News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill the U.S. Postal Service [pdf]. Parent comment

Re:The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill the U.S. Postal Se... by runako on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @08:05PM (#23912348)
> why does it have exclusivity for letter service?

It doesn't have exclusivity for letter service. UPS, FedEx, and DHL (among others) will carry letters across the country for you.

Yes, it's going to cost ~$10 to roughly match the service speed of a USPS first-class stamp. But it's available.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill the U.S. Postal Se... by missedthecue on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @09:04PM (#23912835)
The post office does indeed have a legal monopoly on first class mail.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill the U.S. Postal Se... by brendoelfrendo on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @09:37PM (#23913062)
Hasn't this been worked around, though? I can take a letter or other paper documents to FedEx, and they will ship it. It will be more expensive than USPS, though.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill the U.S. Postal Se... by missedthecue on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @09:39PM (#23913077)
it is more expensive because it must be shipped as a parcel rather than a letter. They can't ship it as a letter because it's not legal to.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill the U.S. Postal Se... by brendoelfrendo on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @10:24PM (#23913324)
I guess I don't understand the logistical difference, then, because that sounds like a semantic difference to me. What stops FedEx from saying "we ship this parcel for the same price as USPS ships a letter"?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill the U.S. Postal Se... by relaxing on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @11:18PM (#23913592)
One major restriction is a prohibition on offering delivery on a regular (daily) schedule. The relevant statutes also call out restrictions on price of postage as a multiple of the going postal rate, as well weight of the parcel. The USPS also has exclusive access to mailboxes.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill the U.S. Postal Se... by treis on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @11:00PM (#23913495)
They're prohibited by law:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/39/320.6

There are minimums they can charge and some speed requirements.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill the U.S. Postal Se... by runako on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @11:20PM (#23913597)
Per the USPS, it looks like there is an opening in law:

https://about.usps.com/publications/pub542/pub542_ch5_001.ht...

USPS has to get paid the going rate for postage. But given that no private carriers are within a factor of 10 of USPS pricing, that seems like it's not the barrier here. (Also: much easier to make the argument that the $1.00 letter service from FedEx could be $0.45 if Congress would update the relevant law.)

This really looks like the private carriers have carved off the profitable part (rapid delivery) and leave USPS with the hard, unprofitable part (delivery to 100% of addresses, for $0.55).

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill the U.S. Postal Se... by treis on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @11:30PM (#23913646)
I'm not sure how you reached your interpretation. The USPS is not barred from urgent delivery and has a competing product. They're just not as good at it as the private companies are.

As for regular mail, they don't offer that because it's impossible to compete when you have to pay your competitor for every sale you make.

[ Parent | on HN ]