It isn't necessary to "let" them. They're already there.
I guess when you have a monopoly on first class mail but still find it necessary to advertise vis a' vis supporting/endorsing a Tour de France bicycling team it's only innevitable.
No more propping up ineffective businesses, we need to stop this "too big to fail" mentality. Let the badly managed and inefficient businesses or quasi-governmental businesses fail, and let those who can do the job profitably fill the void.
42 cents for a letter, 14 cents for junk mail catalogs. While the latter are 'pre-sorted', delivery costs amount to a 23% subsidy of the ad mailer business. They have a more powerful lobby that those of us who still sent old fashioned letters. Its all a game, and like Z-man, I would be willing to sacrifice the service...especially to wreck the junk mail business!
When Ben Franklin was appointed Post Master General in 1775, the service was one of the few explicitly mentioned in the constitution (Art1,Sec8,Clause7). It is supposed to be run like a business (self-supporting) but is politically steered (RFD, post offices in every tiny community). So, when they try to close 2000 POs, congressmen respond to constituents and block the move. E-mail, UPS and FedEx strongly compete as well. IMO, the 'too big to fail' concept is like the military..USPS is the second largest employer, so with 574,000 workers on the streets and 218,000 delivery vehicles not being locally serviced, the cost benefit study of eliminating the operation is interesting. Can I still keep my backwards zip code as a PIN number??
Beth: "No more propping up ineffective businesses."
and the rest of her excellent, excellent comment. You know there's a deep philosophical principle which many people can't wrap their heads around, try to avoid and it is simply that some things should just end but folks have gotten used to it. Let's say you're a worker in a failing company that was just bailed out big-time by the gov't/banks (same thing) and so you go to work everyday and see they still can't get it together and never will but they keep getting propped up again and again, well honestly it'd be better for all involved for that company to end or be sold even though most of the ignorant workers will still say but we need our jobs. Bullshit, find a better company who knows how to manage money and behave ethically. Survival of the fittest used to be a principle in the business world and it forced people to be more careful but again ponder the profundity of the simple little principle that some things should simply END (ineffective businesses, quasi/governmental agencies, SNL, whatever).
& BB it's their retirement/pension system that is really killing off the Post Office. Let's say they get propped up like all the others deemed too big to fail, well that just means that someday y'all will be paying $1 for a first-class stamp (not now but a few years down the road). My question which ties into my previous comment, is it worth it?. I say it's not, let them fail. You know in America we used to have the freedom to fail, that's another important principle we used to have and to fail meant it wasn't all negative, you learned a few things.
It isn't necessary to "let" them. They're already there.
ReplyDeleteI guess when you have a monopoly on first class mail but still find it necessary to advertise vis a' vis supporting/endorsing a Tour de France bicycling team it's only innevitable.
No more propping up ineffective businesses, we need to stop this "too big to fail" mentality. Let the badly managed and inefficient businesses or quasi-governmental businesses fail, and let those who can do the job profitably fill the void.
ReplyDelete42 cents for a letter, 14 cents for
ReplyDeletejunk mail catalogs. While the latter are 'pre-sorted', delivery costs amount to a 23% subsidy of
the ad mailer business. They have a more powerful lobby that those of us who still sent old fashioned letters. Its all a game, and like
Z-man, I would be willing to sacrifice the service...especially
to wreck the junk mail business!
It's 44 cents a letter!
ReplyDeleteWhen Ben Franklin was appointed Post Master General in 1775, the
ReplyDeleteservice was one of the few explicitly mentioned in the constitution (Art1,Sec8,Clause7).
It is supposed to be run like a business (self-supporting) but is
politically steered (RFD, post offices in every tiny community).
So, when they try to close 2000
POs, congressmen respond to constituents and block the move.
E-mail, UPS and FedEx strongly
compete as well. IMO, the 'too big to fail' concept is like the military..USPS is the second largest employer, so with 574,000
workers on the streets and 218,000
delivery vehicles not being locally serviced, the cost benefit
study of eliminating the operation
is interesting. Can I still keep my backwards zip code as a PIN
number??
Beth: "No more propping up ineffective businesses."
ReplyDeleteand the rest of her excellent, excellent comment. You know there's a deep philosophical principle which many people can't wrap their heads around, try to avoid and it is simply that some things should just end but folks have gotten used to it. Let's say you're a worker in a failing company that was just bailed out big-time by the gov't/banks (same thing) and so you go to work everyday and see they still can't get it together and never will but they keep getting propped up again and again, well honestly it'd be better for all involved for that company to end or be sold even though most of the ignorant workers will still say but we need our jobs. Bullshit, find a better company who knows how to manage money and behave ethically. Survival of the fittest used to be a principle in the business world and it forced people to be more careful but again ponder the profundity of the simple little principle that some things should simply END (ineffective businesses, quasi/governmental agencies, SNL, whatever).
& BB it's their retirement/pension system that is really killing off the Post Office. Let's say they get propped up like all the others deemed too big to fail, well that just means that someday y'all will be paying $1 for a first-class stamp (not now but a few years down the road). My question which ties into my previous comment, is it worth it?. I say it's not, let them fail. You know in America we used to have the freedom to fail, that's another important principle we used to have and to fail meant it wasn't all negative, you learned a few things.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the Post Office should be
ReplyDeletepermitted to discontinue unprofitable routes...like the railroads, airlines etc?
While their budgetary issues are of grave concern and ought to be addressed, they are a Constitutional function under Article I Section 8
ReplyDeleteI heard that soap.
ReplyDelete