

How the US Postal Service is Being Gutted - readme
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/03/04/how-the-postal-service-is-being-gutted.aspx?source=ihpsitth0000001

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stephengillie
Will the USPS still be around after its 10-year pension prefunding period is
over?

 _The short answer is that_ [UPS and Fedex] _can price postage to be
profitable (partially why their sites are so complex) and invest in growth
areas -- both of which USPS can't do._

The article discusses just how trim the USPS' operations are. Maybe this is
part of why?

 _Whenever USPS tries to enter a new arena, private competitors bleat to
Congress. Examples abound: plans to develop an online payment system in 2000
(Internet industry cried foul);_

A public paypal competitor? O_o

 _public copy machines (office supply stores);_

I feel as though this idea has a "negative synergy" -- it's like we're lumping
together all these services which are increasingly depreciated. Because you
really need to photocopy that email you just printed.

 _in-store sales of phone cards and money transfers;_

Who uses phone cards? No-contract cell phones make calling in the US free, and
"everyone" uses Skype or one of the thousand other VOIP solutions (from Steam
Chat to WebRTC) for calling foreign countries.

Did the USPS stop selling money orders? Do you trust a government agency more
than you trust Paypal?

 _selling postal meter cartridges (Pitney Bowes objected)._

Ink cartridges? O_o

 _And, of course, rivals such as UPS complained, ultimately leading Congress
in 2006 to restrict USPS to mail delivery._

Yet UPS couldn't get a law change to allow themselves to pick up mail. The
USPS still has a monopoly on mail pickup.

These "solutions" seem like they'll remain feasible for about the same length
of time as physical mail delivery itself stays around.

~~~
readme
USPS also delivers small to medium sized parcels.

For me, it's less about what they'd like to try. They'd be fine if they could
just sit tight on mail delivery. However, they're under attack by crony
capitalists.

They get _NO_ government money.

Yet corporations are able to coerce congress into placing restrictions on
them, so they can better compete against them.

These are the same "free market" people who are funding the CATO institute, a
libertarian think-tank.

This is why I can't find a political party I like.

All of them suck.

~~~
stephengillie
Those corporations sure have coerced Congress to remove the USPS's monopoly on
mail pickup.

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readme
I've been concerned about this for a long time. The USPS has operated without
government funding for years but is in the hole because they have been forced
to pay more into the civil service retirement fund than needed.

I consistently get better service from USPS than from FedEx, UPS, or any
competitor, at a far better price. They're also the second largest employer in
America.

While I admit this article is a tad political, I would like to raise awareness
of this as it is really a critical problem. UPS, FedEx, etc, will not go out
of their way to deliver your mail in emergencies. USPS will. The post office
is truly a staple of our country, and I would hate to see it go.

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pasbesoin
In the last few years, I had to send a number of overnight letters,
personally.

Without the advantage of a corporate discount, the USPS price was _half_ of
that of the private competitors.

It's things like this that individual consumers are giving up with this push
to privatization. Big boys get breaks; the rest of us get screwed.

Efficiency at scale doesn't work, when you're not part of the scale.

See, for example, individual rates for health care insurance.

