That's it, nail in the coffin, small business in America is dead...USPS raised prices

[M R Dux]

87,000 new IRS agents will make it all better! You think small businesses aren’t their target? I got a bridge I’ll sell you.


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[catchNgrease]

USPS is joke. It should be privatized.

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[MackB]

My analogy - all businesses are like fish in a fish bowl. If the big fish start eating up the little fish, then the pet owner (Government) should regulate and support the small fish. Capitalism is great and works as long as laws are in place to help small businesses. Amazon, Walmart, which are convenient and accessible, have put a many mom and pop shops out of business.

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[Lockjaw]

The local post offices used to sort mail. Now the only mail they organize is local. I live 4 miles from the next town and if I mail something there, it is trucked to southwest Missouri, sorted, then shipped to Eastern Missouri, sorted again, and then trucked to the local post office 4 miles away. The Utmost in Efficiency. We are very quickly going down a path of low expectations of employees. Kids today expect to start at top pay when most are not worth minimum wage when I was a kid. I was walking in tall cotton when I started earning 2.15 an hour. Married and wife was pregnant with our first child.

[mikey16335]

I heard that there may be a new tax form this year. Only four lines.

1. How much did you make?
2. How much did you spend?
3. How much is left?
4. Send it in.

Mike

[ezgoing]

I feel your pain, as I have owned several small businesses in the past. As a small business you must pass on your cost increases to your customers. This often ends up pricing you out of business, as your customers either can not or will not pay the price increases. So you lose either way. If you do not pass on your cost increases you go out of business. If you do pass on your cost increases and your customers quit buying, you go out of business.

But railing against government does not solve the problem. The government is not composed of faceless entities, the government is the people we elect to office each year. The local representatives, the state representatives and the federal representatives. The President, the Governors, the Mayors, the Councilmen, the House of Representatives, the Senators, these people are the ones who make the laws and the rules that we live under. But we are the ones who elect them, so if the laws they are making are harming us as a country, then we are the ones at fault as we keep sending them back after each election.

Government is a service business at all levels. The services it provides are protection (military, law enforcement, judges), consumer safety (Food And Drug, Hazardous Materials and Products, etc.) and Commerce( roads, highways, Post Office, Air Traffic, etc.). The list could go on but I believe this is enough to make my point.

And like business, governments must pass along their cost increases to their customers, which is us, as the end users of their services and as tax payers.

But the problem with that is all tax payers and all businesses are not treated the same by our laws. Small business and wage earners pay most of the taxes under our current tax laws. Large corporations and investors pay little or no taxes. It doesn't matter if it is a use tax. a sales tax or an income tax large business and investors do not pay them in the same percentages as small businesses and wage earners pay them.

Case in point is GE, who pays zero in taxes every year while earning billions in profits. Warren Buffet, an investor has stated many times that it is not right that his secretary pays a higher percentage in taxes on her salary than he pays as a percentage on his investments.

So the problem is not some faceless government, the problem is the Representatives we send to all levels of government to represent us and make our laws. Governments must pay their bills, which means somebody must pay taxes. Your Representatives choose who that somebody is and it is much easier to collect from small businesses and wage earners.

We chose those Representatives and send them back year after year based on Political Parties and not their voting records, so we are the ones to blame for this situation. This is not a knock against one Party or the other Party, as voters of both parties keep doing the same thing every election, voting by political party and not by voting records. So in our system, a political candidate can say anything and promise anything, knowing their voters will not hold them accountable when they are elected. Don't believe what they tell you in their political ads and town hall meetings. Research their actual voting records and then make your choice.

Now I realize some will counter that Post Office charges are not a tax. But it is a use tax that is charged to the person that uses the service, just as road and bridge tolls are use taxes charged to those who use their services.

(I apoloze for the rant but this is something I wish more people would do before casting their vote for a political candidate of any party. I don't think this a "us vs them" political post but please delete it if you do.)

[fredo]

Large corporations and investors pay little or no taxes.

LOL. Just not true. I used to work in the tax department of a VERY large corporation, (They do business all over the world, and there's not a person on this board who hasn't heard of them.) We paid a staggering amount of Federal, state, local, and foreign taxes every year, as did all of our top executives. Also, the IRS audited our return every single year. The IRS does this to all big, profitable companies.

There's plenty to complain about with big companies (and there are several that I loathe), but paying taxes is not one of them.

Case in point is GE, who pays zero in taxes every year while earning billions in profits.

LOL. Again, just not true. First of all, the only way you could know what they pay is if you looked at their return (which is illegal.) This "pay no taxes" myth comes from idiot journalists who look at public documents and theorize own what a company pays. They don't even file their own taxes but then turn around and say what GE pays. LOL

Warren Buffet, an investor has stated many times that it is not right that his secretary pays a higher percentage in taxes on her salary than he pays as a percentage on his investments.

Buffett's secretary makes a boatload of money -- estimated to be over $200,000 per year. So, she pays the top rate. If he's so concerned about her tax rate, he should cut her salary. LOL

[Speckalator]

I own a small sales agency. Represent a few manufacturers. Shipping companies including USPS have several layers of pricing for their services. You are likely paying the higher rates. Try sending parcel post or first class. Priority mail is too expensive.

You could add a flat fee or charge actual cost to ship. Nothing is free including freight. Pass on to your customers freight charges or you may be out of business. It's tough being in business and I feel your pain.

Tax preparers like CPA is quite costly but can be written off as business expense.

Happy New Year

[MDCrappie]

I just paid $9.92 to ship a 1.1LB package to Indiana (one of the new Crappie.com mugs). This is nuts, how can a small business operate. I've not checked but under a pound stuff sent first class prolly went up too. But really, it used to be 5.95 to ship 1.1 lb Priority Mail not too long ago either, now they want ten bucks, they are nuts. Betcha Amazon ain't paying the USPS that much. They cut big deals together, and the small guy gets burned. IMHO

Please don't make this political, but someone really needs to start thinking about Small Businesses in this country. We're the backbone, and the straw is starting to break it.

Check out Pirate Ship. I have no connection with them, nor have a used them, but I'm on another forum with lots of other guys buying and selling and it's all been positive responses. Apparently they allow normal people to have access to the cheapest USPS rates.

[Slab]

OK, I had my rant, and got lots of good feedback. Gonna move this to the OT forum and close it, thanks for not taking this thread off the cliff.