Postal Service in Crisis

The Postal Service provides a vital service for all of us. Can you imagine what would happen if cheap delivery of mail and goods were no longer available? UPS, FedEx and other competitors are only able to maintain their level of services because when private deliveries were authorized, they were allowed to cherry-pick the most lucrative business.

The letter delivery service (especially to rural areas) is the most expensive and least profitable part of the Postal Service's business. Yet they still manage to deliver parcels at a competitive rate with decent services, despite being mandated to take on the most difficult and costly deliveries. It is true that the service is not perfect. But UPS and FedEx drivers routinely just run up to a customer's door and dump a package on the doorstep.

Many detractors of the Postal Service will cite the story of Lysander Spooner and the American Letter Mail Company. It is true that Lysander Spooner made a valiant effort to fight what he percieved as an unfair governmental monopoly on delivery of first class-mail. But Spooner had offices only in the largest cities (New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston) and only delivered in those cities. It would be easy to undercut the Postal Service by taking their most lucrative routes, without taking on the responsibility of delivering to Bastrop, Peoria, Wasilla, and other out-of-the way locales. That monopoly was imposed for a reason...because without it, letter delivery costs would spiral out of control in the "free market." Isn't that what has happened to health care costs?