When Trump was President, I listened to one of his Press Conferences. He was asked how to fix the deficient problems at USPS. TRUMPS FIX WAS FOR USPS TO RAISE THEIR PRICES. And this is what we got…USPS would have to raise prices to stay afloat. The postal service has said for years that they need larger trucks. Just raising rates wouldn’t accomplish their survival in any timely manner.

However, Biden and Harris are looking to fix the problem by cutting out the cost of gas and by building larger trucks……Announced on December 20th is an except, below, from Whitehouse.gov.

“Today, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) announced an historic, $9.6 billion investment over the next five years to electrify its delivery fleet. The USPS investment includes electrifying 75% of its new purpose-built Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV) and a commitment to acquire 100% electric NGDVs starting in 2026. This $9.6 billion investment – which includes $3 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act – installs modern charging infrastructure at hundreds of USPS facilities, electrifies 66,000 delivery vehicles, and modernizes mail delivery by creating a smarter network to more efficiently reach its 163 million delivery locations across the country and further strengthen the sustainability of this critical public service.

Earlier this year, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act to help bring down everyday costs – including costs for energy. The Inflation Reduction Act’s once-in-a-generation investment in America’s infrastructure delivers the most significant action ever to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen U.S. energy security, including $3 billion to modernize the USPS delivery fleet. The USPS actions announced today sustain reliable mail service to Americans while modernizing the fleet, reducing operating costs, increasing clean air in our neighborhoods, creating jobs, and improving public health.

President Biden’s ambitious goal for 50% of new vehicles sold in 2030 to be electric has accelerated investments and jumpstarted the EV market in America. Since President Biden took office, U.S. electric vehicle sales tripled and are now higher than ever before. One year ago, through the President’s Executive Order on Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability, the Biden-Harris Administration released the most ambitious sustainability plan ever, establishing a goal for 100% acquisition of zero emission light-duty vehicles by 2027 and medium- and heavy-duty vehicles by 2035.”

**I applaud our current government for attempting to fix the problem instead of just thinking that raising prices would be a fix… that could eventually ruin our postal system.**

@ 4yourinfo…You asked…
“Do they want to keep their mini trucks and stay focused on envelopes?”

If you Google “Images USPS ev”, you will see images of the electric vehicles that USPS plans to use. The trucks are bigger and much taller. My local postal guy tells me the new vehicles will save USPS time and money in the long run while being able to transport larger packages.

“What-a-year” is right! Even with an increase in postal rates, my Artisan Jewelry shop on Etsy is doing better than ever. Because, here’s the thing…I don’t pay for increase postal rates, my customers do! When selling products at $250+ my customers don’t blink if they have to spend an extra $3.00 to ship.

This past week, U.S. banks gave earnings reports which were better than expected. All have said that the U.S. consumer is still strong, however much of spending during the holiday season was in SERVICE SPENDING vs. spending on “goods”.

Since Covid lockdowns are now over, consumers continue to spend on “experiences” instead of on general goods which was a trend that continued into this past holiday season. A good percentage of money this holiday season was spent on…

General travel…airflights, hotels…etc.
Restaurant spending
Concert events
Sports events…
etc….

I don’t believe that an increase in USPS rates has caused grief for the postal service, but rather, the consumer has decided to spend their money in different ways. Also, gift cards continue to take a good portion in holiday spending and those cards are now sent via email, instead of by USPS mail.

Also, let’s not forget about Amazon who continues to take market share, while Amazon has their own fleet of delivery trucks that have taken business from USPS.