Higher postal fees urged for packages

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration is recommending the U.S. Postal Service raise prices for shipping packages, a move that would hit online retailers such as Amazon.com Inc.

A Trump-appointed commission on Tuesday released recommendations for the rate increase, which an administration official said would affect most commercial shippers. The report didn’t say how much the Postal Service should increase its prices.

Trump created the panel after repeatedly criticizing Amazon, which he has accused of contributing to the Postal Service’s financial losses through shipping deals the president claims are unprofitable. Postal Service representatives have said their confidential shipping agreement with Amazon is profitable.

The Postal Service “is on an unsustainable financial path which poses significant financial risk to American taxpayers,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, chairman of the panel, said in a statement.

Although the Postal Service can’t legally deliver packages for less than its delivery costs, Trump has claimed that Amazon was “costing the United States Post Office massive amounts of money for being their Delivery Boy,” a situation that puts “many thousands of retailers out of business.”

Amazon uses the Postal Service to complete what’s called the “last mile” of delivery. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.