U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They Were Ignored

Re:U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They ... by lawfulcactus on Monday April 13, 2020 @05:13PM (#22860044)

> Laws that bar any other shipping service from delivering mail and packages directly to residential and business mailboxes. Shapiro estimates that this gives the Post Office a $14 billion annual boost, more than three times what the Postal Regulatory Commission estimates it to be.

> Tax breaks. The Post Office is exempt from state and local property and real estate taxes, along with other burdens like tolls, vehicle registration fees, and parking tickets. These exemptions save the USPS $2.18 billion per year.

> Cheap borrowing. [...] It currently borrows the legal limit of $15.2 billion at a rate of 1.2%. Without this access, it would be paying somewhere between $415 million and $490 million per year more in interest.

> Finally, Shapiro points out that the USPS pays its workers salaries and benefits far above the rates paid to similar workers in the private sector.

From the article; it's not a /literal/ taxpayer-funded subsidy.

Also, since that link is paywalled: https://web.archive.org/web/20200411145708/https://fortune.c...

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Re:U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They ... by curiousgeorgio on Monday April 13, 2020 @05:18PM (#22860115)

Literal or not, it amounts to being the same for their bottom line, and we all pay for it through taxes.

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Re:U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They ... by lawfulcactus on Monday April 13, 2020 @05:20PM (#22860144)

It's a random individual's approximation of the value added by their status as a government agency; and no, we patently /don't/ pay for it through taxes (unless you count subsidized borrowing, but that wasn't the original claim and it's more than a little nitpick-y).

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Re:U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They ... by cjsawyer on Monday April 13, 2020 @05:18PM (#22860118)

Okay, the article’s point is that their position as a semi government agency gives them an unfair advantage vs their private competitors. Of course it does.

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Re:U.S. Postal Workers Were on the Front Lines Before. They ... by imchillyb on Monday April 13, 2020 @05:13PM (#22860046)

> Laws that bar any other shipping service from delivering mail and packages directly to residential and business mailboxes. Shapiro estimates that this gives the Post Office a $14 billion annual boost...

I believe you may wish to re-read your own link. What he said is correct. What you stated is patently incorrect.

The above quote is from your own article and states that is a 3rd party estimation and not-at-all a tax donation that the American populace pays for, which is what you also stated.

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