USPS Profitability Debate
Discussions center on the USPS's financial challenges, including subsidies from junk mail and packages, pension obligations, legal monopoly on letters, and comparisons to private carriers like FedEx and UPS.
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The USPS is a public service. The public service is subsidized via direct mailings. If everyone opted out of direct mailings(or if direct mailings were opt-in), the USPS would continue to operate, only they would either charge much more to deliver posts, or they would be granted more subsidies from the taxpayers.
Any thoughts as to why USPS et al. are apparently not pursuing this?
It's extremely relevant. Other entities could deliver letters, but would they? At prices competitive with USPS?
how is this different from running a postal service? would you be against that?
USPS is often faster and cheaper than private delivery companies, delivers to all addresses (unlike FedEx and UPS, which contract to USPS in rural areas), and would be profitable if not hamstrung by pension funding restrictions from Congress that are more stringent than private companies.
why would I want to help the USPS at a cost to me?
They have a monopoly over letters and your mailbox. See: https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-bulletin/privatizing-us-post....
Maybe this is where USPS' money went
The USPS makes money on the spam/junk mail and packages, not on letters. The profit incentive for them is not the same as their customers desires.
Why should the USPS be subsidized?