Trump Threatens To Block Aid For US Post Office If It Does Not Raise Prices
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to block federal aid for the U.S. Postal Service unless it raises shipping rates for online companies like Amazon.com, prompting criticism that the move would hurt consumers relying more than usual on packages during the coronavirus outbreak. The president has long accused the post office of charging too little for packages, saying that deliveries for Amazon and others cost the service money. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post newspaper, which Trump has accused of unfair coverage of his administration. "The Postal Service is a joke. Because they're handing out packages for Amazon and other internet companies, and every time they bring a package, they lose money on it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "The Post Office should raise the price of a package by approximately four times." The president also accused post office officials of being "very cozy" with big online merchants. With the U.S. Postal Service slated to run out of money this summer, the U.S. Congress authorized the Treasury Department to lend it up to $10 billion as part of an earlier $2.3 trillion coronavirus stimulus package. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said his team was meeting with post office officials "and actually, we are going to put certain criteria for a postal reform program as part of the loan." Trump told Mnuchin at the event he would not support aid unless the postal service raised its rates. "If they don't do it, I'm not signing anything and ... I'm not authorizing you to do anything," Trump said. Later on Friday, Trump said: "I will never let our Post Office fail. It has been mismanaged for years, especially since the advent of the internet and modern-day technology. The people that work there are great, and we're going to keep them happy, healthy, and well!"
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