Contrary to Trump, the Postal Service needs Amazon

Published April 7, 2018 6:32pm ET



President Trump once again took to Twitter this week to criticize American e-commerce giant Amazon, claiming that the company is ripping off the U.S. Postal Service. Trump’s antagonism to the company is nothing new, having previously claimed that Amazon is destroying jobs and not paying its fair share of taxes. Trump’s antagonism to the company, however, seems to stem more from the disruption it is causing to the traditional industries he adores, rather than any real economic harms.

First, the Postal Service, which has undeniably been losing money over the last decade, having reported a net loss of $2.7 billion in 2017, would be doing much worse were it not for Amazon. While a loss-making venture as a whole, parcel delivery by the USPS, which is what Amazon mostly uses, is the fastest growing revenue raiser, having risen 11.8 percent in 2017. Amazon has been so crucial for USPS revenues that in 2014, they began a deal with the tech behemoth to introduce Sunday delivery, responding to customer demand and increasing revenues.

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