Postal Service task force recommends changes that could raise some mail prices for rural customers - Entrepreneur Generations

A Treasury Department task force released a 74-page report Tuesday that recommended big changes to the U.S. Postal Service in order to keep it afloat, some of which could cost rural residents more, but stopped short of full privatization. President Trump ordered the review in April after saying that the Postal Service was losing money on its shipping deal with online giant Amazon. At the time, the president was feuding on Twitter with Amazon, whose CEO also owns The Washington Post.

Though the report does not address contracts with individual companies, which are confidential, it affirmed that the Postal Service is "unsustainable and must be fundamentally changed if the USPS is to avoid a financial collapse and a taxpayer-funded bailout." The Postal Service lost almost $4 billion in fiscal 2018, which ended on Sept. 30, even as package deliveries rose," and is expected to lose tens of billions of dollars more over the next decade, Reuters reports.

The report recommends that the Postal Service develop a new pricing model that would remove current price caps and charge market-based prices for mail and packages that were not deemed to be 'essential postal services,'" Irina Ivanova reports for CBS News. "That recommendation could raise costs for Amazon and other major businesses that are currently using the Postal Service to supplement their delivery operations." That could mean higher prices for consumers, including rural residents who depend on Amazon and other online retailers to access goods not available locally.

Mail and packages from one person to another would be considered essential and therefore exempt from higher rates. The report also recommends the government more clearly spell out the types of mail and packages whose delivery it should financially support, such as prescription medications, Ivanova reports.

"Most of the recommendations made by the task force can be implemented by the agency. Changes, such as to frequency of mail delivery, would require legislation," Reuters reports.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2B1O0Xc Postal Service task force recommends changes that could raise some mail prices for rural customers - Entrepreneur Generations

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