Think about stocking up on those Forever Stamps
Apr 5, 2018, 6:35 AM
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
Is Amazon ripping off the post office?
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I’ve been trying to help settle this postage debate that the president started with his Tweets about how the post office is losing money on the packages it delivers for Amazon.
The president is not just making this up. He’s referring to a report issued last year by a stock analyst who was making the case that the post office needs money for new equipment and for its pension fund and would eventually be forced to raise its rates for packages.
That report has been picked up by critics of the post office – and believe it or not, there are a lot of them – as just the latest evidence of its incompetence.
However, the analyst who wrote that report says he wasn’t referring specifically to Amazon. He was referring to every company that uses the post office. So if the post office were to raise rates as he suggests, it would cost more for everyone who uses the post office, and it would also let FedEx and UPS raise their rates for everybody who uses their service.
Great news if you own FedEx and UPS stock.
But, according to Steve Hutkins, who for years has run the Save The Post Office blog, there’s an even bigger agenda here.
“The agenda is typically to bash the post office, undermining the union labor force to privatize the postal service.”
Supporters of that idea say it would make postage cheaper. But I’d stock up on those Forever Stamps, just in case.
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Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.
