US Postal Service: A Government Protected Monopoly --- not really you can start a postal service if you like ... as long as you use your own mailboxes
On Mar 9, 3:18 am, Bruce Majors <[email protected]> wrote: > ---------- > > http://capitalismmagazine.com/2003/09/us-postal-service-a-government-... > > US Postal Service: A Government Protected Monopoly > > Edwin Feulner (2003.09.23 ) Politics > If I tell you, “The check’s in the mail” you probably won’t look for it any > time soon–if at all. But if I tell you I’ve sent the check via FedEx, > you’ll probably plan a trip to the bank. > We know we can count on private services such as FedEx and United Parcel > Service to deliver on time. If they didn’t, they’d go out of business. And > we also know–many of us from bitter experience–that we always can’t count > on the post office. > That’s because the post office is a government-protected monopoly; 19th > century laws make it illegal for anyone else to deliver letters. It’s also > exempt from state and federal taxes and free from most government > regulations. That combination is a recipe for disaster. > A recent report from the President’s Commission on the United States Postal > Service recognized these problems and recommends creating a Postal > Regulatory Board to supervise the post office. This would be a welcome > step, but we shouldn’t stop there. The overall goal is to make the post > office more efficient and user-friendly. That’s why it’s time to break the > post office’s monopoly and privatize the delivery of mail. > Right now, there’s no competition in the letter-delivery business. Almost > all letters must be sent through the post office, unless the letter is > “extremely urgent.” The post office even gets to set the minimum price its > private competitors can charge: A letter must cost at least $3 or twice the > applicable first-class rate to qualify as urgent. > But if Congress changes the law, private companies could go head to head > with the post office. Competition would bring down prices, and the post > office would have to become more responsive to customers if it wanted to > survive. > It also would have to stop wasting money. > Consider the case of Karla W. Corcoran. She resigned as inspector general > of the U.S. Postal Service in August, after a nine-month congressional > investigation showed that she had abused her authority and wasted millions > of dollars. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, called Corcoran’s resignation “a > step in the right direction” and added, “someone must be making sure that > taxpayers’ money is invested wisely.” > That’s true, but with the post office, strict oversight is almost > impossible. It has long relied on a unique “postal year format” that makes > it impossible to compare the postal service’s performance from one year to > the next. As my Heritage colleague James Gattuso noted recently, “One might > think that this system was designed to prevent measurement, analysis and > comparisons of postal operations over time.” > That may be one reason the postal service so regularly miscalculates its > fiscal needs. For example, an estimated $1.35 billion deficit for fiscal > year 2002 grew to $4.5 billion only six months later. But the final 2002 > deficit was “only” $676 million. > No company with such wildly fluctuating forecasts would last long on the > free market. Remember the Enron scandal? The company collapsed within weeks > because of shady bookkeeping. Private delivery services already are subject > to the same sort of market accountability that Enron was. We should start > holding the post office to those same strict standards. > There are some things that can be done only by the government. Delivering > mail is not one of those things. > Private carriers are more efficient, more dependable and could do the same > job for less money, if we’ll let them. That’s why it’s time for the > taxpayers to deliver a message to Congress about the post office: > Privatize–and start competing. > > SHADOWKamen > GIF WARS:http://shadowkamen.tripod.com/index.htm > > My groups: > Yahoo! > Groups:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Anime-Manga-World/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Any_Discussion_2/http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/Fantasy-SciFi/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hentai-Lovers_Unite/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Land-of-the-Free/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NC-UT/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Theo-Talk-2/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Worldwide-Politics/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anything_chat/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RHONDASCARTOONS/http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Fowards/ > FaceBook Groups: > AD2:http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_161872343853575 > Utah:http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_179463152068117 > Politics:http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_122427211159914 > N.C.:http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_134688129917567 > Sci-Fi:http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_179733605411112 > Utah politics:http://www.facebook.com/groups/129878500403611/ > Ecchi:http://www.facebook.com/groups/160294867408256/ > > Send off-group messages to [email protected] > > __._,_.___ > Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic > Messages in this topic (1) > Recent Activity: > > Visit Your Group > Subscribe: [email protected] > Unsubscribe: [email protected] > > NB - The Libertarian Alliance does not necessarily approve of the above > message. > Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use > . > __,_._,___ -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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