from Hacker News

Trump: Post Office loses $1.50 on avg for each package it delivers for Amazon

by chapill on 3/31/18, 5:04 PM with 12 comments

  • by thisisit on 3/31/18, 7:17 PM

    “The whole post office thing, that's very much a perception he has,” another source said. “It's been explained to him in multiple meetings that his perception is inaccurate and that the post office actually makes a ton of money from Amazon."

    https://www.axios.com/trump-regulation-amazon-facebook-646c6...

  • by simonsarris on 3/31/18, 6:11 PM

    I'm much more worried about the China subsidy and how it allows crap goods sellers to unfairly compete with Americans.

    For example: https://mobile.twitter.com/PollySpin/status/9555543439562219...

  • by obblekk on 3/31/18, 6:11 PM

    Citation?

    Follow up questions:

    1. How much of that is fixed cost that has to be paid (if not by Amazon then by other customers)

    2. How does -$1.5/package for Amazon compare to other shippers? E.g. how much does USPS lose on Walmart?

    My understanding is the USPS is structurally designed to lose money as a subsidy to society for communication/interaction over long distances. I'm fully in favor of revisiting whether that subsidy is necessary in the modern internet driven age in which border expansion is not a goal. But, picking on Amazon for using the subsidy as intended doesn't make sense.

  • by Overtonwindow on 3/31/18, 7:59 PM

    One thing that has always been a worry is the budget deficit the postal service runs. I think more should be done to examine where costs are going, where profits could be made, or expanded. Quoting from their 2017 financial report: "The Postal Service reported a net loss for the year of $2.7 billion" [0] That use to be $8 billion ten years ago, so perhaps things are getting better...

    [0.] https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2017/pr17_069....

  • by skyzyx on 4/6/18, 12:55 AM