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Trump Personally Pushed Postmaster General To Double Rates on Amazon, Other Firms: Report (washingtonpost.com)
President Trump personally urged the leader of the U.S. Postal Service to double the rates the agency charges Amazon and other firms for delivery packages in several private conversations in 2017 and 2018, The Washington Post reported Friday (alternative source). From the report: Postmaster General Megan Brennan has so far resisted Trump's demand, explaining in multiple conversations occurring this year and last that these arrangements are bound by contracts and must be reviewed by a regulatory commission, the three people said. She has told the president that the Amazon relationship is beneficial for the Postal Service and gave him a set of slides that showed the variety of companies, in addition to Amazon, that also partner for deliveries.
Despite these presentations, Trump has continued to level criticism at Amazon. And last month, his critiques culminated in the signing of an executive order mandating a government review of the financially strapped Postal Service that could lead to major changes in the way it charges Amazon and others for package delivery. Few U.S. companies have drawn Trump's ire as much as Amazon, which has rapidly grown to be the second-largest U.S. company in terms of market capitalization. For more than three years, Trump has fumed publicly and privately about the giant commerce and services company and its founder Jeffrey P. Bezos, who is also the owner of The Washington Post.
Despite these presentations, Trump has continued to level criticism at Amazon. And last month, his critiques culminated in the signing of an executive order mandating a government review of the financially strapped Postal Service that could lead to major changes in the way it charges Amazon and others for package delivery. Few U.S. companies have drawn Trump's ire as much as Amazon, which has rapidly grown to be the second-largest U.S. company in terms of market capitalization. For more than three years, Trump has fumed publicly and privately about the giant commerce and services company and its founder Jeffrey P. Bezos, who is also the owner of The Washington Post.
Won't that just push Amazon to set up their own private courier services? Not that I feel sympathy for either side of this fight.
I am sorry the company CEO is hurting the Presidents fragile Ego. But shouldn't he be Mr. Business man? Who looks at the big picture and works to make profitable deals no matter what your personal feelings are to the other person? Just as long as Amazon and like companies are not being charged at a loss at such bulk rates this is money to the USPS system, that isn't going to its competitors of FedEx and UPS. Doubling the Rates will not hurt Amazon that much, It will just hurt the USPS because Amazon will just move to the next cheapest shipping method.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Congrats, USA. You have elected a petulant child to run the executive branch.
Donald is going to prison, the question is how deep is Pence's dick in the dirty business of Trump's backside deals?
The USPS is bringing in tons of money through their deals with companies like Amazon. They're not somehow getting screwed. Like in a lot of cases, if you're going to buy a large amount of a product or service, you can generally negotiate to get it at a lower bulk rate. That's not somehow unusual.
It's essentially guaranteed business for USPS. If they double the rate, I'm sure FedEx, UPS, etc., will be quite happy to carry Amazon's packages instead, and the USPS will wind up being the one that loses.
But, what's that matter when you've got an ego to feed? This never was about postal rates. This is about Trump not liking Jeff Bezos, because the Washington Post has the gall to call people's attention to it when Trump says something stupid.
To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
It's less about "fond of multi-bazillionaire captains of industry" and more about understanding how businesses and demand curves work. It's not Amazon that needs protection from Trump here but the USPS which are about to be forced to loose major contracts if Trump will have his way.
This story about the U.S. Postal Service, Amazon/Jeff Bezos, and Donald Trump, is case-in-point as to why he never was Presidential material, why he is not a good President now, and why he never will be a good President, ever: Donald Trump is incapable of de-coupling his ego from his personality when it comes to his duty as President of the United States. The lies, the staffing choices based on personal loyalty and not personal integrity and aptitude, the grandstanding (attention whoring, basically), the temper-tantrums when he doesn't get his way, and decision-making based on personal grudges and personal vendettas (as is the case here specifically) are all anyone with two eyes and a functioning brain need to see that he is not now and won't ever be someone who should have been allowed to be elected in the first place. Never mind that he may well be at least as crooked as Tricky Dick or not (we may never really know, but boy oh boy does it look likely), or that he's flat-out incompetent politically (vis-a-vis Israel/Jerusalem), what we've seen since January 2017 is so far as I and so many others are concerned more than enough evidence that Donald J. Trump as POTUS was one of the worst electoral mistakes in the history of the United States, one that this country will spend decades living down with the rest of the world.
Trump is making policy decisions based on personal grudges and personal vendettas, his ego is blinding him to facts.
Yes, it's a complaint - no one else needs to pre-fund pension plans. Your second sentence about them going broke doesn't make sense.
...then he should get the states to increase their diesel taxes and weight-mile taxes on trucks. But this would harm the oil industry which pays big money to politicians and so it will never happen.
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
Even if everyone agrees with you that forcing the USPS to prefund pensions is a good idea, bitching about their finances when they have to go through this huge change is dumb, if anything we should be expanding their services so that they are more profitable. Including lost cost banking services would be a good place to start.
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson
They are being forced to pre-fund pension plans FAR in advance of their obligation. That is singularly different than ANY other company or entity. It is literally starving them of resources. They can't adequately keep their facilities updated, clean, or expand services. The Post Office is one of the few things specifically mentioned in the Constitution as a service the Government is expected to provide.
If it were not for companies like Amazon and others, the Post Office would have gone bankrupt.
True. The way they are supposed to work is the money disappears up some executives ass when the majority of the workers that paid into it their entire career reach retirement age.
They are required to pre-fund for employees 75 years out per the interpretation of the government on the law congress passed. This means prefunding retirement for employees that have not been born yet.
It's absurd and anyone that can't see that is a shill or a partisan troll.