Exactly and that is the very point they keep missing. UPS and Fed Ex is NOT cheaper, by a lot. A UPS overnight letter costs me between $30-$50 depending upon the time of day that it is delivered. The cheapest UPS package/letter I can send is around $9, depending on where it goes and how heavy it is.
USPS is dirt cheap by comparison. I use USPS Priority Mail whenever I don’t need trackability.
The USPS should upgrade its methods and join the 21st century, rather than be abolished.
The point is that every time someone writes an article about this topic, they use UPS and Fed Ex as a comparison, and they are not comparable at all.
It is the point. What you miss is the federal monopoly.
Arguing “can’t compare because there’s no competition” is inappropriate when competition is illegal.
Nobody else is allowed to deliver “first class” mail. From time to time someone tries, and proves they can do it much cheaper than USPS - until the latter finds out, and shuts them down for violating the legal monopoly.
UPS & FedEx _could_ do the same no-tracking no-guaranteed-date cheaper, as they’ve already got trucks out there. BUT, since the closest they can legally get is inherently more expensive “courier” services, they cost more.
Eliminate the unfair subsidy & monopoly, and UPS & FedEx would win the competition outright. Insofar as the Constitutional obligation to provide Post Offices, they could do so akin to public libraries - which thrive despite bookstores (with or without to-your-door delivery).
And the first "method" it should upgrade is hiring less "supervisors" and firing about 50% of the ones they have now. The USPS is VERY top heavy and has been for a long time.
It’s true they aren’t comparable, and one major reason they they are not comparable is the government subsidies the PO receives. I know you don’t really believe it only costs 45 cents for the PO to deliver a first class letter. That’s just what they charge you, not the true cost. Why shouldn’t you as the shipper pay what it really costs? I think that is Sowell’s point.