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 President Donald Trump ordered the creation of a task force to review business practices at the United States Postal Service, a move that could affect one of the president’s favorite corporate targets: Amazon.com Inc. 
 
 “The USPS is on an unsustainable financial path and must be restructured to prevent a taxpayer-funded bailout,” the president said in an order that was released Thursday night. The order calls for an examination of the Postal Service’s pricing, policies and workforce costs. 
 
 The Postal Service has lost more than $65 billion over the past decade as Americans increasingly transmit messages online, according to the executive order. The task force will be led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin or his designee, according to the order. 
 
 Amazon.com packages at a USPS sorting center. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg 
 
 In a series of Twitter messages, Trump has accused Amazon of draining the Postal Service of money it can’t afford to lose. Trump’s sustained attacks on one of the world’s largest companies have hurt Amazon’s stock price and raised questions about government interference in the private sector. 
 
 A White House official said the presidential order was intended to come up with solutions to the problems at the Postal Service. The official didn’t deny that the task force’s recommendations could affect Amazon. A second White House official disputed the notion that the order was directed at Amazon, and also said that the task force was charged with improving the mail service. 
 
 Both officials were granted anonymity, to discuss administration deliberations. 
 
 Read more: How the Post Office Makes Amazon a Federal Issue 
 
 Amazon declined to comment. 
 
 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.” He repeated a claim that the postal service loses “$1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon” and said “only fools, or worse” believe the Postal Service makes money from doing business with Amazon. 
 
 Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, also owns the Washington Post, which has aggressively covered the Trump administration. 
 
 Since signing a landmark five-year contract in 2013 to deliver packages on Sundays, Amazon and the Postal Service have declared their business relationship a success, although the terms of the contract are confidential. 
 
 ‘Last Mile’ 
 
 The Postal Service says it makes money on the Amazon deal, and it’s legally prohibited from charging shippers less than its delivery costs. E-commerce revenue provides “essential support to pay for the network and infrastructure that enables us to fulfill our universal service obligation,” David Partenheimer, a spokesman for the Postal Service, wrote in a January op-ed. “All users of the mail benefit.” 
 
 Amazon regularly uses the Postal Service to complete what’s called the “last mile” of delivery, with letter carriers dropping off packages at some 150 million residences and businesses daily. The company has a network of 35 “sort center” where customer packages are sorted by ZIP code, stacked on pallets and delivered to post offices for the final leg of delivery. 
 
 “Amazon has the money to pay the fair rate at the Post Office, which would be much more than they’re paying now,” Trump said to reporters at the White House earlier this month. “Amazon is going to have to pay much more money to the Post Office, there’s no doubt about that.” 
 
 The executive order requires the commission to examine “the expansion and pricing of the package delivery market and the USPS’s role in competitive markets.” 
 
 Previous Studies 
 
 It’s not clear what effect the task force would ultimately have, since most changes to the Postal Service’s business structure would require new legislation. The Postal Service is an independent organization and its mail rates are set by a commission. 
 
 The task force will be looking at issues that have been studied for years by multiple government bodies that have already issued recommendations and reports focusing on the financial stability of the Postal Service. 
 
 For example, Trump’s executive order requires the task force to review the definition of the “universal service obligation,” which is a loosely defined mandate for the Postal Service to provide affordable service to all customers. 
 
 The Post Service’s Office of Inspector General issued a report in 2014 with recommendations for redefining the obligation in the digital age. In 2016, the same office released a report with recommendations for financing the mandate. 
 
 The task force will be required to submit a report to the president within 120 days with recommendations for “administrative and legislative reforms,” according to the order. 
 
 — With assistance by Jennifer Jacobs, Ben Brody, and Olivia Zaleski ||||| "Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed." 
 
 President Donald Trump took a swing at Amazon once more on April 2, blaming the digital retailer for the United States Postal Service’s financial woes. 
 
 "Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon," Trump tweeted. "THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed. Also, our fully tax paying retailers are closing stores all over the country...not a level playing field!" 
 
 Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed. Also, our fully tax paying retailers are closing stores all over the country...not a level playing field! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2018 
 
 We addressed the closing of retailers across the country in another Amazon-USPS tweet-inspired story last week. (Trump had a point.) But for this fact-check, we wondered whether Amazon is causing the Postal Service to "lose a fortune." 
 
 The post office is losing a fortune, but Trump is wrong to blame Amazon. 
 
 Parcels are growing the Postal Service 
 
 The Postal Service reported a net loss of $2.7 billion for 2017. It has lost $65.1 billion since 2007. Much of the red ink is attributed to a 2006 law mandating that USPS pre-fund future retirees’ health benefits. 
 
 First-class mail, the USPS’ biggest source of revenue, also continued to shrink, seeing a $1.87 billion revenue loss in fiscal year 2017. 
 
 Package delivery, however, was one of the few bright spots in its latest financial statement. In 2017, parcels brought in $19.5 billion, or 28 percent of USPS’ annual revenue. At $2.1 billion, packages contributed the largest revenue increase. 
 
 Deals with private shippers like Amazon accounted for $7 billion of the $19.5 billion in revenue. While we know that Amazon is the biggest e-commerce player, we don’t know exactly how much of the $7 billion comes from Amazon, because the details of the postal service’s deals with private shippers are considered proprietary and not made public. 
 
 A good deal? 
 
 USPS ships about 40 percent of Amazon’s packages. Amazon bulk-delivers packages to a USPS distribution center, and the Postal Service brings it to your door. USPS negotiates the discounted rate for that service with Amazon, as it does all other bulk shippers. 
 
 Those rates are kept under wraps. That said, we do know the Amazon deal is at least a break-even venture. 
 
 That’s because the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act made it illegal for USPS to price parcel delivery below its cost. 
 
 "By law our competitive package products, including those that we deliver for Amazon, must cover their costs," an August 2017 USPS press release said. "Our regulator, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), looks carefully at this question every year and has determined that they do. The PRC has also noted that competitive products help fund the infrastructure of the Postal Service." 
 
 In fact, the Postal Regulatory Commission gave the green light to the USPS-Amazon deal the same day Trump began tweeting about Amazon last week. 
 
 Trump might have a point, however, in saying the USPS could be making more money off Amazon. For example, Citigroup found that on average, USPS was charging $1.46 below market rates for parcel delivery (not just to Amazon). 
 
 Jim Sauber, chief of staff for the National Association of Letter Carriers, explained the Postal Service can offer lower prices than their private competitors because they already "go to every house, every day." 
 
 "We’re already going there to deliver mail and bills and advertising, so the marginal cost of delivering an extra package is not high, especially in the low-density areas," Sauber said. 
 
 Our ruling 
 
 Trump tweeted, "Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed." 
 
 Amazon isn’t causing the United States Postal Service to lose a fortune. In fact, it’s contributing to its biggest growth sector, package delivery. Deals like the one with Amazon brought in $7 billion in fiscal year 2017. 
 
 While we don’t know the deal USPS crafted with Amazon, we know it’s not losing money. A 2006 law codified profitability into law, and an independent regulatory commission that reviews their deals annually gave it a green light on March 29. 
 
 That said, it’s possible that the Postal Service could be charging Amazon more for package delivery and therefore get a better deal. That still doesn’t mean USPS is losing a fortune. 
 
 We rate this claim False.
– President Trump has railed against Amazon repeatedly in recent weeks, accusing Jeff Bezos' company of getting a sweetheart deal from the Postal Service on delivery. On Thursday night, the president took what could be his first tangible step toward changing that: He issued an executive order calling for a review of the agency's finances, reports Bloomberg. The order, which does not mention Amazon, notes the USPS has lost more than $65 billion over the last decade. "The USPS is on an unsustainable financial path and must be restructured to prevent a taxpayer-funded bailout," the order reads. An analysis at Politifact disputes Trump's previous assertions that the delivery deal with Amazon, whose terms are confidential, is costing the USPS money. ("I am right about Amazon costing the United States Post Office massive amounts of money for being their Delivery Boy," Trump wrote on April 3.) Instead, it chalks up most of the agency's red ink to a 2006 law requiring USPS to prefund the health benefits of retirees. (One other way Trump could change policy at USPS: Start filling numerous vacancies on its board of governors.)