We’ll all? Pretty confident that you represent the Teeming Millions, there, Alph? Or some little clique on SDMB that I don’t know the secret handshake to, perhaps?
My paraphrased quote wasn’t funny, nor was it intended to be. If it was an inaccurate misrepresentation of viewpoints, that I’ve already apologized for.
Some of us hide behind our attempts at humor because we know deep down we’ll never be as smart or as interesting as people such as yer bad self.
“In much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” - Ecclesiastes 1:18
I figured that you were attempting to summarize the various view points on this thread that didn’t match your own.
But I didn’t see anyone imply that they “don’t care if there’s no particularly good reason to.” Or that they don’t “care if anyone has the opportunity to have a fair shot at providing competition”. I think that’s a bit misleading.
It sounds like you either want to debate the practices of the USPS or you want to bitch about them. Feel free to do either one, but know that either way, this is the wrong forum for it.
Actually, no. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the posters who answered your OP intelligently and logically were a bit amused that you implied that they were ovine.
I don’t have any particular axe to grind with USPS. Actually, for the most part, I’ve received pretty decent service from it.
It strikes me as odd, however, that the government has allowed this industry to semi-privatize but still receive protection from competition in certain key segments of what it does.
Where else does a government-backed (but considered private) agency get to operate with no competitors? Not even schools.
With USPS, it strikes me as kind of archaic. There was a time when no one else could do the job. Don’t think that’s so now.
I also think these are legit GQ questions, Alph: Why is USPS raising its rates again when its profits are at or near all-time highs, and why is it kind of privatized, but not really, and only on letters?
I’ll shut up now.
“In much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” - Ecclesiastes 1:18
Look, everybody with any knowledge on this subject at all knows that the U.S. Postal Service is excellent at what it does. It might be the best in the world.
Some of us don’t want to fix what isn’t broken. Some of us take potshots at any convenient target. Oooh, the postal service is a government monopoly. It must be bad. If you think 34 cents is too much to send a letter from Maui to Kennebunk then I wonder what do you think would be an appropriate price. Five cents? A fraction of a cent? Maybe it should be free.
Alphagene, the fact that i am pretty happy with the USPS and their rates does not make me a “good little consumer,” a sheep, anti-competitive or anything else. If you read my post, I do not advocate a position about the USPS monopoly on first-class mail or, for that matter, whether the higher price UPS and FedEx charge for their services is worth it.
If you aren’t happy with the USPS service or their rates, fine. We can discuss it. But please don’t start attacking me for opinions I haven’t expressed.
Milossarian, if you’re going to quote me, don’t take my words out of context. The full quote is:
It’s a trade off. We’re talking 1 or 2 cents per letter. My household probably averages 5 letters (bills) per month. 5 or 10 cents per month. Well whoop-de-doo!
Compare that with the inconvenience of having to get new stamps, and the right number of the 1 or 2 cent stamps to go with the old stamps. And then you find a couple more you forgot about, and just double them up, or use them on postcards, or leave them in the drawer.
From kbutcher’s link, the full sentance about UPS having to charge twice as much is “What he does not tell you is that we are forced by postal regulation to charge the American public twice as much as the Postal Service for our products that compete with Priority Mail letters.” I’d still like to see what these regulations are. From the full article, it sounds like UPS is concerned USPS is using their first class mail revenues to subsidize their other services. It doesn’t sound like UPS wants to get into the business of delivering letters.
As part of its monopoly on first-class mail, the USPS is required to provide universal service throughout the United States. That means they’ll get a letter to Bug Tussle, Oklahoma as well as New York City.
I don’t know how it is now, but when I tried to use FedEx to get some packages to rural Idaho, they admitted they turned them over to the USPS for final delivery.
I haven’t seen the package delivery services stepping up and saying they’d be happy to deliver a first-class letter to Bug Tussle in exhange for an end to USPS monopoly.
In fact, here in Missouri, the local phone companies have managed to pretty much grind the level playing field concept to a halt by telling our state regulators that if they allow competition, the current phone companies will drop service to all the unprofitable areas.
Compalin all you want about legalized monopolies, but there are trade-offs.
Have you seen a financial statement that shows the hundreds of millions in profits? I don’t think it exists. It’s my understanding that the post office ran at loss for most of the 90’s and only in the last two years has it run a surplus. If someone knows for sure please post the info.
