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Interesting. So no one else is allowed to deliver letters, for example? Here in Germany for example there's one or a few courier services in pretty much most la
by ygra 6y ago
Interesting. So no one else is allowed to deliver letters, for example? Here in Germany for example there's one or a few courier services in pretty much most larger cities that deliver "local" mail, often by bike, and usually cheaper than the Deutsche Post. So most companies having lots of local customers tend to predominantly use those, while longer-distance mail is sent via Post. It's also a bit more efficient as such things can often be presorted by the sender (into local and long-distance mail) and the local mail doesn't have to go through the sorting center that's probably a bit further away, saving basically a round-trip for letter that just go back to the same city.
- jccooper 6y agoYes. It's illegal for private carrier to delivery letters, except for "extremely urgent material". This exception allows FedEx document services and couriers... but only for express categories. You cannot send standard-speed documents via any other carrier.
- bhupy 6y agoI don't know if the law has any POV on the speed of delivery, but what I do know is that the law prohibits private carriers from touching your post box (under any circumstance), so they can only deliver letters if they're shipped in a box, or a large envelope that can be left on your porch like a package.
- jccooper 6y agoLetter boxes are also legally protected, but that's not the main reason only USPS does letters. They could dump them on your porch like they do packages. It's because it's a legal monopoly. And no, I'm not making it up. See, for example USPS vs O'BRIEN: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/644/140/1558673/ https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/6... ...which also handily cites the statutes.
- eru 6y agoBasically, America is still in the bad old days that Germany mostly left behind when there was a government monopoly on mail. And Americans overwhelmingly like it! Land of the free. The supposedly more capitalistic Americans also have a majority of their mortgages handled effectively by the federal government: it guarantees many mortgages, so takes the balance sheet risk when people don't pay. Another interesting example: freight rail transport in the US works really, really well. You just never hear about it. (A few years ago the Economist had a special report on it.) What works rather badly is passenger rail. Guess which one is run by the government and which one is in private hands? Compare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_privatisation_of_British_Rail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_privatisation_of...