Post office blames US government – not Amazon – for billion-dollar loss

[RoosGirl]

The U.S. Postal Service placed most of the blame for the $1.3 billion it lost in its second fiscal quarter on “inflexible” government policy, and some of it on inflation and a decline in first-class mail, but it did not blame any of it on delivery deals made with customers, including, notably, Amazon.com Inc.

The net loss for the quarter ended March 31 widened from $562 million in the same period a year ago. The “controllable” loss, which excludes items that are not recurring and outside of management’s control, was $656 million, after a profit of $12 million last year.

…

“Despite growth in our package business, our financial results reflect systemic trends in the marketplace and the effects of an inflexible, legislatively mandated business model that limits our ability to generate sufficient revenue and imposes costs upon us that we cannot afford,” said Postmaster General Megan Brennan.

That seems to differ from comments made by President Donald Trump last month. Trump said the USPS was losing “billions of dollars” because of a “Delivery Boy” deal with Amazon, under which, he said, the post office lost an average of $1.50 on each package delivered for the e-commerce giant.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/post-office-blames-us-government-–-not-amazon-–-for-billion-dollar-loss/ar-AAx7TcK?ocid=spartanntp

[Suppressed]

Trump used misconstrued numbers. It was shown that they don't lose that per package -- they just get less per package, but the extra volume and lower costs on Amazon deliveries (they use temp delivery staff) means they profit.

[Applewood]

Trump was told he was wrong, but he continued to spread his lies about Amazon to his base.  And his base ate it up. 

So when is he going to admit he was wrong and apologize to Jeff Bezos for trying to ruin his business?

[CRICKETS]

[Elderberry]

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/post-office-blames-us-government-not-amazon-for-billion-dollar-loss-2018-05-11

USPS called the controllable loss primarily a result of a $236 million increase in retiree health-benefits costs because of changes in actuarial assumptions and a $364 million rise in compensation expenses to support its “labor-intensive package business” and contractual wage adjustments. Higher fuel costs and highway-contract-rate inflation lifted transportation expenses by $155 million.

In addition to controllable expenses, unfunded retiree benefits and retiree health benefits jumped $766 million because of changes in actuarial assumptions, while worker-compensation expenses declined $658 million because of changes in interest rates.

USPS said it would take “urgently needed legislative and regulatory changes,” as well as continued management actions, to return to financial stability.

“Despite growth in our package business, our financial results reflect systemic trends in the marketplace and the effects of an inflexible, legislatively mandated business model that limits our ability to generate sufficient revenue and imposes costs upon us that we cannot afford,” said Postmaster General Megan Brennan.