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A comment on How sheep with cameras got some tiny islands onto Google Street View. Parent comment

Re:How sheep with cameras got some tiny islands onto Google ... by jasode on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @04:57PM (#15648036)
Well, there's a precedence for the government wanting to preserve jobs. USPS lost $5.6 billion last year.[1] A rich Google contract wouldn't solve all their financial problems but conceivably, USPS would hire extra workers to help manage the camera equipment, the photos, and interface with Google Inc.

If not that reason, the government could come up with other justifications. (The US government is very good at coming up with justifications for anything.)

In any case, getting some extra revenue from trucks already burning up huge amounts of fossil fuel to deliver mail seems like an eco-green win/win.

[1] https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2016/pr16_092....

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Re:How sheep with cameras got some tiny islands onto Google ... by whathaschanged on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @07:13PM (#15648979)
USPS didn't 'lose' money. They were railroaded into paying for pensions in an attempt to kill them off. http://m.govexec.com/management/2017/09/usps-defaults-billio...

The postal service owns tons of valuable land and also could easily charge amazon, etc. competitive rates when abused for their last mile services.

I'd rather my postal service not be treated like another shitty wall street commodity. We all benefit from its continued existence, warts and all.

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Re:How sheep with cameras got some tiny islands onto Google ... by yeukhon on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @08:21PM (#15649278)
I am not sure about not losing money.

Please see https://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2017/pr17_007....

Summary:

- operation cost reduced

- holiday sales saw growth

- first-class mail saw continued loss

It is known USPS has been losing money for many years now due to the raise of emails and now social media and instant messaging.

This is a strong reason some people proposed to privatize USPS instead.

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Re:How sheep with cameras got some tiny islands onto Google ... by Aloha on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @06:13PM (#15648597)
the post office isnt the government - its owned by the government, but is not part of the government.
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