“...“if it fits it ships” boxes. USPS did this first and it was brilliant.”
For the record, FedEx started with flat rates (high ones) from day one, and then went to distance-based. I laughed when USPS did that, many years after FedEx abandoned it. I signed on with FedEx in the early 80’s when we were still “Federal Express”.
I’ve been retired for a while, and from the looks of things, I’m very glad to be gone. When Fred Smith leaves, I fear for FedEx... He’s already too far from the day-to-day for many years now. It used to be a big family, or a large team. Now it’s just another corporation.
80’s before my time but as I recall they had flat rate envelopes. Didn’t know they had flat rate parcel service.
The economies of scale at the USPS are just phenomenal. They just don’t seem to have the economic incentive to maximize it.
If I recall, didn’t Federal Express buy out Consolidated Freight? I remember in the mid 1990s they started investing in parcel delivery and had decent rates compared to UPS. I was working for a local distribution company at the time, most of the parcels were destined for the same county. But to get some scale they were contracting just about anyone with a van to create local routes. It didn’t work well those first couple of years.