• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

For every Amazon package it delivers, the Postal Service loses $1.46

ReverendHellh0und said:
So where do they borrow this from? who's money is it they borrow? where does that money come from?
Click to expand...
Like I said: They borrow from the Treasury. And they have to pay it back.

If they were a normal business, they could have taken all sorts of steps to right the ship -- such as getting to a more normal pension schedule; switching to 401k's; closing local post offices; raising rates, and more. Congress blocks them from taking those kinds of steps. Plus, Trump has apparently neglected the USPS, by not appointing any directors, which means that they can't get a quorum.


The USPS is also exempt from Taxes, which if it was any other company you all would call that not right.
Click to expand...
I already mentioned that, thanks for not noticing. Like I said, if you want to call a tax cut a subsidy, we can do that.... as long as we do so in all cases, such as the tax bill Congress just passed.


tax payers pay for subsidies. game set match.
Click to expand...
Huh? Which side are you on -- tax breaks are subsidies, or tax breaks are not subsidies? And do you apply that universally, including the corporate tax cut Congress just passed?


Bro, do you even business?

if every package I deliver from person A is costing me a buck fifty, how is person A, "keeping me afloat"? are you for real?
Click to expand...
Bro, do you even business? Are you for real?

Amazon does not cost the USPS $1.50 per package, that's just nonsense. One analyst, whose firm holds FedEx stock by the way, claims that Amazon is getting a $1.50 discount per package. Other analysts believe that Amazon is paying $2.00 per package. The exact terms are not public.

Amazon is getting a huge discount, most likely because:

1) Amazon's massive volume, which lets the USPS leverage economies of scale to reduce its cost;
2) massive volume part 2, which means that the USPS is leveraging its underutilized infrastructure;
3) massive volume part 3, which is that the USPS' previous cash cows of 1st class and junk mail have dried up, and USPS needs to beef up its parcel service just to survive;
4) Amazon, the Kings of Data, are apparently doing a lot of work for the USPS before packages leave the warehouses, notably pre-sorting huge volumes of mail


You and your ilk did not "reflexively side with amazon"...
Click to expand...
Or, if you actually bothered to read what I wrote, you'd see that I bothered to find out the facts before writing; and I believe the current deal benefits both parties and the public -- which is why they actually struck a deal.

Again, the USPS is a for-profit entity, and does not actually want to lose money. They can't possibly afford to lose huge sums on a deal with Amazon. If they were losing $1.50 per package, they'd walk.

Oh, and the USPS is not "socialism," it's a critical infrastructure -- so critical that even the framers of the Constitution recognized its importance. While it is far less important than it used to be, it is still a necessary component of a civil society.


The rest of your position is just dumb. I for one think the post office should be abolished. Amazon has shown it could be done, around here most packages are delivered by small third party companies.
Click to expand...
lol

What a surprise, the libertarian doesn't like the idea of a common good managed by a government entity.

News flash! Just because small companies can deliver some packages doesn't mean they would be a viable replacement for the USPS. We've seen over and over how conservatives and libertarians insist that we privatize services, only to see costs explode while quality declines; or that services are superfluous, when they are actually vital to maintain a civil society today.


You position is also dumb because this is a debate forum, trump, who is the POTUS brought something up, it is NORMAL for posters here at dp to bring up current events, it's exactly what we are here for. to chide posters for doing such just makes puts you into bitter sore loserness.
Click to expand...
lol

So, let me get this straight.

When a Trump critic hops all over something Trump says, seconds after he says it, they are unjustifiably freaking out.

When a Trump supporter or conservative hops all over anything Trump says, seconds after he says it, that's just reporting current events.

Sorry dude, but you are only fooling yourself with these kinds of double standards.

Back in the real world: The deal is several years old, the USPS isn't losing money because of it, and nothing changed last week. Trump just hauled off against Amazon because he wanted to attack its owner. There is no news here, just Trump throwing a Twitter Tantrum... again.
 
Visbek said:
Like I said: They borrow from the Treasury. And they have to pay it back.

If they were a normal business, they could have taken all sorts of steps to right the ship -- such as getting to a more normal pension schedule; switching to 401k's; closing local post offices; raising rates, and more. Congress blocks them from taking those kinds of steps. Plus, Trump has apparently neglected the USPS, by not appointing any directors, which means that they can't get a quorum.



I already mentioned that, thanks for not noticing. Like I said, if you want to call a tax cut a subsidy, we can do that.... as long as we do so in all cases, such as the tax bill Congress just passed.



Huh? Which side are you on -- tax breaks are subsidies, or tax breaks are not subsidies? And do you apply that universally, including the corporate tax cut Congress just passed?



Bro, do you even business? Are you for real?

Amazon does not cost the USPS $1.50 per package, that's just nonsense. One analyst, whose firm holds FedEx stock by the way, claims that Amazon is getting a $1.50 discount per package. Other analysts believe that Amazon is paying $2.00 per package. The exact terms are not public.

Amazon is getting a huge discount, most likely because:

1) Amazon's massive volume, which lets the USPS leverage economies of scale to reduce its cost;
2) massive volume part 2, which means that the USPS is leveraging its underutilized infrastructure;
3) massive volume part 3, which is that the USPS' previous cash cows of 1st class and junk mail have dried up, and USPS needs to beef up its parcel service just to survive;
4) Amazon, the Kings of Data, are apparently doing a lot of work for the USPS before packages leave the warehouses, notably pre-sorting huge volumes of mail



Or, if you actually bothered to read what I wrote, you'd see that I bothered to find out the facts before writing; and I believe the current deal benefits both parties and the public -- which is why they actually struck a deal.

Again, the USPS is a for-profit entity, and does not actually want to lose money. They can't possibly afford to lose huge sums on a deal with Amazon. If they were losing $1.50 per package, they'd walk.

Oh, and the USPS is not "socialism," it's a critical infrastructure -- so critical that even the framers of the Constitution recognized its importance. While it is far less important than it used to be, it is still a necessary component of a civil society.



lol

What a surprise, the libertarian doesn't like the idea of a common good managed by a government entity.

News flash! Just because small companies can deliver some packages doesn't mean they would be a viable replacement for the USPS. We've seen over and over how conservatives and libertarians insist that we privatize services, only to see costs explode while quality declines; or that services are superfluous, when they are actually vital to maintain a civil society today.



lol

So, let me get this straight.

When a Trump critic hops all over something Trump says, seconds after he says it, they are unjustifiably freaking out.

When a Trump supporter or conservative hops all over anything Trump says, seconds after he says it, that's just reporting current events.

Sorry dude, but you are only fooling yourself with these kinds of double standards.

Back in the real world: The deal is several years old, the USPS isn't losing money because of it, and nothing changed last week. Trump just hauled off against Amazon because he wanted to attack its owner. There is no news here, just Trump throwing a Twitter Tantrum... again.
Click to expand...




Well your mouth foaming dumb posts about people posting on trump is easily debunked. Someone just started a thread on trumps no cellphone policy. guess who it wasn't. you are such a hyper partisan that anyone who doesn't throw tantrums at trump must be a trump supporter and I find that position to be anti-intellectual.


Here's a simple question:

"Like I said: They borrow from the Treasury. And they have to pay it back."


Please show me where they have paid it back over the last 5 or so years.
 
ReverendHellh0und said:
Well your mouth foaming dumb posts about people posting on trump is easily debunked.
Click to expand...
lol

So basically, I just tore apart your entire post, including a major factual error. All you can do is try to insult me, and claim that my position is debunked because... someone started a thread about cell phones? Too much.

Sorry, but your attempts to deflect are a failure.


Here's a simple question:

"Like I said: They borrow from the Treasury. And they have to pay it back."

Please show me where they have paid it back over the last 5 or so years.
Click to expand...
:roll:

Here's their financial report for 2017. Oddly enough, there are no references to the USPS defaulting on its loans from the Treasury.
https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/financials/annual-reports/fy2017.pdf

They are paying back what they owe on the debt. That's part of the reason for their losses, but the real culprit seems to be Congress requiring them to prepay pensions 75 years or so into the future. Which is a bit nuts.

And again, do you business? These are not overnight loans on the commercial paper market. It's not like the USPS has to repay a $5 billion loan in 12 months. I don't know the exact terms, but it's probably 15 years or longer.
 
Superfly said:
:lol: Oh, the irony that you have the stones to imply that something is over someone's head.
Click to expand...

Since you omitted a rebuttal, I must have exceeded your abilities.
 
Superfly said:
:lol: Doubtful.
Click to expand...

I never figured that out, one poster thinks another's post isn't worth the time or effort of a response, and therefore the one not responded to declares a victory?
 
OldFatGuy said:
I never figured that out, one poster thinks another's post isn't worth the time or effort of a response, and therefore the one not responded to declares a victory?
Click to expand...

You will see that often here. A lot of the time, instead of getting into a pissing contest with people, especially if I don't think their arguments are worthy of debate, I just walk away. Some people use the same old tired arguments over and over, and it's just silly and pointless and a waste of time to argue the same things with the same people. So instead, I just walk away. Then someone comes along and says, "I win!" Well, yeah, if your argument bored me into just walking away, then you win. You can have it. Honestly, I've never really understood (or cared) about the need to "win," anyway. Maybe I'm just too old to care. :lol:
 
Superfly said:
You will see that often here. A lot of the time, instead of getting into a pissing contest with people, especially if I don't think their arguments are worthy of debate, I just walk away. Some people use the same old tired arguments over and over, and it's just silly and pointless and a waste of time to argue the same things with the same people. So instead, I just walk away. Then someone comes along and says, "I win!" Well, yeah, if your argument bored me into just walking away, then you win. You can have it. Honestly, I've never really understood (or cared) about the need to "win," anyway. Maybe I'm just too old to care. :lol:
Click to expand...

Makes me wonder who was keeping score? Does the contest have prizes for the winner, like a new toaster oven? A used pet rock?

I tell the grandkids when we argue, this is no debate, and anyway I always win, because I am da Boss! They laugh and walk away after a snarky comment or two. Just like their mothers.
 
OldFatGuy said:
Makes me wonder who was keeping score? Does the contest have prizes for the winner, like a new toaster oven? A used pet rock?

I tell the grandkids when we argue, this is no debate, and anyway I always win, because I am da Boss! They laugh and walk away after a snarky comment or two. Just like their mothers.
Click to expand...

:lol: Well I'm certainly not keeping score. I don't need that kind of validation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom