The U.S. Treasury Department released a report Tuesday with recommendations to overhaul the United States Postal Service’s business model, including raising prices for certain packages.
The report comes from a task force that President Donald Trump created earlier this year to review USPS's operations and finances. The Postal Service has been losing money for over a decade, posting a $3.9 billion loss for the 2018 fiscal year.
Some recommendations proposed in the report include strengthening the Postal Service's Board of Governors, as well as explicitly defining its "universal service obligation," which mandates USPS provides its services across the U.S. at affordable prices.
The task force also recommends developing a new pricing model that would charge "market-based prices" for mail and packages that aren't considered "essential." Many online retail shipments would fall into that category, meaning there'd be a price markup for those packages.
Although the report doesn't specifically mention Amazon, President Trump has blamed the online retailer in the past for USPS's financial straights. Because of this, many believe the administration is targeting Amazon through its recommendations. But an administration official denied that was the case, saying the report's recommendations weren't linked to any entity in particular and that it's based "on the needs of the entire economy and all its businesses."
