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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: tjlanza@************.com (Timothy J. Lanza)
Subject: Off Topic [Was "Re: LE twinking"]
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 16:27:04 -0400
At 02:19 PM 9/15/2005, Martin Little wrote:
>2) All that infrastructure is expensive when you don't have a government
>funding you (Like say the post office) (Who usually is at least partially
>the reason for item #1) Usually they have to maintain customs brokering
>which probably has a lot of 'incidental' costs.

Actually, the Postal Service is one of the very few "government agencies"
that is entirely self-funded. Postage and other services actually generate
/profit/ for the USPS.

--
Timothy J. Lanza
"When we can't dream any longer, we die." - Emma Goldman
Message no. 2
From: sfeley@*****.com (Stephen Eley)
Subject: Off Topic [Was "Re: LE twinking"]
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 16:38:41 -0400
On 9/15/05, Timothy J. Lanza <tjlanza@************.com> wrote:
>
> Actually, the Postal Service is one of the very few "government agencies"
> that is entirely self-funded. Postage and other services actually generate
> /profit/ for the USPS.

That's true, but they also enjoy monopoly protections that keep them
from having to compete on even terms with other businesses. It is
actually illegal for private corporations to deliver letters for the
same price as the USPS; and you can save a lot of money when you
aren't subject to taxes or to most corporate regulations.

Oh, and if you're wondering why UPS and FedEx are both so up-in-arms
about DHL expanding in the US package delivery business, it's mostly
because DHL is owned and funded by Deutsche Post -- the German post
office. The largest postal monopoly in the world is essentially using
its cash reserves to compete in another country's private industry,
and people are crying foul largely on regulatory grounds.

--
Have Fun,
Steve Eley (sfeley@*****.com)
ESCAPE POD - the SF podcast magazine
http://escape.extraneous.org
Message no. 3
From: arclight@*********.de (Arclight)
Subject: Off Topic [Was "Re: LE twinking"]
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 23:09:37 +0200
At 22:38 15.09.2005, Stephen Eley wrote:

<snip>

>Oh, and if you're wondering why UPS and FedEx are both so up-in-arms
>about DHL expanding in the US package delivery business, it's mostly
>because DHL is owned and funded by Deutsche Post -- the German post
>office.

Which is, for quite some years, a private company now. Federal goverment
even has sold all stock they owned by now.

>The largest postal monopoly in the world is essentially using
>its cash reserves to compete in another country's private industry,
>and people are crying foul largely on regulatory grounds.

Well, Deutsche Post has bought a load of logistics companies worldwide. And
they really have a lot of cash, especially after they went to the stock
market. But it's no real monopoly anymore, only thing left is the private
customer market for letters and postcards. They have competition in every
other sector of the mail and logistics market now. Competition like UPS
and FedEx ;)


--
Arclight

Quitters never win, winners never quit,
but those who never quit and never win are idiots
Message no. 4
From: pentaj2@********.edu (pentaj2@********.edu)
Subject: Off Topic [Was "Re: LE twinking"]
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 19:37:38 -0400
----- Original Message -----
From: Stephen Eley <sfeley@*****.com>
Date: Thursday, September 15, 2005 4:38 pm
Subject: Re: Off Topic [Was "Re: LE twinking"]

> On 9/15/05, Timothy J. Lanza <tjlanza@************.com> wrote:
> >
> > Actually, the Postal Service is one of the very few "government
> agencies"> that is entirely self-funded. Postage and other
> services actually generate
> > /profit/ for the USPS.
>
> That's true, but they also enjoy monopoly protections that keep them
> from having to compete on even terms with other businesses. It is
> actually illegal for private corporations to deliver letters for the
> same price as the USPS; and you can save a lot of money when you
> aren't subject to taxes or to most corporate regulations.

On the other hand, UPS and FedEx don't have universal service
obligations.

Or civil service rules.

The former is a big reason why the SR fantasy of selling off or
breaking up or even fully privatizing the USPS will never happen.

There are large parts of the US that, if they were not serviced by the
USPS, would never receive mail or package service, essentially
detaching them from the rest of the country. Think, say, much of
Alaska, the Pacific islands (Guam, for example), most rural areas, etc.

John

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