Please follow the HN guidelines.

> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize.

If you can't accept the reality that USPS does more than deliver "grocery store spam" I'd recommend you abstain from adding to the conversation.

Sure, the USPS does more than deliver grocery store spam -- but not much more. A plurality of mail sent via USPS is spam, and the majority of that mail remains unopened (if it's not a leaflet).

The main parcel shipped by the USPS is physical waste.

Except that the postal service plays a key role in medical care.

https://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/us-postal-service-role-in...

It is a lot more than just “grocery store spam.”

The VA sends medicine to millions of veterans through the mail. They’re not CVS. Your point is invalid.

The article linked specifically mentions that one of the main advocates for the Post Office from a medical standpoint are pharmacies. The point is certainly valid.

The high risk loans and bailouts given to the post service are absolutely more expensive than mailing medicine to veterans.

The cost of keeping the post office afloat is part of the cost of mailing medicine to veterans.

Again, irrelevant. Yes, of course it's part of the cost of mailing the medicine to veterans, but it's the part that we're talking about.

The cost of mailing medicine to veterans is _part_ of the cost of keeping the post office afloat. Other parts of that cost are the problem, and private alternatives which charge higher rates for infrequently recurring mail are actually less expensive to the government.

It's about guaranteed delivery to an address. If you want to discuss the USPS rates, and how those rates are largely controlled by Congress, along with Congress saddening the post office with expenses no other organization has, we can have that discussion.

PAEA gave the post office much more autonomy over their rates. Months ago a bailout was offered on the stipulation of raised rates. The Post Office is culpable for their insane pricing.

And assuming you mean accounting for actuarial costs, other businesses certainly do need to account for those.

Can you please give examples of businesses that are required to prefund their pensions in the manner that the post office is?

Or maybe you're forgetting that the postal service delivers more than just spam and circulars? (Also, you're picking local grocery circulars as your example of spam? I would wager that grocery circulars are among the few pieces of unsolicited bulk mail that most people don't consider unwanted.)

The postal service also delivers tax documents, ballots, bills, and (actual and important, not the junk made to look as such) notifications from utilities. It's disingenuous to argue that the postal service doesn't do anything important.

Many of these are monthly, quarterly, or yearly subscriptions that do not account for a fraction of what the USPS delivers. The USPS delivered over 500 pieces of mail per living person in the US, including children, in 2014.

Were the US to pay for private delivery the 30-40 pieces of critical mail people receive each year and use bulk pricing discounts, they would likely come out ahead.