recent piece in the Wall Street Journal, "The U.S. Postal Service delivers the company's boxes well below its own costs."

Bezos can sell shipping below cost because he buys it below cost. He buys below cost because of what the Journal piece termed "an unappreciated accident of history."

a reply to: infolurker

Great article, I was on the right track its the capital/acquisitions costs of equipment and trucks....

In fact, they've climbed so much, according to a recent analysis by Citigroup, that the Postal Service should be charging Amazon $1.46 more per package than the $2 or so it does now. "Amazon now enjoys low rates unavailable to its competitors," the Journal story said. "It's as if Amazon gets a subsidized space on every mail truck."

It's not just the free ride in the truck. It's the $200 million three years ago to furnish carriers with 270,000 Internet-connected handheld scanners needed for real-time package tracking. It's the $5 billion or more to replace the Postal Service's 190,000 delivery vehicles with new ones better equipped to handle packages.

Hey OP, how about a source challenging his claims?

Does the USPS lose mony delivering for Amazon and is there a reason why Amazon would use USPS instead of building his own infrastructure?

a reply to: Crumbles

Bulk rates, flat rates are not covering the costs of the USPS. Employee benefits and maintaining those old trucks far exceed what is coming in. It use to kinda work but nobody is paying standard rates enough to matter. How often does the average person mail something. Almost never.

USPC also does market research on where to put post offices. This is another big expense strip mall mail stores don't have to pay. All they do is open shop right near a post office and look at the results, no lines, normally 1-2 people in there and they can process mail a lot faster than a Post Office without a maintaining a fleet.

What the USPS should do is get out of the fleet business. Hire someone else to supply trucks and maint. They can't do this though because by law they have to have them..meh.

a reply to: Crumbles

LOL.

Next time I need to eat on the road I'm going to swing into a McDonald's and ask for a burger 40% off.

When they say no I'm going to be like "dude it's pure profit, you were making burgers anyway."

Amazon shouldn't get a subsidy when overhead isn't being covered.

a reply to: Crumbles

Well,
why are yours,mine, our tax
dollars SUBSIDIZING every single
Amazon package daily.

ANSWER: Lobbiests to the
sell out politicians.

He gave them nice shares
for their portfolio I would imagine.
He has the Chinese build it out of
toxic waste with slave labor,
(They really care about Human rights and
the environment) , then you help
pay to ship it here and there
so he can be the richest man in the world
and not pay his fair share.
Monopoly.
Trump threatens that gravy train.
That is why they want him gone.
Pigs at the trough.
They are not beholden to any country.
They are only beholden to their wallet.
But, they really care about you. LOL
If you only knew.
oh yeah, its Trumps fault cause he lies. HooHaa!
SAAVY?

I saw this happen before when a courior company back home (one of the big ones) found out it was over 2x cheaper to send domestic parcels though the national post service rather than have their guys do it.

They got crucified in the press and Government quickly nipped in the bud.

Same thing should happen here. Bulk Rates sure, but flat rates ???

Jeez, Of course they don't want to deliver that 80" flatscreen TV themselves if they can do it for pittance though an existing subsidised infrastructure.

a reply to: Bluntone22

In business it can be a GOOD thing to lose a customer. Business is not what most people think it is, if you can't lose one customer without it phasing you, then you don't have a good business model. Secondly not all customers are good customers, some don't deserve your services, nor would you want to give them services. Good companies pick and choose who they work with. Activity != success. Profit = success.

a reply to: Crumbles

The USPS is failing because of pensions and retirement benefits as well as having to many operating locations. They are losing there and then you throw in the fact they lost money on every Amazon delivery and yes, the USPS is failing. They cannot keep up with what they have now to do.

Bad analogy. You're an individual not a multi billion dollar company. If a company came in and said we want to buy 1 million hamburgers can we get them 40% off. I'm sure they would make a deal.

a reply to: matafuchs

The problem with pensions is we are the only company ever to have to fully fund its retirement billions and have a time limit to do it.

originally posted by: matafuchs

The USPS is failing because of pensions and retirement benefits as well as having to many operating locations. They are losing there and then you throw in the fact they lost money on every Amazon delivery and yes, the USPS is failing. They cannot keep up with what they have now to do.

I think USPS has been failing for decades, is there anything new here? Last year they grossed about 71 billion with an operating expense of about 80 billion, so they had a net loss of 9 billion in 2019.

If they ran USPS like a real business maybe they could make a profit? Wouldn't that be crazy if they actually made money, but as people said they are basically not a for profit company and they have a very bloated system just like our education system is bloated past any point of actually being financially efficient.

Amazon Sunday deliveries by the USPS alone is not worth the cost of doing it in my opinion.
Especially since the Convid hit.
Normally that day is only worked by the lower wage CCAs, but since the pandemic they have been taking regular carrier volunteers or forcing them to come in by low seniority.
The last one I worked they had 32 Amazon routes with 5500 packages but the kicker was.....they only had 14 carriers come in and 2 clerks to sort them all.
They were calling all carriers to come in but they never got anyone to answer the phone
And Amazon was still rolling trucks in well after noon and they expected them to go out.
It was an absolute disaster, but then again, everything the USPS does is an absolute disaster.

a reply to: Crumbles

It is called over-extending. Like so many cities and states around the country. You used to be able to have pensions and good benefits but the cost is out of this world right now.

I have a dozen relatives including my late father and grandmother who retired from the USPS. 3 others are Post Masters in CA. The USPS has been on the decline since the 80's and warnings went up then. Others retired early when offered.

Right now they are set to be out of money before the election even starts. Most estimates say Sept/Oct and they will be out of money. Loss of about 30-40% of revenue this year because of COVID. Haven't turned a profit since 2005. Junk mail is giving way to emails. Postage costs cut. Throw in closed offices and a rise in mail boxes and it is even worse.

USPS is in it's dying days. Trump is very right. They could not handle it....

originally posted by: av8r007
a reply to: Bluntone22

In business it can be a GOOD thing to lose a customer. Business is not what most people think it is, if you can't lose one customer without it phasing you, then you don't have a good business model. Secondly not all customers are good customers, some don't deserve your services, nor would you want to give them services. Good companies pick and choose who they work with. Activity != success. Profit = success.

I've owned and ran several businesses and can agree that sometimes losing a customer is a good thing. But in this case in not sure the post office can refuse to deliver for Amazon because they are not a privately owned business.

a reply to: Bluntone22

They could just charge them the same rate as everyone else though right ?

a reply to: Crumbles

Perhaps where you're from. Where I'm from, UPS or FedEx always deliver my Amazon packages. I'd much rather the mailman deliver them because it's a small town and he knows he can put them in whichever car is in my driveway, or he walks to the back of my house and puts the package on the seat of my lawnmower which is out of the weather under another carport. With FedEx and UPS, I've had packages left in the rain, near the road (looked like I put it there to be picked up by the trash man), and I've even had a package tossed 15' from the gate in my backyard to the deck on the back of my house.