The Washington Post reports that Donald Trump has pushed the Postmaster General to “double” the postage rates paid by Amazon and other shippers, in violation of the laws governing postal rate setting.. Continue reading May 10, 2018 OPM Legislation Would Slash Retirement Benefits Happy Public Service Recognition Week! As the Washington Post reported, that’s what the head of the Trump Administration’s central personnel agency said on the eve of PSRW last Friday when he sent to Congress a package of unprecedented Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposals to strip major benefits from the federal and postal employment compensation package. Continue reading From the National Association of Letter Carriers: On Monday, April 24, the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation released a report on the 2017 tax bill and its effect on U.S. taxpayers. The press stories focused on the winners and losers from the tax cuts – most notably, that 87 percent of the tax cuts go to corporations and the wealthy, and that millionaires stand to reap $17 billion from the legislation in 2018 alone. Continue reading PHILADELPHIA, April 24, 2018 — S. David Fineman, Former Chair of the United States Postal Board of Governors, has released the following statement on “postal politics.” The Postal Service should not be a political football. We should move ahead with providing needed oversight of the system. Continue reading From the National Association of Letter Carriers: Today, President Trump issued an executive order (viewable here) to form a task force charged with evaluating the finances of the U.S. Postal Service including pricing, policies and workforce costs. The order is a likely result from the president’s recent interest in the Postal Service’s partnership with Amazon and the assumption that the Postal Service does not profit from that partnership (view NALC’s response here). Continue reading Last night Donald Trump abruptly ordered a review of the US Postal Service’s finances, apparently in an effort to further damage Amazon.com. Trump has pursued a Twitter vendetta against Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is also the owner of the Washington Post. The Post has frequently published stories critical of Trump. Continue reading For the second time in a week. pro-Trump Fox News has said Trump is wrong about Amazon: Continue reading Donald Trump continued his semi-literate twitter tirade against Amazon and the US Postal Service this morning. Although he didn’t repeat his previous lie about Amazon not paying sales tax, he once again claimed that Amazon treats the USPS as its “Delivery Boy”, which is of course, true. (Full disclosure: I also treat the USPS as MY delivery boy!) Continue reading Axios reports that Donald Trump has become “obsessed” with Amazon and the damage he thinks it’s doing to businesses owned by his billionaire buddies- and he thinks the USPS is part of the problem: Behind the president’s thinking: Trump’s wealthy friends tell him Amazon is destroying their businesses. His real estate buddies tell him — and he agrees — that Amazon is killing shopping malls and brick-and-mortar retailers. Trump tells people Amazon has gotten a free ride from taxpayers and cushy treatment from the U.S. Postal Service. “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.” Axios’ Ina Fried notes: The Postal Service actually added delivery on Sunday in some cities because Amazon made it worthwhile. WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced The Postal Service Reform Act of 2018: Improving Postal Operations, Service, and Transparency to stabilize, preserve and improve the Postal Service – an essential part of our nation’s infrastructure and economy. The financial condition of the Postal Service, which operates at the center of a $1.4 trillion industry and employs more than 7 million people, has been deteriorating for years. Despite the Postal Service setting a record on Dec. 18, 2017, when more than 37 million packages were delivered, the most packages delivered in a single day in their over 200-year history, the Postal Service saw a net loss for the first quarter totaling $540 million. In addition to reporting net losses for the 11th year in a row and defaulting on their legally mandated multi-billion-dollar retiree health prefunding payments yet again, the Postal Service also, for the first time, missed payments they owe to the federal retirement system in 2017 ? for a combined total of $6.9 billion. For years now, the onerous prefunding schedule for future retiree healthcare obligations has put the Postal Service in a place where it must cut costs ? often at the price of service ? and ultimately prevents them from investing in the infrastructure they so desperately need. While the situation is one that is dire, it is also one that can be fixed through needed legislative reforms.
Politics
In secret meetings, Trump tells PMG to (illegally) double postage rates on Amazon
NAPS: OPM Legislation Would Slash Retirement Benefits
A soaring federal deficit spells danger for letter carriers
Former USPS Board Chairman issues statement on “postal politics”
NALC statement on Trump USPS task force order
Trump, Having Denounced Amazon’s Shipping Deal, Orders Review of Postal Service
Fox News fact checks Trump, says he’s wrong on Amazon/USPS deal
Trump appears to suggest corruption at USPS, PRC on behalf of Amazon
Trump “obsessed” with Amazon (and its USPS deal)
Senators Carper, Moran, Heitkamp, and McCaskill Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Stabilize & Improve Postal Service
Mar 22 2018
