Donald Trump tore into Amazon again Saturday on Twitter, accusing the company of running a “post office scam” and insisting that The Washington Post is actually a lobbyist organization.
Trump claimed “it is reported” that the U.S. Postal Service loses $1.50 for each package it delivers for Amazon, which pays the same charges as any other company using bulk rate.
Trump also targeted the Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, calling the newspaper a lobbyist organization for the company.
While it is unclear what reports the president was referring to, a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed may be the source.
The article cited a Citigroup analysis, which argued that the Postal Service should collect an additional $1.46 on each package it delivers for companies like Amazon.
But USPS executive Joseph Corbett wrote a response to the op-ed — which was written by the co-president of a money-management firm that owns stock in FedEx and competes with the USPS. Corbett slammed it as an “inaccurate and unfair account.” The Postal Regulatory Commission has determined each year, as it must by law, that the service is covering costs for package deliveries, he added.
While the USPS has lost money over the last 11 years, climbing demand for package delivery is a boon to the operation, former Postmaster General Jack Potter told The Wall Street Journal. “That’s actually the solution right now,” he said. “It’s well justified that they deliver those packages, and they make money on it.”
The USPS is reaping double-digit increases in revenue delivering packages even as first-class and marketing mail revenue plummets, The Associated Press reported.
Trump was mocked on Twitter last week when he called the postal service Amazon’s “delivery boy.” Tweets pointed out that delivering mail is exactly what the USPS is supposed to be doing.
The Washington Post responded to the president’s tweets in an article Saturday, which said “officials have explained to [Trump] that Amazon’s contracts with the Postal Service are profitable for the agency.” The article also emphasized that the Post “operates independently of Amazon.”