Privatizing the USPS

[slati_2013]

According to the Washington Post, Trump is seriously considering privatizing the USPS. I am very, very, worried. Your thoughts?

Trump eyes privatizing U.S. Postal Service, citing financial losses 

[frugalmarketplace]

First of all don’t believe everything you read…and this isn’t the place for that post. 

[slati_2013]

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@frugalmarketplace wrote:

First of all don’t believe everything you read…and this isn’t the place for that post. 

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The Washington Post is a serious newspaper and this is the place for this post. It will affect all eBay sellers. A private USPS is likely to charge three times current prices and refuse to deliver to certain areas and god knows all the extra fees an delivery times they will come up with. 

[fern*wood]

Actually, I think it is since the postal service directly affects most sellers in the United States.  I just posted my observation on the "lost package" thread, but since posts aren't sorting properly again, it is buried now. 

For what it's worth, I believe dejoy and his actions are finally paying off for those wanting to privatize the postal service.  He even showed his lack of concern recently when he smugly covered his ears when questioned.

[slati_2013]

Those dismissing this as no big deal will soon understand why they should be worried when the prices triple. A private run USPS will be in the business of making money. And it will adjust its prices accordingly. In the past I would have dismissed the possibility of this ever coming to pass but things are much different now.  

[mr_lincoln]

@slati_2013 

I am waiting for Amazon to throw their hat in the ring to compete with USPS, UPS, FedEx and others for shipping packages.   They already have a lot of the pieces ... 

... not sure if they would want the letter mail part of shipping, they may just leave that for USPS ... 

[dryophelia]

@slati_2013 

The boulder is already over cliff. Privatizing is in motion, it's too late to stop it now. This has been years in the making. 

[fjbet13]

I often wonder why we have, at a minimum, five or six delivery services going down a majority of the streets in America everyday. There has to be a way to consolidate those services. Just the savings in fuel alone should be able to reduce the rates.

[slati_2013]

Buying the USPS solves Amazon's last mile issues. I would think Amazon will buy the USPS if it gets the chance. That would ease my concerns a bit since Amazon might keep the prices low. A private equity firm taking over the USPS would be a nightmare. 

[slati_2013]

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@dryophelia wrote:

@slati_2013 

The boulder is already over cliff. Privatizing is in motion, it's too late to stop it now. This has been years in the making. 

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I don't think members of congress from rural areas, many who happen to be Republican will be on board for this unless they can get assurances this will not affect service to their areas. 

[fern*wood]

Well, neither party have done anything about dejoy yet, so I'm not hopeful that the plan can be stopped now.  I'm just thankful I'm closer to the end of my online selling days than the beginning. 

[mordecai8614]

Why "worry" about stuff you have no control over? With the eBay discount, UPS & FedEx are already cheaper than USPS on most orders over 1lb. And on items less than 1lb they're only like a dollar more. So if USPS really "triples" their rate I'll just switch to UPS or FedEx, which I've already done with most orders over 1lb anyway. This is hardly something I'm going to "worry" about. Not to mention, it might not even happen 

[bonanza125]

Well he did talk about that in his first presidency. What it really means is a lot of the USPS locations will close if not fold the whole operation. Then you will be dealing with other carriers like FedEx or UPS which will be 3 times more. When you see the USPS is losing billions of dollars a year it is bound to happen. Which it has been at that point. I think and I feel buyers and sellers really should start preparing now for something to eventually happen. Which means expect your items to cost more to ship or more to purchase. This will definitely hurt sellers who have cheaper items for sale like under $10. Wouldn't be worth selling unless similar items were sold in a bulk lot.

[mr_lincoln]

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@slati_2013 wrote:

Buying the USPS solves Amazon's last mile issues. I would think Amazon will buy the USPS if it gets the chance. That would ease my concerns a bit since Amazon might keep the prices low. A private equity firm taking over the USPS would be a nightmare. 

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@slati_2013 

Yes, it they want the letter-mail piece of shipping ... which I suspect will continue to decline as more and more things go paperless.  But to the point that @fjbet13 made one post up from yours, we see FedEx, Amazon, USPS, UPS, Uber (I assume) delivery vehicles on our rural road on a very regular basis.  

Consolidation would indeed reduce a lot of traffic and more so in urban areas.  It is hard to envision that happening but it makes sense for sure.

[powell-collectibles]

I don’t think the people understand how monumentally difficult it would be to outright by the USPS. That’s an $80 billion a year company. You can’t use stock to buy it, you can’t do a merger, you’d actually need money.