| Yes, but there also used to be competing post offices that were so profitable and efficient that they were able to offer three-cent stamps. Read about it here: http://www.lysanderspooner.org/STAMP3.htm Spooner's post office was so good that no one was really using the USPS any more. He was literally running them out of business. That is, until Congress came in and said that what he was doing was illegal. Since then, there have been no alternative post offices. Businesses like UPS and FedEx survive because of a loophole in the law that basically allows for parcel, but not post, shipping: http://mises.org/daily/3646 That said, they recently had a big regulatory battle between UPS and FedEx. I forget the specifics, but one business was being classified differently, and thus incurring higher operating costs than the other, simply because it was classified differently... In other words - punitive tax legislation. I forget exactly what happened there, and can't find a link at the moment buuuut: The point is this: Your example of the post office is fundamentally flawed because it doesn't take into account that the post office is protected from market forces by legislation and thus, force. |