Trump orders creation of task force to examine the Postal Service's finances

On Thursday night, President Trump signed an executive order calling for an inspection of the United States Postal Service's pricing, policies, and workforce costs.

A task force, led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin or his designee, will review the U.S. Postal Service's business practices, Bloomberg reports. Over the last 10 years, with more customers paying their bills online and sending emails rather than letters, and with federally mandated pension payments, the Postal Service has reportedly lost more than $65 billion. "The USPS is on an unsustainable financial path and must be restructured to prevent a taxpayer-funded bailout," the order states.

Trump has tweeted he thinks Amazon is "costing the United States Post Office massive amounts of money for being their Delivery Boy," and claims "only fools, or worse" believe the U.S. Postal Service is making any money delivering packages for Amazon on Sundays. Trump has claimed that USPS loses "$1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon," but the Postal Service is not allowed to charge shippers less than its delivery costs, and e-commerce-linked package delivery is actually a financial bright spot for the USPS.

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