
Postmaster General: Mail days may need to be cut - kirubakaran
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Postmaster-General-Mail-days-apf-14188649.html
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tptacek
There's a really good Jonathan Franzen essay about the Chicago post office in
the early '90s (it was notoriously mismanaged). I was surprised by how
important the post actually is; most families receive and pay all their bills
through it.

On the other hand, cutting from 6 to 5 days seems like a reasonable concession
to priorities in the 21st century.

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jamiequint
A few other options:

1\. Privatize. What does the government have to lose by doing this? (other
than less money). I've dealt with both UPS and USPS when mail I sent through
each had deliverability issues, UPS was far more pleasant and easy to deal
with. I would far rather deal with a few private mail companies, imagine the
type of innovation we might see in a market that has been stagnant for as long
as I can remember.

2\. Charge to cover costs. Is there a Laffer Curve type effect with postal
rates (spam snail mail companies switching to email maybe)? I imagine that in
most cases charging more would simply equal more revenue, why not just charge
$0.50 a stamp instead of $0.43. Its seems much fairer to do this, instead of
having taxpayers subsidize the cost that the actual users of the system
generate.

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4ensic
The two options presented have some difficulties:

1\. Private companies have no mandate for universal service. They are free to
refuse to deliver to any area, or to subcontract delivery out. In fact,
SmartMail is a service that relies on private shippers delivering parcels to a
destinating Post Office with the Letter Carrier making final last-mile
delivery. The private companies wouldn't do that if it wasn't cheaper to use
the USPS for final delivery.

2\. As far as taxpayers subsidizing the USPS, this has not been the case since
1970 when the agency stopped being the Post Office and became the Postal
Service. It's just incorrect.

