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Online Shopping Has Affected USPS, But Is It Really That Simple?

The United States Postal Service became one of President Trump’s Twitter targets recently when he said the agency is “losing many billions of dollars a year” and asked why it’s “charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages.”

That, he wrote, is “making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer." And they should be charging" much more."

But, is it really that simple?

The post office has lost money for 11 straight years, in fact — largely because of pension and health care costs for their employees.

Amazon and online shopping has certainly meant the post office is delivering a lot more packages but not enough to make up for the declines they’ve seen in first-class mail delivery.

And their hands are kind of tied when it comes to things like raising prices.

Jory Heckman is a reporter with Federal News Radio.

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Lauren Gilger, host of KJZZ's The Show, is an award-winning journalist whose work has impacted communities large and small, exposing injustices and giving a voice to the voiceless and marginalized.