You seem very sure of yourself, but you are wrong.
My package shipment isn't what it used to be, but I do still have to send things out. Sometimes I don't care how long it takes and I might use the Post Office as UPS has really raised their rates in the past few years. But even then I use them because they just are easier. And I'm obviously not alone. UPS seems to be doing a pretty good business. We're not all stupid like you would seem to think.
And when it comes to overnight delivery, the Post Office is a complete joke. I remember the time I had to send something to West Palm Beach (from here in Metro NY) and I was told that wasn't one of the places they guaranteed delivery to! What a F#@k'n joke!
JUNK mail, you are not aware, I'm sure, that junk mailers pay a hell of a fee to send the junk mail to you. It is like $450 a year WITHOUT sending a piece of mail. Then they pay by piece, just so you can complain about it.
Junk mail, you are aware I'm sure, is subsidized by first class mailers. Some of us are not interested. For you it's a job.
My postal clerks are really friendly and helpful. BTW, I'm in the post office at least 4 days a week.
I never said the clerks were unfriendly. But I'm no more looking for friendship at a post office than I am at a gas station.
I have tried FedEX, UPS and DHL, and all have lost, broken, and mangled my packages.
Spare me! I've never had anything lost or mangled, except by the Post Office and even then it is very rare.
Is this really FR, or did I get lost and stumble into the Underground?
ML/NJ
In situations involving positive network externalities, the term "subsidy" can sometimes be unclear.
Delivering 10 pieces of mail to an address on a given day generally costs far less than ten times as much as delivering one. If on a given day there is one piece of First Class mail for delivery to an address and nothing else, it will get delivered. If there were one piece of bulk mail and nothing else, it would probably not get delivered immediately.
While it's true that it would probably not be possible to provide timely delivery of bulk mail, at bulk mail rates, if there weren't also First Class mail being delivered, that does not imply that bulk mail cannot itself be profitable without increasing the cost of First Class mail. Indeed, it would be quite plausible that both bulk mail and First Class mail subsidize each other.