New shipping rates

[Ray]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I read a while ago the bulk mail pays for all the rest. A large part of the problem is the miniscule rate charged for the very enormous number of packages from China to the US. The USPS is subsidizing Amazon and Ali Baba to ship products to the US.

OK. You have to explain that one to me.

When something is shipped to the US, the freight is primarily paid at the origin.

I will agree, however, that the large-volume shippers get HUGE rate breaks on domestic transfers.

I just shipped a 25# bag of fertilizer from NC to TN.
USPS Large, Flat-Rate Box - $20
USPS Parcel $45
UPS Parcel $24

GM shipping a 300# car fender - UPS $8

[estación seca]

Here's a good outline of the issue, from the Atlantic. The previous Administration was not able to overcome lobbying opposition and nothing changed.

I noticed this about 10 years ago when I wanted a very short USB charging cable. The only ones available in the US were twice as long as I wanted. I found some on Amazon that were sold and shipped from China. I could buy ten of them, the size I wanted, shipping included, for less than half the cost, excluding shipping, of one cord twice that length available in the US. I ordered them. When the package arrrived the postage shown on the package was somewhat more than the total I'd paid for the cables plus shipping. I couldn't figure this out except if the shipper was not really paying the amount shown. Nevertheless, to ship a package like that in the US would have been far more expensive than shipping it from China.

[Dimples]

USPS is a public service laid out in the US constitution. The intention was to ensure that all people can send and receive mail without paying through the nose to a private company, and it was designed to be paid for and supported by taxes when needed. It was never intended to be a fully self-supporting business entity, as it has been run since the 1970s. The "failures" and price increases we have been experiencing over the last many years (aside from the intentional ones caused during the last administration...) are due to a number of factors, but in large part are because our political leaders decided to stop treating it as a public service and expecting it to be a profit-generating business.

Imagine what private shipping carriers would be charging if they didn't have to compete with the USPS. Sure, it needs some modernizing and needs to re-work its deal with Amazon, but most of the problems stem from it being forced to self-fund. What other government departments need to do that?