[erlayman]

a government service is being co-opted as part an Amazon marketing campaign.

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FedEx, UPS, and the USPS are already more business partners today than they are competitors. FedEx and UPS very much don’t want the responsibilities that they would be saddled with if the monopoly were lifted, the playing field were perfectly level and they were charged with providing universal service to all parts of the country, even in areas that may not be profitable. Not only do these courier services not want it, they couldn’t do it. From an economic and operational standpoint it seems they have each figured out how to share resources to get good value out of a set-up that makes sense for them. What they do, they do well. But they don’t do what the Postal Service does.

[FAA]

“FedEx, UPS, and the USPS are already more business partners today than they are competitors. “

True. It’s surprising the amount of stuff that gets shipped, say Fed Ex, and turns up at your house delivered by USPS. I didn’t realize it myself before I spent a lot of time shipping and monitoring deliveries for work. They hand-off to one another when it suits their model and makes $ sense.

[riverdawg]

“FedEx, UPS, and the USPS are already more business partners today than they are competitors. FedEx and UPS very much don’t want the responsibilities that they would be saddled with if the monopoly were lifted, the playing field were perfectly level and they were charged with providing universal service to all parts of the country, even in areas that may not be profitable.”

I thought FedEx offered a few years ago to deliver to every address in the country if the USPS monopoly on first-class mail was eliminated. USPS was opposed, not surprisingly, and so the proposal went nowhere. Now, I doubt that FedEx or UPS would be interested in such a deal since first-class mail is going the way of the carrier pigeon.