Of all the Amazon criticism that can be made, this ain't one
Here, I can spell this one out so you can at least see the argument. Do not worry about whether these bullet points are true or false, just roll with it:
- the USPS is bad for business because it's subsidized by the taxpayer.
- Amazon is bad for business because it undercuts brick and mortar establishments across the American heartland.
- The USPS delivers exclusively for Amazon on Sundays using government employees and government equipment, facilities and supplies.
- Amazon is bad for shippers because they use monopolistic power to force lower rates.
Therefore, Amazon is screwing small businesses and the American taxpayer.
The truth, of course, is much more nuanced and those nuances add up to... well. Here watch.
- The USPS is the only government agency required to be cashflow neutral. They aren't allowed to lose money. They're also the only business that isn't allowed to shutter non-performing assets. Bumblesquid Maine may only get a dozen letters a week, but Bumblesquid Maine is where True Americans live and should we close the Bumblesquid post office we're letting the American Dream die so the Bumblesquid post office will stay open come hell or high water and the USPS has a monopoly on mail delivery how can they be losing money!!?!?!!????
- The Republican congress made it clear that they weren't interested in subsidizing the USPS when the postmaster general said they were gonna go broke if they didn't raise rates (for which they need congressional approval) or stop delivering on some days (for which they need congressional approval). But since they've got a massive infrastructure unlike anyone else in the market, and since they're sorting on Sundays anyway, why not deliver for Amazon? Especially as the test programs were successful AF.
- Amazon is Amazon because the government has never shown any interest in protecting small business. The USPS is the USPS because the government has never shown any interest in letting them compete on an even playing field with private enterprise. So now you have a small-business-killing Internet retailer leveraging a government monopoly's poverty to crush local businesses.
The funny thing is that usually, the idiot Republicans whinge about how unfair the USPS is to free enterprise because it's a government-owned monopoly (while refusing to acknowledge that Fedex will happily deliver a letter for $11). But since this is an opportunity to take a swing at Jeff Bezos while simultaneously sticking his dick in apple pie, he went for it. And, if you squint a certain way, there's even a little bit of logic to it.