Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by Y_Y on Monday November 09, 2026 @04:59PM
(#50432860)
Isn't the USPS a profit-seeking arm of the government?
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by mplewis on Monday November 09, 2026 @05:11PM
(#50432993)
No?
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by sitzkrieg on Monday November 09, 2026 @05:12PM
(#50433006)
there might be an argument for it since DeJoy has been trying to run it like amazon ruining rural service
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by staticshock on Monday November 09, 2026 @05:18PM
(#50433077)
Yes, USPS is run as a financially self-sustaining business wholly owned by the federal government.
For a long time it was in this weird double bind because the federal government mandated generous health insurance for USPS employees, but did not allocate funds for it, because USPS was supposed to provide its own funds to cover all expenses, but it looks like new legislation (PSRA) was passed in 2022 to move the healthcare coverage burden from USPS and onto the OPM.
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by mook on Monday November 09, 2026 @06:30PM
(#50433882)
So, combining that other thread about Canadian payments, USPS is (the American equivalent of) a crown corporation?
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by bityard on Monday November 09, 2026 @05:19PM
(#50433082)
It is not. It is not taxpayer funded, and is thus organized similarly to a company since all funding comes from postage, but it's an independent US government agency.
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by numbsafari on Monday November 09, 2026 @05:24PM
(#50433148)
It wasn't intended to be profitable. It was intended to provide a public service in the national interest. Any funds raised through postage were to hopefully offset the considerable costs, but the considerable costs were in and of themselves seen as a necessary expenditure for a critical responsibility of the federal government, no more or less so than the considerable costs associated with the raising of armies and navies for the defense of the nation.
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by monster_truck on Monday November 09, 2026 @06:07PM
(#50433648)
No??? It's an independent bit of the exec branch designed to operate as a public service. You should have learned this in high school civics class
Re:USPS now offers official ZIP Code boundary polygons
by Y_Y on Tuesday November 10, 2026 @03:47AM
(#50437667)
Amazingly, I'm not American!
Anyway it was just a silly joke about how your postal system is state owned but (sometimes) expected to make a lot of money, rather than run at a loss like a normal public service.