[jrockway]

I get junk mail from the USPS about how to send junk mail via the USPS. ("We'll deliver to every mailbox in the zip code, you don't have to even address the junk!")

I guess they have to make money somehow.

USPS and FedEx are nice, but are more expensive than the USPS. And there's that whole rain, snow, sleet, or hail thing.

[nishonia]

A couple of years ago, I was an operations analyst - my employer used USPS to deliver millions of DVDs... USPS completely depends on bulk shipping and they'll happily provide product packaging at all scales - down to the carrier route level. Urban areas get hit pretty bad, due to population density - bulk shippers get more bang for the buck. Ideally, from the postal customer's perspective, shipping costs would rise for shippers who can only address shipments to "Current resident of:" or "Our friend at:". Proof of work, like hashcash. But of course the incentive system is the direct opposite, the recipients are not the customer.