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Aaron M: "It's time for the private sector to completely take over USPS operations and permanently dislodge itself from Uncle Sam's teat."
Mail service is part of the Constitution, emphasis on 'service'. It was never intended to make money or break even in costs.
I recently had to have several batches of legal documents sent to the mainland. The first ones went through the post office priority mail, for about $8 ( don't have the receipt handy for the exact cost ). When the next batch had to go out, the line at the post office was too long for the amount of time I had, so I went to FedEx on my way to the airport. It cost $26+ for the same service.
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Considering the point of the postal service is basically to deliver mail even when it wouldn't normally be commercially viable, it seems rather strange to me there's some places around here without mail service.
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As much the Constitution was ratified in order to give Congress the power to create and regulate a postal system, the USPS is by no means enshrined in the Constitution. It would merely take Congressional legislation to end the USPS.
Going to a private sector model is not about turning a profit for me, it's about speed, accuracy and overall efectiveness. Things that government has historically not been able to deliver.
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11-16-2021, 06:55 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-16-2021, 06:58 AM by malahini.)
People will prefer the post office because they effectively get subsidized by everyone else. Although now that might not be as much the case. I haven't really researched it.
Not sure how viable mail order business would be without it either.
Although I wonder if UPS and Fedex wouldn't be significantly better without the way they are regulated. For example I seem to remember for some reason Fedex is regulated under some old legislation meant for airlines, and UPS is regulated by some old legislation meant for railroads. It is rather hilarious. It has something to do with the percentage of their shipments that either go by air or land. They've even been known to propose harsher regulations for each other since they are not regulated in the same way.
That said the USPS probably already has the infrastructure for a lot of stuff Fedex and UPS might not have. Especially for the last mile delivery, which makes it significantly more expensive for them than it should be for USPS. That and well the USPS runs at a loss most of the time I believe.
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The USPS infrastructure would fetch a pretty penny from whichever shipping entity ponies up their dough.
