Quote from CaptainObvious:
Maybe we should go back to the Pony Express? Let's consider what era we're living in. I doubt people would stand in line for what would be hours to pick up mail.
The point of this is, even with a monopoly they can't make money. Hell, they can't break even. Why is that? It's incompetence, indifference, corruption, waste, all the things you see in a government bureauracy.
We should turn the post office over to competent, efficient and non-corrupt private corporations, like Enron, Lehman Bros., Bear Stearns, Chrysler, General Motors, AIG, Merril Lynch, Bank of America, Standard and Poor's, Moody's, Arthur Anderson, Citi, and Goldman Sachs. Then we could be certain of honest competent, and low cost mail service. Private corporations can always do things better than big government.
Two years ago at Christmas time, Fedex, in my hometown of 50K, lost every piece of mail for a two week period because all their drivers walked off the job just because they did not want to work for the huge salaries they are paid. This is just one more example of how much more efficient private corporations are compared to the stupid government. If Fedex hadn't been so efficient, it could have cost them a gazillion dollars, just like the government slugs cost us every day.
Seriously guys, the problem isn't so much with the post office as it is with the mandates they are forced to operate under, such as carrying junk mail far below their handling costs.
Privatizing the postal service ought to have at least one advantage. It would dry up Junk mail deliveries to a trickle. I almost wouldn't mind paying two bucks to send a first class letter if I could be relieved from having to deal with junk mail.
I doubt though that the post office will ever be privatized. US businesses would have a hissy fit if they had to pay the real costs of handling junk and bulk mail. This is after all the United States of America with government for and by big business, where no amount of tax-dollar subsidy for business is too much.
