Is the U.S. Postal Service Worth Saving?

Town Hall Magazine ^ | April 29, 2012 | Kevin Glass

[dinodino]

I have never had a delivery failure or delay (except customs-related) with FedEx, and I have used them exclusively for critical shipments since 1997. On many occasions we failed to receive packages sent to us via USPS. We even caught a local Postal supervisor stealing our shipments.

USPS should be broken up and the pieces auctioned off.

[Publius Valerius]

So who delivers rural mail in your scenario?

[dinodino]

Yes, but empowerment is not the same as requiring it.

[dinodino]

You may choose to be a hermit if you like, but those of us who receive our bills electronically don’t need to sit around waiting for some union dork to shove a piece of paper into a metal box at the street. It’s called technology—you should try it sometime.

[dinodino]

Whichever private firm wanted that business and bought it at the USPS auction. You are aware that FedEx et al. deliver to rural addresses, right?

[Tau Food]

The Constitution permits the federal government to establish post offices. So, it is one of the few things that are legitimate for the federal government.

Nearly all of my mailings are ordinary mailings. For 45 cents, the post office will take my letter and deliver it across the country. Will Fed Ex or UPS deliver my letter for 45 cents? I have real doubts about that, although I’ve never tried. I’ve had no reason to look for a better price.

I’ve also seen the videos of private carriers treating packages like garbage. I recall the video of the fellow throwing a package (I think it contained a monitor) over a fence onto the concrete. So, private doesn’t necessarily mean quality or greater efficiency.

For me, the 45 cent stamp is a pretty good deal. I’m not sure I want to eliminate that option.

[Publius Valerius]

Are you not aware that the USPS delivers packages for FedEx on a lot of rural routes? And if you send air, there are rural addresses that FedEx won’t deliver to.

Those people just won’t get service? They dont need mail? Who would bid on a money losing route?

[dinodino]

If the routes are unprofitable, the postage must increase on those routes.

What, exactly, makes you think that government-subsidized mail delivery is necessary for life?

[Publius Valerius]

The same reason our Founders thought it important enough to include in the constitution. There is value in having a low cost efficient delivery service that allows citizens the ability to communicate with each other.

[dinodino]

We have such a means to communicate: the Internet. We are arguing long-distance at no cost. Try that with USPS.

Again, the Constitution authorizes the Postal Service, but does not mandate it. You make it sound like cheap mail is in the Bill of Rights.

[AlexW]

“You may choose to be a hermit if you like,”
___________________________________________

Well, I am anything but a hermit.
I bicycle to the market and past the post office every day.
To see ANY delivery service truck in town might be a once per month adventure.
To say that one has no need for a postal system is just whistling through his britches.
There are many older people who do not have the luxury
or knowledge of high speed internet, and even if they did,
they would still prefer to receive a greeting card via the mail.
Now that I live offshore, I receive little mail via a postal system, but if I were back in the states and still in business, having NO post office in my very rural town would be unthinkable, despite being on first name basis with my UPS and FedEx drivers.
Yes, total privatization via for profit carriers, and all billing and payments via internet, as well as electronic banking can very well be the wave of the future, but not yet....not till us old fogies die off :P

How much more will a magazine subscription cost if it is delivered by FedEx? How much will it cost to send an invoice, notice, or greeting card overseas to Europe or Asia?
Inquiring minds want to know.

[Spktyr]

Of course they don’t - but that would be a start on fixing the USPS. With good tracking, the “mailman stealing mail and storing it at his home” becomes very very difficult to get away with.

[dinodino]

I already receive all my magazines in digital form. I send invoices in soft copy for my business, and have not received a hard copy invoice for quite some time. If you want to send a greeting card to Europe or Asia, of course it should cost more!

I sent a Fedex letter containing signed docs to rural France yesterday. $17 for priority international service (<48 hours) and I know it will get there. USPS can’t offer that.

[snowsislander]

Nearly all of my mailings are ordinary mailings. For 45 cents, the post office will take my letter and deliver it across the country. Will Fed Ex or UPS deliver my letter for 45 cents? I have real doubts about that, although I’ve never tried. I’ve had no reason to look for a better price.

FedEx definitely does not compete on price: I believe that the very cheapest standard offering that they have for an ordinary mailing is about $10, and they do charge more for going across the country than across the street.

FedEx has a rate calculator at https://www.fedex.com/ratefinder/home, but I don't believe that it includes any fuel surcharges that may apply.

Instead, FedEx competes on performance. I have had much better luck with mail that I care about with FedEx than I have had with the USPS. I would be glad to pay the USPS $1 per first-class stamp if I could be sure that my mail would actually get there in a timely fashion. It would be a lot cheaper than what I am paying FedEx for the same service.