> And, come on... you're not trying just to make the job of the USPS easier here.

Most of this address data is made available in order to enable pre-sorting of mail, which makes the job of the USPS easier. Presorted mail can also have a lower mailing cost, but I wouldn't be surprised if the USPS doesn't pass on all of the savings.

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Verified addresses (CASS & friends) receive automation discounts. These save taxpayer money by reducing delivery exceptions.

We can help the USPS by using a very cheap API to ensure that data we are entering into bank core systems is accurate.

Yes, the entity is for-profit. The bank is for-profit. Everyone is for-profit. Who gives a shit. This isn't a zero sum game. Everyone can win, including the USPS and the taxpayer.

I give a shit; I want costs and incentives aligned as closely as possible, and that means not shifting the cost of things to the taxpayer in a way that ensures there will both never be competition, and the true costs are not borne by the people who actually incur them.

The people arguing against you are not going to see it your way.

There is a ideology of some people that think that taxes are a magical way of funding anything they feel is a common good. Most of the time these are well intended thoughts of public good. However they NEVER take into the account the unintended consequences of their ideas. It stops with tax more = more public good.

There are just as many people who seem to think that all taxes are inherently harmful for any possible use case and nothing will convince them otherwise. I would honestly expect fintech to have more of this group than the one you describe.

Correct, however I would argue that inertia carries one area farther than another.

Meaning it's much easier to start a government program paid by tax dollars than it is to remove one, especially when the program is no longer needed (objectively).

Maybe people like you can just pay more?

If this was about serving costs they wouldn't have terms like this in their license:

>LICENSEE shall use the Database and Data for the Permitted Use only and shall not disclose, release, distribute, or deliver the Database or Data, any portion of the Data or Database, or any other information derived from the Data or Database to any third party without LICENSOR's prior written consent.

> Or any other information derived from the Data or Database

How the heck are you supposed to do anything with it if you're not allowed to produce results that are derived from it somehow??

Maybe it just means you can’t get the data from them and then use it to sell an address verification service to others.