
Trump, Having Denounced Amazon’s Shipping Deal, Orders Review of Postal Service - danso
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/12/us/politics/trump-postal-service-amazon.html
======
webkike
The USPS is my favorite shipping company. I hope it survives for a long time.
I have two reasons why I like them so much:

* They can't inspect packages without a warrant. I don't ship illegal things, but I like privacy.

* They're the only shipping company that I trust to deliver to an apartment building. Seriously. I've had nightmares with every other company delivering to apartments

~~~
make3
I find it hard to believe that the us government would snoop in your emails
and in your IM messages, but somehow not submit your physical packages to some
amount of noninvasive scanning

~~~
webkike
Reading emails is a lot easier than scanning packages that people get mad at
not arriving on time. I'm sure there's some inspection. But the other
companies are most certainly worse.

~~~
bmpafa
^^ this. even cursory x-ray inspection is a huge undertaking.

I once worked for the USPS in a Middle Eastern country, and it was our job to
assist local customs officials as they scanned / inspected every piece of
inbound mail.

They ran each piece through an x-ray, and whenever they spotted a banned item
(liquor bottles, sex toys--hell, they even inspected optical discs to make
sure they weren't porn), they opened the package and confiscated it.

We cleared about 1 mail truck of mail every night, and it took 5-10 hours. No
way that's sustainable on the scale of domestic mail throughput.

~~~
code_duck
What about scanning for moderate amounts of items that could be automatically
detected by machines, like cash, or assessing groups of packages in bulk for
drugs or explosives with canines?

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tyingq
If he's talking about the UPU and shipping rates for China to the US, he's
right.

But, if so, it isn't something the USPS can change.

~~~
adventured
It's one of the things being discussed:

"GOP Senator moves to close shipping loophole that helps Chinese businesses on
Amazon. ... In general, the system is set up so that wealthier countries pay
more than poorer nations, but in recent years the UPU has provided a huge
opening for foreign manufacturers, particularly those in China, to cheaply get
products into U.S. online marketplaces like Amazon."

[https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/10/senator-bill-cassidy-
ending-...](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/10/senator-bill-cassidy-ending-
needless-delivery-subsidies-bill.html)

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alphabettsy
Not that Amazon needs the help, but isn’t the purpose of the postal service to
support commerce and not make a profit? Make it’s time to rethink that, but I
have little faith this is anything more than a political stunt or personal
grudge.

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cmurf
USPS Registered Mail can be insured up to $25,000 including cash or jewelry.
Good luck doing this with another shipper, who strictly speaking to not sell
insurance but rather a declared value with all kinds of limitations.
[https://consumerist.com/2013/06/12/ups-doesnt-offer-
insuranc...](https://consumerist.com/2013/06/12/ups-doesnt-offer-insurance-
even-if-an-employee-tells-you-it-does/)

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cft
Laws concerning US mail privacy are old, dating back from the American
republic times. They are hard to revert. The electronic communications
snooping is how we operate now- with vague and flexible "living document"
style laws.

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nodesocket
I am pro-free market and fiscally conservative and don't get why Trump is
picking this fight with Amazon. Amazon is fantastic for consumers. Sure they
have put ton's of American small brick and mortars out of business and even
brought down retail institutions such as Sears and perhaps next Macy's. Yet
they provide an outlet for small niche makers to sell their products to a huge
online market for essentially no-overhead. Market decides, and the market has
chosen the Amazon model.

In terms of them "dodging" state taxes, as far as I know they are fully
compliant. If president Trump wants to make them pay their fair share, then
adjust the laws. Wasn't this the same argument Trump made about not paying a
ton of taxes, he said it is just smart business and he is totally compliant
within the law.

~~~
kelukelugames
I don't think it's hard to get why. Punishing Bezos for Washington Post.

Edit: I dislike Bezos and am boycotting Amazon. I quit my prime sub and
stopped buying from my Amazon account. And this is still obvious to me.

~~~
nodesocket
I don't buy that. That is what the media wants you to believe that it's a
petty personal vendetta. Think about the conflict of interest there from the
media.

~~~
state_less
I don't think Trump thinks attacking back is petty. He pretty reliably attacks
anyone who attacks him.

[http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-
administration/322...](http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-
administration/322878-the-presidency-hasnt-changed-the-donald)

~~~
alphabettsy
When you’re POTUS that’s petty.

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marcell
We are not a banana republic. Whatever the merits of Trump's complaints
regarding Amazon, this is not how the system is supposed to work. The
president is ordering a review of the Post Office because of a personal grudge
against a newspaper. This isn't acceptable use of power.

~~~
craftyguy
Add it to the long list. At this point, we are a banana republic.

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nraynaud
Is that the right pay grade?

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m52go
To my knowledge, the USPS has been struggling for a while, and making it more
sustainable is something that's critical.

In typical Trump fashion, the core issue has been latched to a very clear &
tangible scapegoat (in this case, Amazon) so that people (and media) debate
_it_ ad nauseum instead of the core issue (streamlining the USPS)...which is
something everyone should agree is important no matter what.

~~~
tasty_freeze
Most people have the wrong idea. It is actually profitable but back during the
Bush years a law was passed requiring USPS to set aside enough money to fund a
75 year retirement liability, and gave them 10 years to do it. They "lose"
billions each year only because of this requirement to set aside billions for
pensions.

[https://www.cnbc.com/id/45018432](https://www.cnbc.com/id/45018432)

[https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/be-careful-what-you-
assume](https://www.uspsoig.gov/blog/be-careful-what-you-assume)

~~~
throwaway84742
So what you’re saying is it’s hemorrhaging money during the unprecedented
explosion in package shipping volumes.

Remember, that “pension” everyone likes to mention is there because USPS pays
its workers peanuts compared to eg UPS.

~~~
loso
I worked at both for a short time in the early 2000s and I got paid more at
USPS than I did at UPS. USPS was more reliable than UPS as far as employment
and overall a better place to work. As a matter of fact UPS ranks as one of
the worst places I ever worked at. The amount of screaming and yelling between
management and workers that goes on there is some of the worse I have ever
seen at any work place I've been at.

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exabrial
I think it's worth knowing whether or not his claims about Amazon are actually
true. Worst case, it'll save taxpayers some money, best case we can be done
hearing about it and know it's a moot issue.

~~~
wpietri
I think the worst case is substantially worse than that. Look at the so-called
"voter fraud commission". They pretend-investigated a non-problem, creating a
lot of news that could only reduce confidence in the US electoral system. And
then it was abruptly shut down in a way that certainly added no clarity to the
issue.

There's no particular reason to think the task force will actually be either
equipped to investigate this usefully or disposed to investigate it fairly. So
the worst case for me is something more like, "Politicized task force produces
woefully biased report in order to indirectly attack the free press, further
reducing confidence in American government, increasing uncertainty for
businesses, and reducing economic growth."

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generalapps
Finally!!!!

It's a well known fact that Chinese sellers are using USPS to get illegal
opioids into the US, fueling the fentanyl crisis

[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-
opioids/chin...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-
opioids/chinas-illegal-opioids-enter-u-s-through-postal-service-gaps-probe-
idUSKBN1FD340)

also, it's a well known fact that USPS allow Chinese sellers to send cheap
products that infringe on IP into the states, thus bankrupting small sellers
in US

[https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/why-does-amazon-
al...](https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/why-does-amazon-allow-
chinese-sellers-that-ship-from-china/351616)

