Trump moves toward public report on Postal Service overhaul by year’s end

The Trump administration is promising to publicly release a report on reforming the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) by the end of the year, a development that is likely to carry implications for President Trump’s feud with Amazon.

Trump convened a task force in April to overhaul the Postal Service, after accusing Amazon accusing of using USPS as its “delivery boy.” Trump directed the task force, chaired by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, to study the Postal Service and develop administrative and legislative recommendations for reforming it, to be laid out in a report to the president. 

{mosads}Business groups, which are fearful the report could include a recommendation to hike shipping rates, are hungry for a public version. 

A Treasury Department spokesperson told The Hill this week that the president had been briefed on the task force’s preliminary findings earlier this month. A final, public report will be released publicly “before the end of the year,” the spokesperson said. 

“The Task Force will continue our work to identify solutions to strengthen the USPS business model driving toward a public report before the end of the year,” the Treasury spokesperson said. “It is clear that the governance of USPS must be fixed and we encourage Congress to take actions towards that goal.” 

The task force, which is comprised of Mnuchin as well as the heads of the Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget, was established in April via an executive order from Trump. 

The order came shortly after Trump attacked Amazon on Twitter for allegedly abusing its business agreement with the Postal Service.

Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post. Bezos and the Post are a frequent target of Trump’s attacks on social media.

“I am right about Amazon costing the United States Post Office massive amounts of money for being their Delivery Boy. Amazon should pay these costs (plus) and not have them bourne by the American Taxpayer. Many billions of dollars. P.O. leaders don’t have a clue (or do they?)!” Trump tweeted on April 3. 

Those in the private sector have been wary of the task force’s potential recommendations. A coalition of major U.S. shipping companies sent a letter to Mnuchin earlier this month discouraging him from raising shipping rates. 

Proponents of raising shipping rates say that doing so would generate more revenue for the Postal Service, which has reported financial losses for more than a decade. Critics, meanwhile, argue that raising rates could lead companies like Amazon to turn to alternatives, such as FedEx.