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A comment on The U.S. can now set its own rates for mail from China and other countries. Parent comment

Re:The U.S. can now set its own rates for mail from China an... by Marsymars on Sunday June 28, 2020 @11:43PM (#23674148)
It doesn't need to be profitable, but I'd question the idea that the postal service, in particular, should be subsidized. Even without being subsidized, it has negative externalities that likely aren't being appropriately priced.
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Re:The U.S. can now set its own rates for mail from China an... by ltbarcly3 on Monday June 29, 2020 @02:42AM (#23675005)
In a world where the mail is the only reliable of communication with the rest of the country, subsidizing the mail was important to improve basic quality of life in more remote, and more poor, parts of the country. This survives to this day in 'media mail' rates, which are heavily subsidized to allow things like books and periodicals to reach rural people.

However, in a world where basically 100% of the business of the postal service is junk advertising and amazon packages, subsidizing it is just a payout to business, and I agree that the externalities now greatly outweigh any social benefit.

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Re:The U.S. can now set its own rates for mail from China an... by repsilat on Monday June 29, 2020 @12:11AM (#23674258)
Subsidies to bootstrap into economies of scale can make sense. When you go from filling 0.1 jets or 0.1 containers or 0.1 ships to filling 10.1 jets etc, the costs come down and usage (and utility) go up. See Amazon, and I guess Uber if they ever make it work.

Shipping from China is well past that point, though, it's clearly providing perverse incentives and it's good that it's changing.

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