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This is something that a lot of people don't understand about shipping and especially the U.S. mail. Deliveries to dense areas are fast and easy and near shippi

This is something that a lot of people don't understand about shipping and especially the U.S. mail. Deliveries to dense areas are fast and easy and near shipping routes and warehouses. They subsidize everyone else. For the USPS, they have to provide a bunch of flat rate services to everyone in the country. Amazon doesn't. All of their shipping innovations are going to be aimed at making it cheaper and easier for people in denser areas to get deliveries. I don't have an issue with this, because if people live far from civilization, they don't get to demand all of the latest parts of it, but it is something to keep in mind with all of this. And if Amazon can peel off the cheapest customers from UPS and FedEx, that's going to raise the rates for all of the remaining UPS and FedEx customers.

kspaans 10y ago
Yup, and the same thing happened in London, UK. Simplified history: The Royal Mail (USPS equivalent) used to have a monopoly on mail and small parcels. They charged a flat fee to mail/ship to anywhere in the country. Then other couriers were allowed to start operating in locations of their choise without having to serve the whole country. They could cherry-pick the profitable locales (.e.g Metro London), undercutting Royal Mail's prices. I remember seeing an analysis of price and delivery quality: Royal Mail: 100% price, 85% happy delivery Other Courier: 66% price, 66% happy delivery Without going down the rabit hole of the wages these different workers were earning, as a consumer had a choice: subsidize cheaper shipping to the whole country, or get cheaper shipping.