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Correct. The 2006 law being referenced was trying to lock in retirement health benefits to USPS workers that were generally not available to private sector work

by rsj_hn 5y ago

Correct. The 2006 law being referenced was trying to lock in retirement health benefits to USPS workers that were generally not available to private sector workers. It was one of the many pieces of union pork in that bill, and there is no end of irony that it is being portrayed as some nefarious Republican plot to kill the post office. It is not about how the benefits are funded but that congress mandated these benefits that disadvantages the post office by raising their labor costs. Of course the post office is advantaged in many other ways -- e.g. it is illegal for a private agency to deliver mail, only the USPS is allowed to do that. Fortunately, the post office is magnanimous enough to allow private courriers to deliver mail if they purchase a stamp and then cancel it! Why must they purchase a stamp and affix it to the letter? Because it is illegal to place anything in a mailbox (even if you own the mailbox) without postage and only the USPS can collect postage. The USPS is also the only company that it is illegal to undercut by offering letter delivery for less than the USPS charges. IIRC, you have to charge at least six times as much, thus FedEx will never be able to outcompete the USPS on letter delivery as it's only allowed to operate under the "extremely urgent" mail loophole which requires higher charges mandated by law. "The USPS actually enforces these rules from time to time. For example, Equifax learned a terrifying lesson in 1993. Armed USPS inspectors raided the company’s Atlanta headquarters to determine whether or not the letters the company had been sending via FedEx were indeed “extremely urgent” as required by the Private Express Statutes. The letters didn’t pass the test, and Equifax ended up having to pay a $30,000 fine."[1] You can read more about the Private Express Statutes on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Express_Statutes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Express_Statutes See also the American Letter Mail Company, which was a private rival to the post office that was outlawed by the government. [1] https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/26424/why-cant-you-start-rival-post-office https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/26424/why-cant-you-start...

rahimnathwani 5y ago
"it is illegal for a private agency to deliver mail" At least there's some rationale for this. National postal agencies typically have monopolies, but the flip side is they have universal service obligations, i.e. they have to deliver mail to even unprofitable locations, e.g. rural areas. This is analogous to taxi regulation: in theory, the monopoly granted to medallion holders has a flip side: rates are fixed, and they can't discriminate between riders based on destination. In practice, taxis in NYC skirt these regulations pretty often.
- rsj_hn 5y ago
  Yeah, I understand the logic. But I was pointing out that yes, while Congress does mandate retiree health benefits for postal workers, it also advantages the USPS in other ways. It is a weird monopoly, with all sorts of carve outs. I am not advocating for some kind of drastic postal reform one way or another.

by rsj_hn 5y ago

rahimnathwani 5y ago

"it is illegal for a private agency to deliver mail" At least there's some rationale for this. National postal agencies typically have monopolies, but the flip side is they have universal service obligations, i.e. they have to deliver mail to even unprofitable locations, e.g. rural areas. This is analogous to taxi regulation: in theory, the monopoly granted to medallion holders has a flip side: rates are fixed, and they can't discriminate between riders based on destination. In practice, taxis in NYC skirt these regulations pretty often.

rsj_hn 5y ago
Yeah, I understand the logic. But I was pointing out that yes, while Congress does mandate retiree health benefits for postal workers, it also advantages the USPS in other ways. It is a weird monopoly, with all sorts of carve outs. I am not advocating for some kind of drastic postal reform one way or another.