Trump’s Top Economic Adviser Says Amazon Threats Are ‘Not In My Lane’

[RoosGirl]

@Cyber Liberty when that happens here the Post Office blames it on a temp or substitute delivery person who just happened to be working that day. 

I get fed that same nonsense too.  I finally complained to Amazon enough about the USPS delivery that they told me they could change my preferred deliverer. 

[Cyber Liberty]

@Cyber Liberty when that happens here the Post Office blames it on a temp or substitute delivery person who just happened to be working that day. 

Unfortunately I am on a first-name basis with my regular guy, so I know exactly when those days off are.  If I have something perishable or valuable coming, he's been known to call me to make sure we're home.  He would have delivered that item I referred to above on my porch, and the other guys are too effin lazy.  The alternate carriers suck, even the ones who have been there for years.

One day when I got home from work, I found a USPS jeep out in front of my house.  The lady was sitting in it filling out one of those "I missed you for delivery" tickets to stick on my door.  I knew I was expecting a package from Wales that needed a signature, so I greeted her by the truck and signed it off.  She wasn't even going to try to deliver it, she was just going to stick the notice on our door and make us come to the Post Office to fetch it.

Lazy shits.

[txradioguy]

I get fed that same nonsense too.  I finally complained to Amazon enough about the USPS delivery that they told me they could change my preferred deliverer.

We've got the USPS's worst nightmare here in Kentucky.  Amazon Fulfillment Centers and the UPS World Port.  There's UPS trucks lined up at the Fulfilment Center warehouses all the time waiting for cargo to load onto the planes at the Louisville airport.

[Cyber Liberty]

I get fed that same nonsense too.  I finally complained to Amazon enough about the USPS delivery that they told me they could change my preferred deliverer.

Same here.  I hate USPS for package delivery, they're the worst.  I halfway hope Trump gets his way on this so Amazon and their affiliates will just drop USPS altogether.

[RoosGirl]

We've got the USPS's worst nightmare here in Kentucky.  Amazon Fulfillment Centers and the UPS World Port.  There's UPS trucks lined up at the Fulfilment Center warehouses all the time waiting for cargo to load onto the planes at the Louisville airport.

Yeah, in the last couple years we've gotten I think two new distribution centers, so we're within the same day delivery zone now.  AMZL seems to deliver most packages now.

[txradioguy]

Yeah, in the last couple years we've gotten I think two new distribution centers, so we're within the same day delivery zone now.  AMZL seems to deliver most packages now.

IMO that's their end goal.  To have delivery to your door...from their fulfillment center via Amazon package delivery services (ground and air) and cut out the middle man...in this case FedEx...USPS and UPS.

[ABX]

I have three arriving today, all by AMZL, Amazon's own courier.  I live in a large Metro (Phoenix), so I imagine it's somewhat different where you are.  But AMZL is building out to smaller cities, and within a year or two you will start seeing AMZL delivering to your door, and UPS everything else.

The customers who have a lot of Amazon experience (you and me) HATE the USPS delivery, I dread seeing the notice come up on Amazon "Shipped With USPS."  My regular mail guy is great, 30+ years on the job, but when packages come in on his weekend they always louse it up.  Perishable items left in the community mailbox was the last offense.  It was over 100F in that mail box, and the shipping carton was labeled in bright fluorescent labels "Perishable."

I agree with the USPS delivery cringe. I had a package two weeks ago that was 'out for delivery' by 7AM via USPS. Instead of coming with standard USPS, it came separate and ended up being delivered at 6PM the next day.

[INVAR]

You say that...I never have.  Once again you're showing your admitted compunction for lying about what people actually said and not caring.

He has a penchant for doing that in order to push a bogus point, even when he has been shown otherwise he doubles down on it and does Alinsky No. 5 for us.

[Bigun]

I have Prime so my shipping is free.

And all you're doing is paying for someone who lives at the end of a dirt road in Floyds Knob, Kentucky to get their mail as cheaply as someone in Louisville.

NO it isn't! You paid for it when you bought your prime membership just like I, and every other prime member, did.

[Bigun]

Same here.  I hate USPS for package delivery, they're the worst.  I halfway hope Trump gets his way on this so Amazon and their affiliates will just drop USPS altogether.

The PROBLEM with the USPS is that they are the only post office in town and they act like it!

[Suppressed]

Which has been shown over and over and over, is a blatant lie- it is not below their cost. USPS has come out with this and their financials show this. It is a bulk discount but they are still making a profit on it. At that, package delivery is pretty much the USPS's only profitable area and is keeping them afloat.

Translated- the president has been lying through his teeth about this.

@AbaraXas

You're right.

I'm willing to put cold, hard cash down that @driftdiver hasn't even read the Citi report.  He's just repeating the Trump lies without checking them.  You're right, the USPS isn't "losing money" in the sense that their costs exceed what they're charging.  The Citi report said (it's dated April 2017) that they should charge $1.46 more...that their pricing is "suboptimal".  Even if true, it's disingenuous to call that a "loss". 

I've got the report open right here on my desk, and it's interesting to see that the projected differential decreases over time, down to $1.41 for 2018 and $1.36 for 2019.

You know, I'm willing to bet Trump hasn't read the report, either.  Why should he, when he can just make stuff up and his fans will swallow it hook, line, and sinker?

[driftdiver]

NO it isn't! You paid for it when you bought your prime membership just like I, and every other prime member, did.

And that $119 /yr pays for all the shipping for all the packages? 

Really?

Or is the money for shipping coming from some other source?   

For example I just priced a nice trackball mouse for my computer on amazon.   With prime the shipping is free, without prime its $3.99.    One bestbuy.com shipping for the same mouse is $5.49.

Using the USPS shipping cost estimator the cost for a similar box from similar locations is $7.20

So the real question is where is that money coming from?  Is amazon eating that $3.99.  Hard to believe there is that much extra profit in a $25 mouse. 

[Emjay]

@Cyber Liberty

Dictator Trump wants to double the amount of Amazon postage; that hurts everyone who needs to, or wants to, buy from Amazon. Dictator Trump through Sessions is going to limit the amount of opioids a company can make so there won't be enough to fill a doctor's prescription - that affects everyone who needs them. This Dictator Trump administration is a dictatorship taking away the freedom of companies to sell their products as they want and the freedom of customers trying to buy those products. Dictator Trump doesn't care about what hurts people - he only cares about himself, as in, "Look at me, I won over the owner of Amazon whom I hate!  Look at me, I won the war against drugs - less prescriptions filled by pharmacies!"  Dictator Trump.

@Victoria33
I don't understand the postage war against Amazon.  Perhaps Trump thinks he is helping other retail outlets that Amazon is putting out of business.  I understand that, but you cannot protect the buggy whip makers, so to speak.  I don't think this is legal and I don't think he can do it.  My daughter and I keep Amazon hopping since we've moved to Maui and don't have the shopping options we had on the Mainland.

I was pleased when I saw Sessions war against opioids...they are the number one drug danger now and some physicians have to be complicit.  Once prescribed, these drugs are often sold or traded.  I don't know how Sessions is suddenly blamed for doing something when he's been blamed for doing nothing for months.

I believe you are being a little harsh on Trump. He is still operating under the checks and balances prescribed by the law.

[roamer_1]

The PROBLEM with the USPS is that they are the only post office in town and they act like it!

Yes, you're right @Bigun ... but more than that, the post is pretty much an anachronism. I can't tell you the last time I sent a letter, and I am usually offended for having to sort through a pound and a half of crap for the very few letters I do receive... Everything, including most of my bills, are emails. Heck, I haven't even owned a printer for years. Pretty hard to make money for USPS on anything other than junk mail and packages.

[aligncare]

The PROBLEM with the USPS is that they are the only post office in town and they act like it!

And not just with the post office. I had to deal with two city government workers today and neither knew what they were doing, didn’t understand their own application forms. I had to explain it to one of them.

[Emjay]

@Victoria33
Good grief its really time to take a deep breath.

The post office gave Amazon a price which is below their cost.   That means the taxpayer is currently paying part of the delivery cost for every Amazon package delivered.

Only a lunatic would want that to continue.

@driftdiver   How did that even happen.  I didn't know the USPS could make arbitrary decisions about postage rates?

[driftdiver]

@AbaraXas

You're right.

I'm willing to put cold, hard cash down that @driftdiver hasn't even read the Citi report.  He's just repeating the Trump lies without checking them.  You're right, the USPS isn't "losing money" in the sense that their costs exceed what they're charging.  The Citi report said (it's dated April 2017) that they should charge $1.46 more...that their pricing is "suboptimal".  Even if true, it's disingenuous to call that a "loss". 

I've got the report open right here on my desk, and it's interesting to see that the projected differential decreases over time, down to $1.41 for 2018 and $1.36 for 2019.

You know, I'm willing to bed Trump hasn't read the report, either.  Why should he, when he can just make stuff up and his fans will swallow it hook, line, and sinker?

@Suppressed
No its just that I don't swallow every line that some govt stooge throws my way.  For example I've actually gone down to the USPS and shipped stuff.

I also know that the USPS has lost money every single year.

Its called Crony capitalism and its obvious most here don't care as long as they get their free shipping.

[txradioguy]

NO it isn't! You paid for it when you bought your prime membership just like I, and every other prime member, did.

What I meant was paying for anything to be shipped by USPS express mail subsidizes rural mail delivery.

[txradioguy]

@driftdiver   How did that even happen.  I didn't know the USPS could make arbitrary decisions about postage rates?

They can't.

[Emjay]

Everyone in the package business gets the same deal.  Amazon just benefits most, due to business volume. 

"We never said Amazon is getting a $1.50 subsidy," Citi analyst Christian Wetherbee told Business Insider on Monday in a discussion of misinterpretations of the report, which actually says the loss per package is roughly $1.46 for the USPS.

Wetherbee continued: "If you read what that number is, it's the total package business is priced below cost. It has nothing to do with Amazon specifically."

http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-slips-up-in-amazon-post-office-war-2018-4

Well, thanks, @edpc   I could not imagine that the USPS could arbitrarily cut prices for a certain user.  I am just commenting as I go along.

[driftdiver]

@driftdiver   How did that even happen.  I didn't know the USPS could make arbitrary decisions about postage rates?

@Emjay
If you ship enough with the USPS you can negotiate rates with them.

They don't see residents as their customers.   To the USPS the mailer is their customer. 

[Emjay]

Sorry, the only reason why Trump is after Amazon, is that Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post.

@kevindavis   Only 5 posts and we get into a conspiracy theory about Trump.  Is that some kind of record?  Should we have a party?

[Bigun]

And that $119 /yr pays for all the shipping for all the packages? 

Really?

Or is the money for shipping coming from some other source?   

For example I just priced a nice trackball mouse for my computer on amazon.   With prime the shipping is free, without prime its $3.99.    One bestbuy.com shipping for the same mouse is $5.49.

Using the USPS shipping cost estimator the cost for a similar box from similar locations is $7.20

So the real question is where is that money coming from?  Is amazon eating that $3.99.  Hard to believe there is that much extra profit in a $25 mouse.

Have you ever heard of a thing called the economy of scale? 

Amazon has made a conscience decision that many of the prime subscribers will not amke enough purchases to consume the amount of their subscription in delivery charges and even if they all do, the service provided will generate enough business to overcome any shipping loss(es) they might incur.   The KEY word is "SERVICE"  someting the USPS knows very little about.

[txradioguy]

@kevindavis   Only 5 posts and we get into a conspiracy theory about Trump.  Is that some kind of record?  Should we have a party?

Trumps own words show this isn't about Amazon and it's about what's said about him in the Washington Post.

There's no conspiracy theory.  It's the truth.  Trump is threatening Bezos' main source of income because of what another company he owns prints about him on it's pages.

It's called extortion.

[driftdiver]

They can't.

@txradioguy
You cant

I cant

Companies with large amounts of stuff to mail can negotiate rates.    I've done it.