4 ms·
Would these private letter carriers subject themselves to the necessary regulation and government scrutiny necessary to ensure that, for instance, a legally suf
by djur 6y ago
Would these private letter carriers subject themselves to the necessary regulation and government scrutiny necessary to ensure that, for instance, a legally sufficient equivalent to USPS certified mail is available throughout the United States and its possessions? That election mail and other official business is conducted with sufficient speed, caution, and security? Would FedEx be willing to accept the liability and public relations exposure of being directly involved in determining the outcome of a US presidential election?
Or is it more likely that the private carriers would expect and demand a rump Post Office to carry the mail they find unprofitable?
- AnthonyMouse 6y agoYou keep using the word "unprofitable" to describe services that have a higher cost to provide. These things are premium services. Private companies are happy to provide them to anyone willing to pay their costs plus at least the market rate of return, precisely because doing that is profitable.
- djur 6y agoThey are not profitable at the rates necessary to keep them universal.
- AnthonyMouse 6y agoThe example you're using is election mail. That's paid for by the government. How is it possible for the rate they'd have to pay in a competitive market with low margins to make it non-universal and yet it isn't already? If you want to deliver to everybody then you have to pay the cost to deliver to everybody, one way or the other. Subsidizing it through more expensive postage (disproportionately paid for by the poor) seems obviously worse than paying for it through taxes (disproportionately paid for by the wealthy).
- djur 6y agoYes, I agree that the US Postal Service should be directly funded by the US government, not through postage.
- AnthonyMouse 6y agoHow is that in any way better than the US government just paying the market rate for postage when it sends election mail?
- djur 6y agoThe US government does not send election mail, because it does not conduct elections. Elections are conducted by state governments. Election mail should be a free service provided by the US government in exchange for states adopting certain mandates, such as universal voting by mail with no postage assessed to the voter.