and allow the private sector to deliver the mail.
The Postal Service is expected to announce today the closing of 3,653 post offices over the next 10 years. Enough of these 10 year plans. USPS could run out of money by as early as the end of August. They should not be refunded. The USPS is a bureaucratic monstrosity. Let's see what creative ideas entrepreneurs can come up with for delivering mail.
Clearly, UPS, FedEx, the internet and other forms of communication are killing the USPS. It's just a matter of time.
ReplyDeleteIt dawned on me just the other day that this will eventually be the same fate of K-12 public schools. The internet is such a powerful source and means of conveying knowledge that public schools don't have a chance in the long run (i'm guessing 20 - 25 years).
The internet along with smart phones, tablets, wifi and everything else that will come in the next few years are without exaggeration absolute societal and governmental game changers on par with the discovery/invention of fire, the wheel, the printing press, electricity, etc.
What an incredible time to be alive.
x2 to that. Who here hasn't had a crappy experience with USPS? Good luck getting a package back if it's ever lost.
ReplyDeleteI used to work for a company that provided technology to the USPS. USPS management would not even look at technologies that had the potential to make USPS union personnel redundant.
ReplyDeleteSeveral times our company argued for more business because we were at risk of laying off technical people with specialized industry knowledge which we claimed, and they accepted, would hurt the USPS long term. They saved us each time with small bridge contracts till the next big one came through.
The USPS looks and acts like a cartel because it is one. There are way too many cartels in this country and they're strangling us.
It all seems to be coming apart, slowly and painfully. The public sector being unsustainable for decades is finally becoming unrealistic. I can only hope Amtrak is privatized next; another government service that has been running with negative operating income since its inception. Practically speaking, UPS and FedEx blow the postal service out of the water in every single way. The only thing I'd let them transport is mail. They should never have tried to do anything else.
ReplyDeleteAs for public schools disappearing, I think that is silly. Education is a different story because it is an investment and not just a service. We already have some of the most poorly educated children. Do you think they'd be any more motivated to browse the web for algebra lessons rather than post on Facebook?
Frank I agree with you on Amtrak and USPS but I think your overlooking the benefits offered versus public school.
ReplyDeleteImagine the increased access students could have to quality teachers, rather than being trapped in the local jail/school. Beyond the teacher, the curicullum could be better geared toward the individual child rather than wasting away in a basic skills course.
Frank: yes I think they would. Compulsory education kills natural intellectual curiosity (ignoring the fact that it's a form of slavery). People gravitate towards topics which interest them, and build bodies of knowledge. For some people, that's mathematics, for some it's salesmanship, others comuputer programming, etc. Picking out some arbitrary set of knowledge and telling them that they must learn it or be punished is probably the worst way to educate children.
ReplyDeleteEvery single good and service provided by government would be better, faster, and cheaper if provided by the private sector.
ReplyDeleteEven war. That's why there are 2 military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan for every one soldier.
Education is no different. Unfortunatly the only way the US will ever take the plunge is when we have no choice. The entire system will have to collapse before we would consider abolishing the public school system, but that's exactly what we should be doing.
I agree we should privatize government schools. I don't even have kids. Why am I paying for other people's kids to get a crummy education until they're 22 or older? I've learned so much critical information about money, economics, and history from the Internet that the government schools completely neglected to teach me. They're expensive and they suck.
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