USPS Could Hike Rates Under New Leadership

by: Silver Ice King

If Trump had done what he considered doing last year when he threatened to pull out of the Universal Postal Union, much of this problem would already be resolved.  Instead the Chinese were given another few months of basically free postage which small businesses are already having to cover because USPS loses money on every E-packet they deliver.  On top of that USPS must follow the guidelines that were put in place to make sure they don't overcharge for various products.

This new Postmaster General may be a good choice, but I think he is going to find that he and Trump have bitten off more than they can chew with all of the ideas they keep throwing out in their tweets and announcements.  USPS already has 2 if not 3 levels of pay based on when the person was hired when they were trying to stop the bleeding, so I doubt that they are going to get much if anything from the union as far as pay cuts.  I admit the Amazon contract has been pretty much nothing but a money losing proposition for USPS as they pay the lowest rates but expect top notch service.  If that contract goes away the only company that gets hurt is Amazon because once again they have to find a way to get their items delivered.  Fed Ex already walked away from them and now its time for USPS to do the same.

If the new Postmaster comes in with his sites on raising the rates much more on small businesses that are basically keeping USPS afloat he might find that USPS will suddenly lose a lot of that business and watch their bottom line take a major nose dive with no way to recover.  The cost to mail a 4 ounce package coast to coast has already hit more than many buyers are willing to pay in my category, so any further increase is just going to wind up with USPS getting more PWE first class envelopes where the seller only has to spend $0.55 instead of $3 or more.  How is that going to help the bottom line for USPS?

by: Silver Ice King

Also I forgot to mention that all Congress has to do is repeal that idiotic requirement that forces USPS to prepay pensions costs to the tune of $5 billion a year so that they have more money in their pension fund than any other company or probably even the government.  I still do not understand the logic in what they did or why they did it, but all Congress did was completely cripple USPS for years to come, but then they sit there and wonder why they constantly lose money every year.

by: bd greatbuys

but -even it is online sellers - no seller will have 100% true tracking usps LIKE UPS OR FEDEX  the governors and workers are typical union fed(fed up with excuses..) for not providing real tracking

by: hopeforthebest

The USPS is forced to fund it's pension 75 years in advance to create an enormous pool of liquid capital for the federal government to draw on for liquidity.

The ultimate goal is to raise prices so high that privatization of the USPS looks attractive so it can be sold to the same big companies who are already pillaging and looting America to line the pockets of the 1%.

The sad truth is the USPS is the only branch of the Federal government that consistently shows a profit - at least it did before the pension system pre-funding requirement.

Sure, we all see delays and packages that get lost or damaged, but any system that handles hundreds of billions of pieces of mail a day is going to have some sort of loss rate.

by: purpleiris

Hopeforthebest said it.

by: bd greatbuys

hopeforthebest not true you said
Sure, we all see "delays and packages that get lost" or damaged," but any system that handles hundreds of billions of pieces of mail a day is going to have some sort of loss rate.

usps have a 35% of misleading & not tracking orders timely what is the most important for any online platform  -   UPS OR FEDEX hve below 0.3%  the usps is not caring for small business to not providing real tracking

by: purpleiris

I know some have issues with tracking, but I never seem to. Of course, I do my research to make sure the post office I use is a well-rated one (Yelp, Google, wherever). Even if that means traveling to another zip code, which I am forced to do because the one in my zip code has the worst rating I've ever seen for any business.

Those who are having issues might consider doing the same if you have relatively easy access to multiple locations. Just do a search for "USPS [zip code]" and you'll get instant ratings.

by: purpleiris

NOTE: You must enter the zip code of the post office location you use as the "Origination" zip code. Learned that when I switched locations because they had to keep reprinting my labels the first few times. Luckily, they're so well-rated that it didn't delay delivery. =)

by: Steevo

USPS has to raise their rates on big shippers like Amazon and China. They have no choice. I doubt domestic sellers will see much of an increase but those big shippers who got such great deals from USPS have to pay more. And that will make Amazon and China items cost more. It's unavoidable.

by: Shanna

To all of you whining about pensions required to be funded, that program ran from 2006 to 2016.  Its been 4 years since it ended, time to move on.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer/2020/04/14/post-office-pen
sions--some-key-myths-and-facts/

The Postmaster general is talking about the contract with Amazon, which they lose money on every package. It never should have been signed to begin with. I have no problem giving high volume shippers a better deal, but not below costs. I suspect eBay has a similar deal with the USPS, but they are keeping the savings for themselves, will be interesting if that comes out. As a government agency, their contract should be made public.

If these companies paid a fair market price, and we no longer supplemented Chinese shipments, the costs for small businesses would come down.

by: ShortSeller

Every major retailer has a NSA with USPS that goes far beyond any commercial rates offered to even medium sized businesses. In addition to that the postage resellers all get the same while they all link back to the same group of people that do nothing to win business from the couriers while just playing the roll of toll collector at the expense of the US taxpayer. Every single NSA should be made public and audited. There are some scenarios where increased volume may off greater economies of scale than individual losses, but it needs a full accounting. If the likes of Amazon want a discounted rate then they can abandon their tax shelter status and start paying taxes like the rest of us.

by: NoMoreEbay

Or...companies like Amazon and ebay could actually start paying taxes.

The current state of our entire system is revolting. November can't come soon enough.

by: RL15

eliminate epacks problem solved

by: Geetar

They have to raise rates???   They have been raising rates, every year, ....sometimes twice a year. And then they restructured the pricing for first class packages by changing the fee structure to distance like priority mail.

What the hell does trump mean raise the rates. OO, lets see raise the rates by quite a bit so we will be right back to where we were with the Chinese sellers. Raise our domestic rates, while leaving the Chinese rates the same. Then we will be right back where we started.

Why not raise the Chinese rates to the same as what it costs for us in the US to ship to China. Then why not implement a tax on all foreign sellers who ship from a warehouse in the US (a sort of income tax). Then make Amazon pay fair rates comparable to what we pay. Why do us smaller sellers always get the shaft, and end up paying more....higher rates, customs fee's for imports, income tax, and have to charge sales tax to buyers.....Sounds like Trump may be in Bezo's pocket. Sounds like he's trying to put a lot of small sellers out of biz to favor Amazon, and China sellers.????

Isn't bezos on one of Trump's economic teams for something? So I doubt that the 2 of them are really enemies. Sounds like bull to me.

by: Shanna

Bezos was on Obama's economic team, thus why Amazon paid zero taxes during his administration. Bezos and his Washington Post hate Trump, and they are going to hate him more when Amazon has to pay fair rates again.

by: Steevo

Oh, Bezos hates Trump. Hahaha.  

by: Tubular Sales

He was the Chief Executive Officer of XPO Logistics’ supply chain business in the Americas. Previously, he led New Breed Logistics as its chairman and chief executive officer from 1984 until XPO acquired new Breed in 2014.

Sounds like he is highly qualified to run this albatross agency.  Additionally, Trump can't stand Bezo, who purchased the WaPo as a hobby and bully pulpit.  Trump's  not out to raise rates on ebay seller but Amazon, which is fine by me.   I would like to see the rate Cina shippers pay raised significantly.  

by: DZT

Trump is right...The UPS  IS  a joke & it is overflowing with fraud, waste & theft.
It needs to be torn to the ground & rebuilt from scratch.
More info. here....

http://postalemployeenetwork.com/news/category/usps-ne
ws/theftandfraud/



.

by: RKTOYS

"Private sector" management I'd such a one-trick pony.  Raise prices, raise prices, raise price.  Didn't work?  Sorry, out of ideas.  How about raising prices?

by: Toledo Maude

Trump hates Bezo because he is NOT a FAKE billionaire!

Over my 20 years selling on eBay, I shipped thousands of packages, with none lost, no insurance claims for damages, and only a few late arrivals.  God bless my post office and the hard working people there!

If Trump has his 400% increase, there will be a lot fewer small sellers selling on eBay.  A lot!