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In my original comment, I was not arguing about the reasons why USPS doesn't make money. The author suggested that USPS is cheap and that is incorrect because USPS 'feels' cheap only because government takes care of the losses. BTW, correction for my previous post, USPS lost 7 billion dollars in 2008. Link: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/gao-postal-service-in-fi... Coming back to your argument about the constraints USPS has to deal with. If you really think that USPS is losing money because they have to serve every single residential address in America, you are not being honest. By law, USPS has the monopoly to deliver first class mail, UPS/FedEx are not allowed to deliver them. If you really open up the market and let UPS/FedEx compete in the market, I am sure they will deliver better service for even cheaper prices. Link: http://www.jhhuebert.addr.com/articles/stamp.html Yes, you may not be able to send a mail from NYC to SFO for 45 cents but it was wrong for cross country mail to be so cheap in the first place. I hardly use USPS but I have to pay my taxes every year and in turn I am subsidizing folks who are trying to send cross country mail for 45 cents. A private competitor will make sure that you pay the appropriate amount for your mail. It will be super cheap (may be even less than 45 cents) if the sender and receiver are in the same state! (And yes, UPS/FedEx will deliver to any address in America but you better pony up the cash if you are sending mail to middle of nowhere in Alabama.) Bottom line: price should reflect the cost, not pass it over to the taxpayers. Also, did you know that USPS pays no taxes? No fuel taxes, no sales taxes, no property taxes, no corporate taxes, etc. Imagine what FEDEX and UPS could offer consumers in pricing & service if they were tax exempt like the USPS. Did you know that USPS makes most of its money from all the junk mail it delivers? There was a legislation on 'Do not Mail' registry (very similar to 'Do not Call' registry) and USPS is opposing it as without direct mail USPS will be in even bigger hole. So all those junk mails are essentially subsidizing your postal cost. The other day I was in post office and there was a guy who was 2 years short of the retirement and he was making 50,000$/year. Guess what he did? He sold stamps behind the counter. You can hire people to do his job for 7 to 8 dollars per hour but because of Union/labor laws, he makes 50,000$. How is that for efficiency? I could go on and on but you get my drift. For more food for thought, read this: http://perfectsubstitute.blogspot.com/2009/08/is-post-office... |
Were you aware of how long this particular employee had been working for the USPS? Yeah, it's a little old-fashioned, but there is something to rewarding long-time and hard-working employees. (Japan companies get the retirement concept oodles better than the US). Maybe he'd long ago paid his dues as a carrier, and was simply happy to be working the last couple of years before his actual retirement.