Thursday, April 12, 2018

Going After Bezos: Trump Launches Task Force to Evaluate Postal Service Operations

Jeff Bezos under attack by Trump
President Trump has announced that he is forming a task force to look at the viability and operations of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) on the heels of his tweets accusing Amazon of hurting the organization, reports The Hill.

This will not end well for Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.

Trump said in an executive order that his lapdog Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin would chair the panel, which will assess how the Postal Service is affected by the package delivery market and declining use of mail as well as examine its business model and role in the U.S. economy.

In other words, the panel will look at the pricing of packages that Amazon sends through the Post Office.

“The USPS is on an unstable financial path and must be restructured to prevent a taxpayer-funded bailout,” the president said in the executive order released by the White House.

Trump's order also directs Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ office to advise the task force on the issue of commercial monopolies in the delivery sector.

The task force is expected to deliver recommendations within 120 days on how to reform the USPS "without shifting additional costs to taxpayers," according to the executive order.

-Robert Wenzel  

10 comments:

  1. This sounds like a great project. Would that the US Congress had the gumption and organization motivation to do it but hey, it isn't as if Donald Trump wouldn't be the person via Steve Mnuchin to get the job done.

    I don't really see how using the word lapdog above really communicates anything useful in this post other than indicating that the author has a touch of Trump Derangement Syndrome but then again I hear TDS is epidemic in California.

    https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Trump%20Derangement%20Syndrome

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    1. --- I don't really see how using the word lapdog above really communicates anything useful[...] ---

      I agree. A more appropriate and accurate name to use is 'lackey'.

      A funnier name would've been 'minion Steve'.

      Delete
  2. Clearly the private sector is incapable of delivering letters and packages. [/s]

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  3. --- Trump's order also directs Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ office to advise the task force on the issue of commercial monopolies in the delivery sector. ---


    There are still too many Kulaks actively undermining the revolution.

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  4. Trump says: “The USPS is on an unstable financial path and must be restructured to prevent a taxpayer-funded bailout.”

    Here’s a restructuring idea: open up all postal services to the private sector, let the USPS compete with other private companies with zero funding from the government, and let the consumer benefit from lower prices and better service.

    Don’t think it can be done? Then read up on Lysander Spooner’s American Letter Mail Company.

    Problem solved Mr. president.

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  5. Ironic.
    The American Letter Mail Company started by Lysander Spooner in 1844, succeeded in delivering mail for lower prices, but the U.S. Government challenged Spooner with legal measures, eventually forcing him to cease operations in 1851.
    Although the business was forced by the U.S. Government to close shop after only a few years, it succeeded in temporarily driving down the cost of government-delivered mail. The American Letter Mail Company was able to reduce the price of its stamps significantly and even offered free local delivery, significantly undercutting the Post Office Department. The federal government treated this as a criminal act.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Letter_Mail_Company

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  6. Maybe it's an issue of geography, but virtually all of my Amazon purchases are delivered by UPS and have been for at least 10 years. Is that not common to others?

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    Replies
    1. The private sector has the tendency to flow to the path of least resistance. The orange puppet in the round room can wrap his minimal mind around that

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  7. Just delete the USPS entirely, or let Bezos buy it.

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  8. My last few Amazon deliveries have been made by Amazon itself. I believe they're moving in the direction of having their own delivery logistics operation.

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