By Ross Marchand
The price of the eggs is still too high, and cuckoos reacted to a dozen from politicians and critics. It is true that the egg yolk in question is in bird flu, and tariffs are certainly useless. However, businesses and consumers looking to ship chicks had to deal with eggheaded Policies from the US Postal Service (USPS).
Earning eggs has become more expensive thanks to the new $15 “living animals and perishable handling fees” from Priority Mail. It is important that the USPS package price reflects the underlying shipping costs, but consumers have given little guidance on how this surcharge revenue will be spent. American postal workers need to reevaluate the price of egg press delivery and hatch new plans to pay for free costs.
With record egg prices, Americans are taking matters into their own hands. Bailey Schulz of USA Today recently said, “According to a report by Google Projects and Repairs App Frontdoor, hen coops were one of the most popular DIY projects to attract American attention last year, based on Google search data. Even if consumers aren’t ready to ruffle some feathers, farmers market merchants certainly do. These small sellers are reluctant to raise prices, and the egg spence in the farmers market suddenly looks pretty good for consumers.
Even with this can attitude, small sellers who rely on USPS to ship DIY bee farmers and poultry are faced with rude (and expensive) awakening. The new additional charge for shipping USPS live animals is becoming more expensive to ship chicks, especially for mama and pop manipulation, “especially because of the manipulation of mama and pop “a large hatch yard has no privilege to contract with USPS to ship live chicks.” The USPS claims that the fees “cover additional costs associated with handling and transporting all living animals and fresh food.” The agent cannot provide additional information regarding what the fees are actually used. And there are many horror stories in which the receiver fails to pick up valuable cargo on time, or arrives to find dead chicks, but this is an exception to the rules. In fact, the mortality rate of shipped chicks is almost comparable to uncontracted chicks.
Sensationalism about chick shipping is nothing new. In 2020, the Taxpayer Protection Union (TPA) had to dispel the enduring myth that the postmaster’s policy was killing vulnerable baby birds.
However, broader concerns about package pricing are certainly guaranteed. USPS can make money, but only if postage reflects the underlying cost of delivery. Unfortunately, agents have documented a terrible trajectory of underestimating “competitive products” (i.e. packaging) compared to true costs.
According to TPA’s 2022 postal price primer, USPS’s cost attribution methodology is a serious flaw.
[T]The percentage of vehicle depreciation due to competitive products remains below 20% despite the agency purchasing to accommodate packages to buy larger and more expensive vehicles. Furthermore, USPS does not take into account vehicle and headquarters labor costs that are clearly increasing as agents move towards package-centric delivery models.
The TPA report concluded that even a small increase in cost attribution to competitive products would result in an annual revenue increase of $1.3 billion.
However, USPS leadership requires that every increase be explained and explained step by step and in depth. Slapping any cost of a critical company, such as poultry, is unwise and it could even cause the sender to disguise the shipment and endanger the animal’s lives. USPS should abandon handling fees for birds surrounded animals and give consumers the rightful break.
Ross Marchand is a senior researcher at the Taxpayer Protection Union.
