Trump Claims USPS Losing a ‘Fortune’ on Amazon

President Donald Trump again called out Amazon.com this weekend, claiming the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) loses "a fortune" delivering packages for the online retailer. "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...not a level playing field!," Trump tweeted. Trump has tweeted about the e-commerce giant multiple times in recent days, spurring a big decline in Amazon's stock. Amazon shares are down more than 10 percent in the past week, according to CNBC. On Thursday, for example, as we reported, Trump lashed out at Amazon about its tax policy. "Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!" Trump wrote on Twitter. Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters later confirmed that day Trump was referring to third-party sellers on Amazon's site when he criticized the company over taxes. Indeed, Amazon doesn't collect state sales taxes for its third-party platform outside a handful of states. The third-party business represents roughly half of Amazon's unit sales. On Saturday, Trump continued his attack on Amazon, tweeting: "While we are on the subject, it is reported that the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon. That amounts to Billions of Dollars."

Total Retail's Take: The wrath of President Trump against Amazon doesn't seem to be dying down. While some of his claims are hard to confirm or deny — and in some cases it's hard to decipher what the president is directly referencing — this weekend's tweet regarding the USPS losing money in its dealings with Amazon appears to be referring to commentary posted last summer in The Wall Street Journal written by a FedEx shareholder that cited Citigroup analysis. The study, according to CNBC, claimed Amazon received a subsidy of $1.46 from the USPS for each package. However, some would argue Amazon has been good for the USPS, which has suffered from poor finances for more than a decade. What's interesting here is that Amazon hasn't made any public comments on any of Trump's tweets. It will be interesting to see what the next moves are for Trump and/or Amazon. The market, however, is responding. Amazon's stock price declines whenever Trump tweets anything negative about the company.