Bezos, Amazon and the Ecommerce Postal Scam.

President Trump continued to needle Jeff Bezos and Amazon for their scam with the U.S Postal Service costing Americans billions of dollars:

"While we are on the subject, it is reported that the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon. That amounts to Billions of Dollars. The Failing New York Times reports that “the size of Amazon's lobbying staff has ballooned,” and that does not include the Fake Washington Post, which is used as a “lobbyist” and should so REGISTER. If the Post Office “increased its parcel rates, Amazon’s shipping costs would rise by $2.6 Billion.” This Post Office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real costs (and taxes) now!"

President Trump is correct. Jeff Bezos and Amazon have used its powerful Washington Post propaganda, and Amazon Web Services, the database platforms behind the CIA and the NSA, to lobby for corporate welfare, favorable tax treatment and shipping discounts that have allowed them to unfairly put thousands of brick and mortar companies out of business. Bezos is now the most wealthy man in the world with a net worth of over $125 billion. That didn't happen due to his business moxy. It happened because he paid off the right people and weaponized the intelligence community and the media on his behalf.

Back in 2013, the New York Times reported that the United States Postal Service (USPS) would start making Sunday deliveries for online retail giant Amazon. It initially served as an effort by USPS to stop the financial bleeding of the agency that was happening as Americans sent fewer and fewer letters. With a reported annual loss totaling about $16 billion, deals with profitable companies like the one Jeff Bezos leads looked like a step in the right direction as far as USPS’ efforts to eliminate losses.

Since then the USPS has been picking up the tab for Amazon. Congress prevents USPS, through the Postal Accountability Act from changing the parcel price. This law is designed to avoid “unfair competition” with FedEx and UPS. Section 3626 of Title 39 United States Code has become one of the provisions often quoted whenever limits imposed on USPS are being researched. Amazon gets the better end of the deal through the $1.46 subsidy. It is as if the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act served as a loophole for Amazon to exploit.

“The U.S. Postal Service delivers the company’s boxes well below its own costs. Like an accelerant to the fire, this subsidy is speeding up the collapse of traditional retailers in the U.S. and providing an unfair advantage for Amazon. A $1.46 subsidy is a gift card from Uncle Sam.”

USPS has been shifting to package delivery as first-class mail delivery has decreased by 40% from its peak. With USPS picking up part of the tab for Amazon, it means that the retailing behemoth can drop its prices. FedEx and UPS receive no such deal from shipping, having to bear their share of the system costs to deliver packages.

Despite shipping with both UPS and FedEx as well, the bulk of Amazon’s deliveries are still sent through USPS. Amazon though is not the only client USPS has, but with 40% of the business coming from Amazon, the Postal Service is “picking winners and losers in the retail world.”

Congress has allowed Amazon to get away with paying little tax, has subsidized their shipping costs by the American taxpayer and allowed Amazon to control the databases and ecommerce platforms that house all our personal and confidential communication and financial information. Without massive Congressional welfare to Amazon from our bribed politicians, Amazon would not have been able to so quickly destroy so many American small businesses with lower prices and cheap shipping. Our own tax dollars pay for us to buy cheap stuff from Amazon. How stupid are we?