A beterquestion to ask is how eBay, Amazon, and other online venues are bankrupting USPS, destroying American jobs, and enriching Chinese merchants (i.e., the Chinese goverment).
Back in the day when eBay was the big online sales venue and Amazon was still struggling eBay helped negotiate the epacket program between USPS, eBay, and the Chinese post office. This program allowed Chinese vendors selling on eBay to create eBay / USPS cobranded epacket shipping labels to ship their items directly from China. These packages are given huge discounts so it costs more to ship a package across the Lower 48 States than it does to ship from China. The Chinese government also subsidizes it post office.
These packages can weigh up to 4.4 pounds and are treated as 1st Class mail once they reach U.S. shores. Domestic 1st Class mail is limited to 13 ounces (or 15.999 ounces with the commercial rate).
This program was then adopted by Amazon and other online vendors and expanded to other countries. The web page below discusses this program and how it was setup by eBay. As eBay's star has fallen Amazon has become the primary user of this program.
http://www.nerdylorrin.net/jerry/postages/ebay.html
The public was told that this program was needed to offset the loses USPS was experiencing from the drop in volume of 1st Class Mail. One BIG PROBLEM! USPS is losing money off every single one of these packages since they are paid very little for each one. That was also complete lie because USPS's big money maker is domestic packages including a separate service for small packages via 1st Class Package Services.
Why on earth would USPS make such a deal then? Because eBay, Amazon, and other such online venues give political contributions to members of Congress which has over-site over USPS. This is the same Congress that required USPS to fund retirement costs for 75 years into the future - that has cost USPS billions.
Surely is this was true USPS officials would be speaking up? Yeah right! USPS is a dysfunctional semi-independent government agency that does NOT admit to mistakes and there are no consequences for such mistakes when the are discovered. Have you ever heard of the former USPS program whereas USPS would buy the homes of management forced to move because of a job change? USPS then sold these homes at great losses. No USPS employee deserves such a benefit, not even the Postmaster General. So why did not USPS management bring this wrong doing to the attention to the public? Because they are the ones that created it. Was anyone fired for it? NOPE! And you think anything that comes out of the mouths of USPS can be trusted. Nope!
Want another example of USPS management's misdeeds. If you print labels off eBay or PayPal and take your packages to your local post office your local post office is not getting credit for those label’s revenue. Those funds are considered part of USPS's general revenue stream. On the other hand USPS is still accounting for all the expenses generated by your local post office. That means revenues are unstated verses expenses. This violates general accepted accounting principles and would get you fired and / or jail time in the private sector. This leads to post office closings and shortened hours.
To make up for these epacket loses USPS raises domestic rates, cuts services, and closes post offices and sorting centers that make delivery more slow. This is forcing the public to subsidize Chinese based manufacturers and sites like Amazon and eBay all so these sites can make a small commission off each China based sale,
This program also allows Chinese firms to dump goods into the U.S. and destroy domestic manufacturers and other sellers on eBay and Amazon. Keep in mind China is famous for dumping goods into foreign markets for years at a loss so long as their long term goal of destroying the target country's industry it met. The means justify the end is the Chinese motto.
But its even worse than that because Amazon regular partners with counterfeiters from China who steal images form sites such as Zazzle. These images are used to create print on demand products shipped directly from China and sold through Amazon. Some of these Chinese stores on Amazon have thousands of stolen images and there are many such stores. Amazon has the gaul to thumb its nose at the rightful mom and pop owners of these images by making them go through a lengthly process to get the images removed. Amazon has even told owners that they need to purchase one of these counterfeit products from China to prove its their design. Amazon is not doing this to big companies like Disney - just mom and pop designers who actually need the money and don't have the money for a legal battle with Amazon. Even if these Chinese stores are shut down the same perps already have other stores running because Amazon only cares about making its commission!
One such Zazzle conversation is included below but there are many more that you can find via Google.
https://forum.zazzle.com/feedback/stolen_images_on_amazon_again
