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> The Postal Service did not pass our test. A little over half of our letters arrived within the three-day window. That is still a fantastic result. Considerin

> The Postal Service did not pass our test. A little over half of our letters arrived within the three-day window. That is still a fantastic result. Considering the size of the delivery area and the very disparate abilities of the delivery network (rural, urban, suburbs, etc), I am impressed. For an underfunded and constantly sabotaged public institution, it still appears to work reasonably well. And yes, the 55p price is absolutely cheap for the expected service. First-class mail in Europe is often 1-2€ for much smaller countries.

andrewlgood 5y ago
Do European countries subsidize the residential mail service with commercial bulk mail (aka junk mail) and overnight services?
- Jiejeing 5y ago
  Speaking for France as I am not too familiar with other countries, no, commercial mail here is distributed manually by people living in poverty who get stacks of junk to distribute every morning. The post office here is a public service that is getting increasingly privatized, losing a bit more of service quality and goodwill every time (if your only KPI is "distribute your stash of mail the fastest way possible", some things like leaving a receipt for a package and fixing off-by one addresses get lost in the race). You can opt-out of the junk with a sticker on your mailbox anyway.
  - soco 5y ago
    Exactly the same goes in Switzerland. I suppose all those people suggesting privatizing the postal services either live in a digital bubble or never sent a postcard to their grandmas.
  - andrewlgood 5y ago
    Wish that were possible in the US. Given the amount of junk mail that goes straight to the trash can, I am surprised there has not been more of an uproar from the environmentalists.
    - Jiejeing 5y ago
      On the other hand companies can still mail you junk through the postal system, but they need your address for that (and also now your GDPR consent for processing and using PII, which they mostly will not risk to fake).
- withinboredom 5y ago
  Since moving to the NL, I've never received junk mail.
bo1024 5y ago
I disagree, we can and should do much better. If only 90% of your christmas cards arrive, fine. But if only 90% of people's paychecks or tax returns arrive, that's a national disaster. To be useful for anything essential or important, infrastructure has to be reliable. And it used to be reliable, and it can be again with different policy.
- pas 5y ago
  Then people should fund it like it's a critical service. Now it's treated like some punching bag. Mandated to spend money on non-profitable areas, but prevented by competition from raising prices in the profitable ones to be able to properly cross-finance the more costly parts.
  - YeBanKo 5y ago
    USPS financial hardships stems from liabilities prefunding requirements.
    - pas 5y ago
      That's just one particular aspect. Even without that the core business model still has this fatal flaw (which is also a statutory requirement).
- Craighead 5y ago
  Congress sabotaged the budget of the usps by enforcing them to ensure retirement benefits PAID IN FULL decades before people retire. If the usps is critical infrastructure, treat it as such.
andrewlgood 5y ago
I disagree re fantastic result. If a check gets mailed to you and it takes weeks to arrive, even if that is <10% of the time, that is not good. With respect to cost, it would be interesting to see how much FedEx would charge to provide the service with an explicit breakout of the charge for rural delivery.

andrewlgood 5y ago

Do European countries subsidize the residential mail service with commercial bulk mail (aka junk mail) and overnight services?

Jiejeing 5y ago
Speaking for France as I am not too familiar with other countries, no, commercial mail here is distributed manually by people living in poverty who get stacks of junk to distribute every morning. The post office here is a public service that is getting increasingly privatized, losing a bit more of service quality and goodwill every time (if your only KPI is "distribute your stash of mail the fastest way possible", some things like leaving a receipt for a package and fixing off-by one addresses get lost in the race). You can opt-out of the junk with a sticker on your mailbox anyway.
- soco 5y ago
  Exactly the same goes in Switzerland. I suppose all those people suggesting privatizing the postal services either live in a digital bubble or never sent a postcard to their grandmas.
- andrewlgood 5y ago
  Wish that were possible in the US. Given the amount of junk mail that goes straight to the trash can, I am surprised there has not been more of an uproar from the environmentalists.
  - Jiejeing 5y ago
    On the other hand companies can still mail you junk through the postal system, but they need your address for that (and also now your GDPR consent for processing and using PII, which they mostly will not risk to fake).
withinboredom 5y ago
Since moving to the NL, I've never received junk mail.

bo1024 5y ago

I disagree, we can and should do much better. If only 90% of your christmas cards arrive, fine. But if only 90% of people's paychecks or tax returns arrive, that's a national disaster. To be useful for anything essential or important, infrastructure has to be reliable. And it used to be reliable, and it can be again with different policy.

pas 5y ago
Then people should fund it like it's a critical service. Now it's treated like some punching bag. Mandated to spend money on non-profitable areas, but prevented by competition from raising prices in the profitable ones to be able to properly cross-finance the more costly parts.
- YeBanKo 5y ago
  USPS financial hardships stems from liabilities prefunding requirements.
  - pas 5y ago
    That's just one particular aspect. Even without that the core business model still has this fatal flaw (which is also a statutory requirement).
Craighead 5y ago
Congress sabotaged the budget of the usps by enforcing them to ensure retirement benefits PAID IN FULL decades before people retire. If the usps is critical infrastructure, treat it as such.

andrewlgood 5y ago

I disagree re fantastic result. If a check gets mailed to you and it takes weeks to arrive, even if that is <10% of the time, that is not good. With respect to cost, it would be interesting to see how much FedEx would charge to provide the service with an explicit breakout of the charge for rural delivery.