Trump attacks Amazon, again, over U.S. postal rates

[rooster59]

Trump attacks Amazon, again, over U.S. postal rates

 

FILE PHOTO: Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 29, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

 

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump launched his second attack in a week on Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O> on Saturday, accusing the world's biggest online retailer of getting unfairly cheap rates from the U.S. Postal Service and not paying enough tax.

 

Trump's comments on Twitter reiterated criticisms he made on Thursday about the company. He may have been prompted by a report from news website Axios saying he was obsessed with Amazon and considering ways to rein in the company's power, possibly with federal antitrust or competition laws.

 

Investor concerns about regulatory action sent Amazon shares down 3.3 percent over Wednesday and Thursday, knocking $24 billion off the company's market value.

 

"While we are on the subject, it is reported that the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon. That amounts to Billions of Dollars," Trump tweeted on Saturday.

 

A Citigroup analysis last year showed that if the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) reallocated costs to account for the growing volume of packages it delivers, it would cost $1.46 more to deliver each package. Federal regulators, which review contracts made by USPS, have not raised any issues with the terms of its contract with Amazon.

 

"If the P.O. 'increased its parcel rates, Amazon’s shipping costs would rise by $2.6 Billion'," Trump tweeted, although it was not clear what report he was citing. "This Post Office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real costs (and taxes) now!"

 

A White House spokeswoman said on Thursday the administration has no Amazon-related action at this time.

 

Trump also accused the Washington Post, owned privately by Amazon Chief Executive and founder Jeff Bezos, of being a "lobbyist" for Amazon.

 

The newspaper, a frequent target of Trump's ire, won a Pulitzer Prize last year for its critical investigation of Trump's donations to charities.

 

Amazon declined comment. The Washington Post did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-01

[Langsuan Man]

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

A Citigroup analysis last year showed that if the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) reallocated costs to account for the growing volume of packages it delivers, it would cost $1.46 more to deliver each package. Federal regulators, which review contracts made by USPS, have not raised any issues with the terms of its contract with Amazon.

Of course Trumps knows best, not Federal regulators 

[Expatthailover]

Height of hypocrisy. Trump telling others to pay their taxes.

The man is devoid of shame. The role of POTUS as head of the free world has a responsibility to be a role model. All he represents is a mirror for criminals and tin pot dictators of banana republics to look into and get inspiration,

Turf the horrible specimen out.

[chilli42]

This is excellent!  A few more day of this and it will be time to buy Amazon stock

[Opl]

"Amazon Caused Donald Trump to Lose $400 Million Last Year. Trump’s real estate holdings, specifically those in New York City, have taken a big hit in the past year, as retail values are struggling in response to Amazon’s e-commerce gains.”

https://www.politicususa.com/2018/03/31/forbes-amazon-caused-donald-trump-to-lose-400-million-last-year.html

[impulse]

11 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

Of course Trumps knows best, not Federal regulators 

 

You mean the Federal Regulators who go golfing, vacationing and whoring, and have 6 figure consulting gigs lined up next year with the corporations they're regulating today?  Those Federal Regulators?

 

[Redline]

The goon is hilarious ? it’s a legal contract, and they could start their own delivery if they wanted.  As for taxes, that’s up to the states.   Next he will want them to build a wall because Mexico won’t pay for it ?

[boomerangutang]

If I thought like Trump, I would start a war against birds in my yard which make tweeting sounds that I don't approve of.

[FritsSikkink]

12 hours ago, impulse said:

 

You mean the Federal Regulators who go golfing, vacationing and whoring, and have 6 figure consulting gigs lined up next year with the corporations they're regulating today?  Those Federal Regulators?

 

He should rant against the post office which gives amazon these prices, not to the customer.  

[impulse]

21 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

He should rant against the post office which gives amazon these prices, not to the customer.  

 

I don't disagree with the first part of your statement.  But if his objective is to put the Amazon's, Google's, Apple's and others on notice that abusing their monopolistic positions to dodge taxes and bully their competition and the rest of their supply chains is not going to be without consequences, ranting at the Post Office isn't the way to go right now.  

 

Edited April 2, 2018 by impulse

[cabinfever]

12 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

I don't disagree with the first part of your statement.  But if his objective is to put the Amazon's, Google's, Apple's and others on notice that abusing their monopolistic positions to dodge taxes and bully their competition and the rest of their supply chains is not going to be without consequences, ranting at the Post Office isn't the way to go right now.  

 

Except, of course, Trump isn't going after google, apple and others. It's only Amazon. And he's accused the Washington Post of being a lobbyist for Amazon. And apart from the political considerations, Amazon poses a threat to commercial retail real estate interests. Hmm  what unethical party is there in the White House whose economic fortunes might be affected by that?

[impulse]

59 minutes ago, cabinfever said:

Except, of course, Trump isn't going after google, apple and others. It's only Amazon. And he's accused the Washington Post of being a lobbyist for Amazon. And apart from the political considerations, Amazon poses a threat to commercial retail real estate interests. Hmm  what unethical party is there in the White House whose economic fortunes might be affected by that?

 

You're kind of making my point there.  Trump has an agenda- and (in this case) that's Amazon.  I'm not claiming his agenda is altruistic, patriotic or virtuous.  Just that he has one, and blasting the Post Office isn't going to push that agenda along. 

 

Disagree as we may with his ethics and morals, the guy stays on message.  If only he could channel that skill to do good for mainstream Americans...

 

[lannarebirth]

On 1/4/2561 at 7:10 PM, cabinfever said:

Except, of course, Trump isn't going after google, apple and others. It's only Amazon. And he's accused the Washington Post of being a lobbyist for Amazon. And apart from the political considerations, Amazon poses a threat to commercial retail real estate interests. Hmm  what unethical party is there in the White House whose economic fortunes might be affected by that?

It's not just the Washington Post that acts a s a mouthpiece for Amazon, but BusinessInsider as well, not to mention all their other increased lobbying efforts:

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-apos-enemy-not-friend-050052844.html

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2018-02-14/amazon-increased-lobby-spend-by-400-video

[Odysseus123]

Gawd I hope that Bezos can get rid of the tweeting,twittering,gibbering, human disaster.

 

He would probably be appointed President of the World in perpetuity out of profound gratitude, if he did

[lannarebirth]

3 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

Gawd I hope that Bezos can get rid of the tweeting,twittering,gibbering, human disaster.

 

He would probably be appointed President of the World in perpetuity out of profound gratitude, if he did

 

There was a time when oligarchs and robber barons were held in less high esteem in America.

[Odysseus123]

Just now, lannarebirth said:

 

There was a time when oligarchs and robber barons were held in less high esteem in America.

When?

 

Remember the "Gilded Age" when they all ran amok?

 

Trump is/was always a robber baron and an oligarch.

 

The big difference in times of yore was...they didn't have access to Twitter..Thank heaven for small mercies.

[impulse]

24 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

30 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

There was a time when oligarchs and robber barons were held in less high esteem in America.

When?

 

Remember the "Gilded Age" when they all ran amok?

 

When?  From the time FDR called in his rich buddies and told them, "You broke this economy, now you're going to pay to fix it" (I'm paraphrasing), until Reagan. 

 

Top tax rates were up to 91%, the country thrived, the economy grew for the masses and not just the 1%.  

 

 

Edited April 9, 2018 by impulse

[lannarebirth]

19 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

When?

 

Remember the "Gilded Age" when they all ran amok?

 

Trump is/was always a robber baron and an oligarch.

 

The big difference in times of yore was...they didn't have access to Twitter..Thank heaven for small mercies.

 

Trump's not an oligarch he's a sleazy businessman and an a-hole. I was speaking of Bezos.

[Odysseus123]

4 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

Trump's not an oligarch he's a sleazy businessman and an a-hole. I was speaking of Bezos.

Well..no wonder then that they are locking horns....

[BuriramSam]

If postal goons can't even negotiate proper prices for their services, they should probably be fired. It's not Amazon's fault government and quasi government operations are run by incompetent morons.

[BuriramSam]

On 4/2/2018 at 4:47 PM, boomerangutang said:

If I thought like Trump, I would start a war against birds in my yard which make tweeting sounds that I don't approve of.

Tweeting = war? Ummm.... OK.

[BuriramSam]

On 4/2/2018 at 8:34 PM, FritsSikkink said:

He should rant against the post office which gives amazon these prices, not to the customer.  

BINGO! Trump is barking up the wrong tree. Now let's also remember to tell the postal service to go pound sand when they come looking for a bailout.

[attrayant]

Amazon has already mastered the warehousing and distribution logistics. Now I’d like to see them launch their own delivery service (using more than just drones) and compete against the post office.

[impulse]

5 hours ago, BuriramSam said:

If postal goons can't even negotiate proper prices for their services, they should probably be fired. It's not Amazon's fault government and quasi government operations are run by incompetent morons.

 

You hit the nail on the head with the "quasi government" thing.  The Post Office has a mandate to serve all routes, even the ones that UPS, Fed-Ex, and others find unprofitable, and don't deliver to.  By their charter, the USPS has to serve those remote, expensive locations at the same price as they serve the nearby, cheaper locations.  Their pricing is dictated to them by politicians (yeah, I know- it's not that simple), and any increase in those rates has to be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

 

So Fed-Ex and UPS get to cherry pick the profitable routes, and decline service where they can't make money.   Amazon can negotiate great prices with them on the easy deliveries and send only their difficult packages (going to Outer Slobovia -where nobody else delivers) via USPS, which then loses a little bit on each one of those far flung packages.  By government mandate.

 

Edited April 9, 2018 by impulse

[bristolboy]

6 hours ago, impulse said:

 

You hit the nail on the head with the "quasi government" thing.  The Post Office has a mandate to serve all routes, even the ones that UPS, Fed-Ex, and others find unprofitable, and don't deliver to.  By their charter, the USPS has to serve those remote, expensive locations at the same price as they serve the nearby, cheaper locations.  Their pricing is dictated to them by politicians (yeah, I know- it's not that simple), and any increase in those rates has to be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

 

So Fed-Ex and UPS get to cherry pick the profitable routes, and decline service where they can't make money.   Amazon can negotiate great prices with them on the easy deliveries and send only their difficult packages (going to Outer Slobovia -where nobody else delivers) via USPS, which then loses a little bit on each one of those far flung packages.  By government mandate.

 

Not so. It's true that  the USPS does operate under a mandate to offer universal service. So it's got a lot of fixed costs. The only way you could reasonably make the case that the Postal Service loses money on parcel delivery would be if it assigned the fixed costs proportionately to the amount of business it does in parcel delivery.. But since lots those fixed costs would exist with or without parcel delivery, it makes no sense to make such a proportional distribution. In fact, knowledgeable parties say that the post office makes money on parcel delivery.

[Skywalker69]

Trump’s Retail Website Only Pays Sales Taxes In 2 States. Amazon Pays Taxes In 45.

 

President Donald Trump has railed against Amazon, falsely claiming the company fails to pay state and local sales taxes on online shipments. But it turns out the Trump Organization retail website collects sales taxes only on goods shipped to two states — while Amazon collects sales taxes in 45 states.

 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-store-only-pays-taxes-to-2-states_us_5ac95a99e4b09d0a11946b1c

[impulse]

13 hours ago, bristolboy said:

Not so. It's true that  the USPS does operate under a mandate to offer universal service. So it's got a lot of fixed costs. The only way you could reasonably make the case that the Postal Service loses money on parcel delivery would be if it assigned the fixed costs proportionately to the amount of business it does in parcel delivery.. But since lots those fixed costs would exist with or without parcel delivery, it makes no sense to make such a proportional distribution. In fact, knowledgeable parties say that the post office makes money on parcel delivery.

 

On the whole, they may make money.  But their mandate requires that they deliver to remote areas where they lose money on some parcels.  Fed-Ex, UPS and others simply don't deliver to areas where they can't make money.  So Amazon is free to ship via Fed-Ex and UPS (or their own logistics systems) where they can get a better price, and use the USPS on those parcels where the cost of delivery is high, but the USPS has to accept the package- even if it's at a loss.

 

[bristolboy]

46 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

On the whole, they may make money.  But their mandate requires that they deliver to remote areas where they lose money on some parcels.  Fed-Ex, UPS and others simply don't deliver to areas where they can't make money.  So Amazon is free to ship via Fed-Ex and UPS (or their own logistics systems) where they can get a better price, and use the USPS on those parcels where the cost of delivery is high, but the USPS has to accept the package- even if it's at a loss.

 

Not so. The postal service is required to deliver mail,. For the purposes of shipping, parcels are not defined as mail. The USPS is not required to deliver parcels..

[mikebike]

2 hours ago, bristolboy said:

Not so. The postal service is required to deliver mail,. For the purposes of shipping, parcels are not defined as mail. The USPS is not required to deliver parcels..

Actually congress determines what constitutes "mail", and currently that includes packages and letters.

[bristolboy]

6 hours ago, mikebike said:

Actually congress determines what constitutes "mail", and currently that includes packages and letters.

I haven't been able to find anything that confirms or refutes that one way or another. But the USPS is required by law to make a profit on its competitive (non monopoly)services such as parcel delivery.  And it would make no sense for the USPS to actually deepen its deficit by delivering parcels at a loss. The contention that the USPS is losing money on parcel deliveries originally came from a Citibank report. Only the conclusion was published, not how the figures were arrived at.