Saturday, September 10, 2011

Can the Post Office Compete or is the Internet Destroying it?

The New York Times published an article on Labor Day claiming that the stodgy old US Postal Service is failing and comparing it to UPS and Federal Express. From what I'm reading the Times article seemed to claim that the old government service was, of course, failing because it wasn't agile and reactive. UPS and Federal Express had much lower employee costs, the report claim, but two other analyses found the truth to be somewhat different. The problems are solvable, the Internet isn't the real problem, and UPS and FedEx are not more efficient. I recommend watching the video above and and the article linked below. It is disturbing that the New York Times seems to bending to the right and framing their articles as if they all have to pass muster with Darrel Issa. And in fact, Congressman Issa is even mentioned in one report as trying to get the Postal Service shut down. (To be replaced with a system that uses a lot of mail carts that weirdly tell passing pedestrians "Warning, you are too close! Step away from the mail!"?) More info on the Postal System's problems and solutions (and about the original report) at Targeting the Post Office.