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Not that it invalidates your point, but USPS is not a company - it's an agency of the federal government, with weird financial implications. There are a lot of
by TallGuyShort 12y ago
Not that it invalidates your point, but USPS is not a company - it's an agency of the federal government, with weird financial implications. There are a lot of things wrong with how the USPS is run, IMO - and this is just one more reason I do not use them for anything other than sending in my ballots or taxes.
- jp555 12y agoIsn't it an independent agency of the government? Maybe there's no difference, but it seems that the definition of "independent" means "exist outside of the federal executive departments ... agencies that, while constitutionally part of the executive branch, are independent of presidential control" Or is the USPS a special case?
- chiph 12y agoIt is and it isn't a separate company. It's a GSE - Government Sponsored Enterprise. Think of it as a perpetual charter to engage in a specific business on behalf of the government.
- jp555 12y agoSounds very similar to Crown Corporations here in Canada; they're not private enterprises, but not government agencies either. Kind like a private corporation who's owners are the government - with corporate fiduciary responsibility legally binding owners and management from stepping on each other's toes.
- ams6110 12y agoThey are also granted a monopoly on delivery of mail to your house mailbox.
- jp555 12y agoUPS & FedEx can't deliver to private mailboxes in the US? What about private newspaper delivery?
- tjr 12y agoIn my area, some people have a separate "mailbox" for newspaper delivery, clearly marked.
- jrockway 12y agoThat's correct. The flip side is, UPS and FedEx can refuse to deliver to certain addresses. The USPS can't.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- nishonia 12y agoThe flip side of that is, you can't refuse the USPS. Everything I care about comes to me electronically or through a parcel service, I only need USPS a couple of times a year (USG stuff like DL renewal). Even so, I need to collect my junk mail at least twice a week - because if I don't the box will fill up, they'll leave a threatening note about returning future mail to sender, and I'll have to pick up the stack at the local post office. I've done that a few times now. Its always funny how when I get there to pickup the volume of mail that was too large to fit in the mailbox - there are only a couple of official looking envelopes that turn out to be junk mail. The workers obviously recognize the fact that I don't want three copies of "The Penny Saver", and they don't want to waste space in the PO warehousing it. The incentives are way off in this system. They get paid to move junk mail and I am forced to accept it. tldr; I hate junk mail and will scream into the void about it.
- jrockway 12y agoI get junk mail from the USPS about how to send junk mail via the USPS. ("We'll deliver to every mailbox in the zip code, you don't have to even address the junk!") I guess they have to make money somehow. USPS and FedEx are nice, but are more expensive than the USPS. And there's that whole rain, snow, sleet, or hail thing.
- 12y ago
- azernik 12y agoAlso known as Quangos in the British system (Quasi-NGO).
- TallGuyShort 12y agoYeah it's a weird relationship and I don't understand the nuances, but my point is that using USPS for surveillance is a very different dynamic than using FedEx or UPS for surveillance.