Amazon is worse than Walmart

[donnay]

[euphemia]

Oddly, maintaining a post office and the roads necessary to deliver mail is an enumerated power of Congress.

[heavenlyboy34]

SMH. When you inadvertantly make statist arguments against people voluntarily partaking in difficult and low-paying labor to improve their quality of life.

[donnay]

Oddly, maintaining a post office and the roads necessary to deliver mail is an enumerated power of Congress.

Postal myths: #2 The USPS isn’t part of the federal government
http://postalnews.com/blog/2015/05/0...rnment-agency/

?

[euphemia]

Actually, people who choose low-skill jobs probably have low skills for desk work. They could probably improve their skills, but they don't, and some people really prefer to do physically hard work. I was in the classroom for many years, and some students were never happier than when doing physically demanding things. Some of those students are doing quite well in their adult lives in construction. They love it, it suits them, and they make good money. Granted people who work with their bodies will need to make sure they have good retirement savings because they can't do it forever, but if they want to make a living with their brawn, then good for them.

[euphemia]

Postal myths: #2 The USPS isn’t part of the federal government
http://postalnews.com/blog/2015/05/0...rnment-agency/

Indeed, it was privatized back in the day, a move that did not improve sustainability, and was unconstitutional.

There is an Amazon distribution center about 40 miles from here. They use a lot of private delivery, including people who use their personal vehicles to deliver packages.

[donnay]

Indeed, it was privatized back in the day, a move that did not improve sustainability, and was unconstitutional.

There is an Amazon distribution center about 40 miles from here. They use a lot of private delivery, including people who use their personal vehicles to deliver packages.

Yes, I am aware of that; they are doing that here as well. New Hampshire is trying to get a distribution center here too and everyone says it will employ 50,000 people. I, personally, do not think it is a good idea.

[oyarde]

I , a truly Great American Patriot do not use walmart or amazon .

[donnay]

I , a truly Great American Patriot do not use walmart or amazon .

You're a better person than I. I, unfortunately, use Amazon, however I am thinking of not using them in the new year.

[Danke]

I , a truly Great American Patriot do not use walmart or amazon .

Would you be if they started taking animal furs and beads as payment?

[euphemia]

People can act like their dollars have ethics, and they can shop wherever they want. Most people haven't a clue about where their dollars actually go. One would think it's a good thing for companies to ship goods around the world....

[oyarde]

Would you be if they started taking animal furs and beads as payment?

I used to trade a company called Mepp's squirrel tails for fishing lures . They still hand assemble them in the US .

[Danke]

People can act like their dollars have ethics, and they can shop wherever they want. Most people haven't a clue about where their dollars actually go. One would think it's a good thing for companies to ship goods around the world....

A lot of $#@! from China is basically slave labor.

[oyarde]

Would you be if they started taking animal furs and beads as payment?

We sell our furs through a place in canada now . Muskrat , Raccoon etc

[oyarde]

A lot of $#@! from China is basically slave labor.

Also , people are probably not aware , but many things thought to be made in china are made in North Korea and paid cash for . That cash is used for nuclear weapons .

[donnay]

A lot of $#@! from China is basically slave labor.

That could be one of the reason Bezos' hates Trump because he taking jobs away from China's slave labor.

[euphemia]

A lot of $#@! from China is basically slave labor.

No kidding. Read A Year Without "Made in China".

[euphemia]

Yes, I am aware of that; they are doing that here as well. New Hampshire is trying to get a distribution center here too and everyone says it will employ 50,000 people. I, personally, do not think it is a good idea.

People can work wherever they want if they have the skills. I would rather have people working than not working. We have a lot of colleges in the area and it's good when they can have flexible hours. Jobs lead to other jobs.

I don't think it is wrong for the market to be competitive. Neither Amazon nor WalMart have done anything to shut out competition except be less expensive.

[donnay]

People can work wherever they want if they have the skills. I would rather have people working than not working. We have a lot of colleges in the area and it's good when they can have flexible hours. Jobs lead to other jobs.

I don't think it is wrong for the market to be competitive. Neither Amazon nor WalMart have done anything to shut out competition except be less expensive.

The video I posted above is from an ex-Amazon worker. It's very telling that these big corporations don't want or like competition.

[timosman]

Just a reminder - Amazon makes no profit(no taxes and somehow everybody is OK with it. They are looking really good, any day now they will start making money. I have been hearing this for almost 20 years.

[euphemia]

The video I posted above is from an ex-Amazon worker. It's very telling that these big corporations don't want or like competition.

Not everything on the internet is true. If people do not want to work at WalMart or Amazon, they can go somewhere else. A lot of it is attitude.

I think it is easy to pick on Amazon and WalMart because they are so successful. There is a reason KMart and Sears are going out of business.

I'm not going to get caught up in the envy game. I'm not in retail, but I do work for an iconic American company that has been in business over 100 years. I've been there almost a year and I find them to be true to their stated values. Some might disagree. That's fine.

[timosman]

[timosman]

Not everything on the internet is true. If people do not want to work at WalMart or Amazon, they can go somewhere else. A lot of it is attitude.

You are now being condescending. A large number of easily available opportunities have disappeared because of the monopolies. It is given a large number of employees will end up working for these behemoths. Not everybody is as lucky as you currently think you are.

[donnay]

Trump Tells Truth About How Amazon is Ripping Off Taxpayers; Liberal Melt Down

December 29, 2017 By Donn Marten

The already frosty relationship between President Donald Trump and Amazon.com overlord Jeff Bezos plunged to a new low on Friday.

Trump trained his weaponized Twitter account on Amazon by pointing out that the United States Postal Service is getting “dumber and poorer” while making Bezos richer than King Midas thanks to giving the online mega-retailer a break on shipping costs.

The Hill reports:

President Trump insisted on Friday that the U.S. Postal Service should be charging online retailers, like Amazon, more to deliver packages, saying the service’s cheap delivery rates were making it “dumber and poorer.”

“Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE!” he tweeted.

Trump’s tweet came after “Fox & Friends” aired a segment about technology trends expected in 2018. Among them was Amazon’s bet on augmented reality, which would reportedly allow online shoppers to see how products would look in their homes before making a purchase.

Trump is referring to the subsidy that the USPS is providing to Amazon that deprives it of a staggering amount of money that continues to be lost as Bezos’ baby continues to expand and consumers become more accustomed to the convenience of shopping from home. If they have a Prime membership, they can even get some of their merchandise delivered the same day in certain areas.

Earlier this year, Fortune magazine compared the special rate to a “gift card from Uncle Sam” in story that cited an analysis by Citigroup, “This Analyst Claims the U.S. Postal Service Is Giving Amazon a Huge Subsidy”:

[S]hipping industry watcher and money manager Josh Sandbulte thinks there’s an ugly underside to the USPS-Amazon collaboration. Sandbulte, writing in the Wall Street Journal last week, argued that the USPS effectively subsidizes the price of shipping Amazon’s packages.

According the Sandbulte, Congress has barred USPS from setting its parcel prices below its costs, to keep it from unfairly undercutting competitors like FedEx and UPS. But the formula for calculating those costs, set in 2006, hasn’t kept pace as packages have come to make up a higher and higher percentage of USPS volume. The law set the share of infrastructure costs associated with packages at 5.5%, but boxes now make up around 25% of Postal Service revenue.

Sandbulte cites an April analysis by Citigroup that put a price tag on the resulting distortion. If package delivery bore its fair share of Postal Service system costs, each box would cost $1.46 more to deliver. That “subsidy” is systemwide, and the USPS has courted other large e-commerce companies.

But Amazon’s size means that it benefits disproportionately, and ships around 40% of its deliveries with USPS. In Sandbulte’s view, this means the Postal Service is “picking winners and losers in the retail world.”

In a rapid response to Trump’s tweet, Bloomberg was quick to point out that:

Amazon regularly uses the U.S. Postal Service to complete what’s called the “last mile” of delivery, with letter carriers dropping off packages at some 150 million residences and businesses daily.

While full details of the agreement between Amazon and the Postal Service are unknown — the mail service is independently operated and strikes confidential deals with retailers — David Vernon, an analyst at Bernstein Research who tracks the shipping industry, estimated in 2015 that the USPS handled 40 percent of Amazon’s volume the previous year. He estimated at the time that Amazon pays the Postal Service $2 per package, which is about half what it would pay United Parcel Service Inc. or FedEx Corp.

The Postal Service reported a net loss of $2.1 billion in the third quarter of 2017 and has $15 billion in outstanding debt. The service has lost $62 billion over the last decade.

Liberals will rush to attack Trump with breakneck speed even if he is correct because Bezos is one of them.

In addition to Amazon, Bezos owns the virulently anti-Trump Washington Post, a sleazy propaganda organ that specializes in fake news based on anonymous sources and has been living off of its reputation since Watergate. No amount of Tom Hanks-Meryl Steep Hollywood magic is going to change the fact that WaPo is no longer a credible source for news despite their silly, melodramatic “Democracy Dies in Darkness” slogan.

To the left and especially the woebegone and morally-bereft Democrats, it matters not one bit whether the taxpayers are being fleeced by a cunning operator like Bezos. It’s all about resistance to Trump, and screw the American taxpayers because the blue jackass party has made it perfectly clear that it cares nothing about them.

Oh, and Amazon stock was slightly down after Trump’s tweet.

http://thefederalistpapers.org/polit...zen.yandex.com

[Superfluous Man]

Amazon and Walmart are both great.

[donnay]

Amazon and Walmart are both great.

If you like being a slave.

[Superfluous Man]

If you like being a slave.

Or if you like being able to buy stuff cheaply and conveniently.

[donnay]

Or if you like being able to buy stuff cheaply and conveniently.

From countries who use slaves to make the products you want.

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.1e1750a9399e

James O'Rourke, a management professor at the University of Notre Dame who studies the Postal Service, said the USPS's essential problem is that it faces costs few other carriers do. Unlike UPS or FedEx, much of whose business revolves around moving parcels from one hub to another, the Postal Service is far more involved in delivering parcels over the “last mile” of a trip. This can be costly, especially in rural and suburban areas.

What's more, the Postal Service pays for employee health care and retirement plans, while its competitors have shifted more of that responsibility to employees. An act of Congress waiving those obligations would make the Postal Service profitable again almost overnight, O'Rourke said.

One of the Postal Service's biggest immediate obstacles to raising prices might be Trump. That's because the body that sets postal rates, the nine-member Postal Service Board of Governors, has only two serving members and lacks a quorum to make decisions. The board cannot raise rates without Trump nominating political appointees to fill the remaining slots, O'Rourke said.

“There is a level at which government operates that elected officials sometimes don't fully grasp,” O'Rourke said. “And this is true whether you're talking about USPS, the State Department or Interior. There are people four and five levels down who make the government of the United States work every day.”

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.vox.com/2017/12/29/16830...l-service-feud

The Postal Service bleeding money — but its parcel services are doing okay

The US Postal Service’s financial woes are, by now, well-documented: In November 2017, the Postal Service made a net loss of $2.7 billion. Magnified over decades, that figure represents a cumulative net loss of more than $63 billion since 2007. That is “many billions of dollars.”

But break down the losses, and the situation is a bit more nuanced. Delivering packages, it turns out, is a growth business, and it actually makes the Postal Service money: The revenue from package increased $2.1 billion, and was up 11.8 percent for fiscal year 2017. The problem is the revenue from first-class mail — still the biggest source of the USPS’s revenue — is declining.

So packages are the Postal Service’s one positive note in an otherwise dismal financial report, and are at the very least not the only reason the organization is hemorrhaging money.

An independent agency, the Postal Regulatory Commission, oversees and reviews the rates the US Postal Service sets for both the monopoly and competitive sides, basically reviewing and giving the okay for any changes — including a one cent stamp increase.

But USPS, Kosar explains, also cuts individual deals with companies that mail or ship in bulk — what are called “workshare discounts.”

“The prices that the company pays is going to be haggled and based on how much [the companies] prepare whatever is being shipped before handing it over to the Postal Service,” Kosar said.

That preparation includes making sure goods are packaged in the right size boxes, or parcels are outfitted with a bar code that works with the post office — basically anything that makes the USPS’s job easier and cuts down on some logistical and processing costs.

And a massive company like Amazon, with the infrastructure and resources to do what the Postal Service needs, will probably get a more favorable deal. “Obviously bigger companies are better at doing this, that’s how they eke out nice little margins, but driving those costs down,” Kosar said.

So in some ways, there’s a mutual benefit. Amazon gets a good deal from USPS, which ships millions (but not all) of its packages, and, in return, the postal system gets help streamlining its operations.

Those discounts can be pretty generous. Kosar says that, in hindsight, the Postal Regulatory Commission has sometimes reconsidered its deals as maybe too good, and unions are often critical of these agreements.

So maybe Trump is somewhat right — the USPS is not the best at making deals. Beyond that, some have argued that USPS should be charging more for its packages across the board. A Wall Street Journal op-ed in July 2017 by Josh Sandbulte, a money manager who closely watches the shipping industry, also suggested the Postal Service is probably effectively subsidizing Amazon and other online retailers.

Sandbulte’s claim is based on how the Postal Service sets its prices. USPS is not allowed to set prices so low that it loses money on delivering packages. (If it could, it could undercut competitors like FedEx or UPS.) But the formula for how it sets its prices was created by Congress in 2006, and doesn’t account for the fact that packages are a much bigger share of the USPS’s business than they used to be.

Sandbulte drew his conclusions based on a Citigroup analysis that suggested the average USPS parcel should cost about $1.46 more per package across the board than it does right now. (Sandbulte works for a firm that owns FedEx stock. Sandbulte could not be reached for comment.)

That discount, if it exists, exists for all USPS customers. It’s just that Amazon sends a lot of packages.

And that’s the bottom line here. Amazon is a giant and, as Kosar calls it, “is in a class of its own” when it comes to shipping. Amazon really, really doesn’t need the United States Postal Service to do business. It can and does use a variety of delivery services — and probably can play those services off each other. In other words: Amazon doesn’t need the USPS. The same isn’t necessarily true for the USPS. (The Postal Regulatory Commission and Amazon did not return requests for comment.)