Postal Service to review package fee policy: report

The U.S. Postal Service is reportedly reviewing the package delivery fees it charges companies such as Amazon, FedEx and UPS, a frequent sore spot between President Trump and the agency.

In recent weeks, the USPS has sought bids from consulting firms to review its fees, according to The Washington Post, citing six people with knowledge of the situation.

The report comes the week after Louis DeJoy, a longtime Republican donor and finance chair of the 2020 Republican National Convention, was named U.S. postmaster general, while Deputy Postmaster General Ronald A. Stroman, the last senior postal official not appointed by President Trump, announced his resignation Friday.

Trump has frequently accused the agency without evidence of undercharging for package delivery and accused them of giving Amazon, whose founder Jeff Bezos owns the Post, preferential treatment. He said he would not allow it access to a $10 billion line of credit approved by Congress unless it increased its package fees.

The president and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have also sought to attach other terms of the loan, including giving the administration oversight over negotiated service agreements, a bulk-discount contract employed by the agency.

Democrats and labor officials have expressed dismay at DeJoy’s appointment and have suggested he will defer to the Trump administration in leading the traditionally independent agency.

The $3 trillion round of stimulus funding introduced by Democrats this week includes a provision forbidding the Treasury Department from attaching conditions to the $10 billion loan and would also provide another $25 billion in aid to the USPS.

“At the very moment House Democrats are trying to rescue the Postal Service by providing emergency cash and removing onerous loan terms, the president and his cronies continue to try and leverage this pandemic to privatize and dismantle the USPS,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), chair of the House subcommittee with oversight of the USPS.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has signaled that the $25 billion is a non-starter. However, five Senate Republicans — Susan Collins (Maine), Pat Roberts (Kan.), Steve Daines (Mont.), Dan Sullivan (Alaska) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) — joined five Democrats last week in calling for “significant emergency appropriations” and no-strings-attached borrowing for the agency.

A spokesperson for USPS declined to comment to The Hill.