Britian a Role Model???

Ok, so another article this time. This AFP story explains how Britain is closing down post offices due to less demand. Amazing. But alas, it is not a complete model to emulate. You see, the government will be increasing a subsidy in order to help the poor, the elderly, and those in a remote village.

This is good news however. The United States Postal Service could easily be reduced and/or subjugated to private competition. While the British politician understands email, there are many Americans who do not. (Amazingly, the ones who usually fight for the Postal Service are Democrats i.e. the same party as the inventor of the Internet, Al Gore.)

What would the U.S. look like without the Postal Service here? Would mail not be delivered? Ummm...only problem with that last question, it assumes rural villages get mail now. Well, hell, anyone gets their mail now. How often does the post office screw up? What can you do about it? Well, if you paid extra, you could get a wee bit of insurance. But why should you have to pay extra? I mean, UPS knows where my bloody package is anywhere in the country, so why can't the post office?

And that is why privatization and competition would actually be better for consumers. Now, I don't know about England, but I come from a truly rural area. And yet, there goes the FedEx truck and the UPS truck through town. Hmm... Imagine that. They might actually want to provide the service for rural customers. Could it be that those who claim UPS and FedEx ignore rural customers could have a point? Maybe. Then again, if so, it would be just as likely as the friggin' post office is driving them out of the market. And that, that government monopoly power truly hurts consumers. You see, those who moan and whine that Microsoft is a monopoly usually tend not to care the the United States Postal Service is a monopoly.

Actually, let's compare Microsoft and the United States Postal Service. Microsoft competes in call it three major areas: Operating Systems, Computer Software, and Video Game Consoles. The Post Office is in two major areas: First-class Mail and Package delivery. (In both cases, there may be a few other areas of revenue, e.g. selling specialty stamps, but let's just focus on the biggies.) So how is competition in these areas? Well, for Microsoft, Apple is huge in the Operating Systems area, Apple and others create software to compete with Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer, and Sony and Nintendo compete on video game consoles, so where is the monopoly again? Now, for the Post Office, no one is legally allowed to compete on First-class Mail while UPS, FedEx, and DHL all compete on package delivery. So where is the monopoly? Oh yeah, that whole government outlaw thing. You know, the "deliver mail, go to jail" law. (Ooh, that rhymed. Sweet!)

So you see, if Microsoft is so bad because it is a "monopoly," why would anyone in their right bloody mind think the Postal Service is good when IT is a monopoly?

For more info and a better argument against the Postal Service monopoly, see this article in the Baltimore Sun.