In some European countries, it used to be a vocation, and there used to be a choice being made for the postman job to be a meaningful one. I know first hand a p

In some European countries, it used to be a vocation, and there used to be a choice being made for the postman job to be a meaningful one. I know first hand a postman who works longer hours for free because he believes it's his duty to keep performing the whole social aspect of his job. He'll help older, illiterate people send and read mail, and won't pass the opportunity for a daily chat with the people who need it. When the Belgian postal service was privatized, the productivity of workers doubled (or so I've heard). But I don't think the efficiency of the whole logistics sector benefited from it. Some businesses are natural monopolies, and no optimization and mistreatment of workers are going to make up for turning one dense delivery round performed by a lazy postman into several ones performed by overworked gig economy delivery workers.