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The USPS absolutely has a legally enforced monopoly in the textbook sense of the word. It's just not over the entire market of letter and package delivery. > T
by jessriedel 7y ago
The USPS absolutely has a legally enforced monopoly in the textbook sense of the word. It's just not over the entire market of letter and package delivery.
> The USPS actually has two legally enforced monopolies, as per Title 39 of the US Code. One is over the delivery of anything defined as a “letter,” which is within certain size and weight limits. The second is over the use of your mailbox...there are criminal violations if anyone puts anything in your mail box that is not US government approved “mail.
> ...parcels were never subject to the delivery monopoly. Indeed, UPS was in that business first, and USPS entered afterwards. ...This is why DHL, FedEx, Amazon... and others are free to enter and exit the parcel business. It is defined as a different market.
> FedEx is another fascinating story. There was a need for express document delivery among professional services, such as law firms (this was of course long before e-mail). The USPS was too slow and unreliable. FedEx and Fred Smith threatened to litigate the issue to death...so the USPS allowed an exception in the delivery monopoly for “extremely urgent material.”
https://fee.org/articles/an-expert-explains-the-postal-monopoly/ https://fee.org/articles/an-expert-explains-the-postal-monop...
- Rebelgecko 7y agoIs that law ever enforced? I get packages from Amazon couriers and FedEx in my mailbox all the time and I've never heard of anyone going to jail for that. I can only imagine how much I'd get laughed at if I called the cops about a delivery person dropping a package off in my mailbox. Maybe I'd need to call the USPS Inspector General
- kick 7y agoThe Wikipedia article is literally about the USPS monopoly being enforced.
- Rebelgecko 7y agoThe company in the Wikipedia article went out of business nearly 200 years ago, so I don't think the legal situation is necessarily the same (backed up by the anecdotal fact that I can send a letter via Fedex). The Wikipedia article also doesn't mention anything about how the government apparently has exclusive access to MY mailbox, which is a big surprise to me.
- kick 7y agoabout how the government apparently has exclusive access to MY mailbox, which is a big surprise to me. Enforced where I am.
- jessriedel 7y agoThe threat of enforcement is enough. Amazon doesn't compete with the USPS, so the government doesn't bother. But you can bet that if Amazon ever tried to get into the regular mail business the government would prevent them from using mailboxes.