Talk about Fake News: How a flawed Citigroup analysis led to Trump’s bogus tweets about Amazon and the Postal Service

SteveStory

BY STEVE HUTKINS President Trump is continuing his Twitter attack on Amazon over its deal with the Postal Service.  Yesterday Trump tweeted, “Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed. Also, our fully tax paying retailers are closing stores all over the country… … Read More

PRC rejects Discover NSA and the Postal Service’s “subjective intuition”

adminStory

For the first time since they were created in 2002, a Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) has been rejected by the Postal Regulatory Commission.  Yesterday the PRC turned down the Postal Service’s request to add a NSA with Discover Financial Services to its market-dominant list. This is quite an unusual event.  Since the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, the PRC … Read More

“We Deliver for Amazon”: The Postal Service’s New Priority

adminStory

A former postal worker in Greensboro, North Carolina, named Paul Barbot has written two excellent articles for Alternet about his experiences dealing with Amazon deliveries as a City Carrier Assistant (CCA).  The first of them — “The Horrific New Marriage Between Your Post Office and Amazon Sunday” — was published in February, when Barbot still worked for the Postal Service. … Read More

Postal Service begins expanding into 1500 Staples

adminStory

The Postal Service announced back in July that it was ending its pilot program to put mini-post offices in Staples stores.  The 82 postal counters it had set up last October would be transitioned to the Approved Shipper program, which has been around for years without causing much controversy.  (The Postal Service explained the transition in this blog post.) At the … Read More

Giving Away the Store: The Postal Service discounts the mail

SteveBlog

MARK JAMISON In her book Captive Audience:  The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age, Susan Crawford describes how the American public has been imprisoned by monopoly arrangements in the delivery of broadband and wireless Internet services. Using pricing and discount strategies, communications corporations have colluded to circumvent competition and make private fiefdoms out of what should … Read More

Premature motion: PRC dismisses bid to view non-public Amazon docs

SteveBlog, Jamison Articles

MARK JAMISON Almost three months ago, I filed a request with the Postal Regulatory Commission seeking access to documents filed under seal in the docket that dealt with the Postal Service’s deal with Amazon to deliver its parcels on Sundays.  Last week, the PRC finally responded to the request. The Commission ruled that my motion was “dismissed without prejudice” as being “premature,” meaning I … Read More

Why I did it and what’s at stake: Shining the light on NSAs

adminStory

BY MARK JAMISON A couple of weeks ago I filed a motion with the Postal Regulatory Commission requesting access to the documents related to the Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) on the program to deliver Amazon parcels on Sundays.  As I write this, the PRC has not yet ruled on my request, but regardless of what happens, I hope a useful … Read More

To NSA or not to NSA? The Valassis Question

adminStory

BY MARK JAMISON I would earnestly warn you against trying to find out the reason for and explanation of everything….  To try and find out the reason for everything is very dangerous and leads to nothing but disappointment and dissatisfaction, unsettling your mind and in the end making you miserable. — Queen Victoria to her granddaughter Why would the Postal … Read More