Healthcare, too. They're services. No one expects the Department of Defense to make money because the government doesn't make a case for cutting spending on it.
A world where everything had to make money would be treacherous, In my eyes these services are more of an investment than the loss making money burner that some people make them out to be.
It isn't possible to completely privatize the postal service. The consitution says "Congress shall have the power... To establish Post Offices and post Roads;"
When people - Republicans - in my area run for office, they talk about spending too much on schools but they never talk about spending too much on cops. :(
The USPS has only once in the past 30-40 years received taxpayer funding, and that was during the COVID bailout that saw funding head to all sorts of private companies all over the country.
the post office is consistently one of the most favorably viewed govt agencies. 90% approval across the aisle. if taxpayers are so concerned about return on investment they should probably be scrutinizing our military spending more closely
most estimates put it closer to 55-60%, & again: if we’re worried about “stripping the planet of oxygen”, the budget we should be looking at is the military’s
Sesame Street gave Stevie Wonder seven minutes to play an extended version of Superstition. I can't think of any other broadcaster that would do that for a daytime audience, child or adult. Assuming viewers have an attention span... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ul7X5js1vE
I must be as old as dirt because when I was young Sesame Street was on the Public Broadcasting System. Where funding was made possible by donations. Roll credits of the wealthy who made broadcasting the best programming possible. I guess that's why I just read SS is on HBO.
Sesame St. began as a public television endeavor, using public funds & donations to return a public service, and did so most of its history. You always have to use RESOURCES to make art or educate. That's not capitalism. Capitalism is the one trying to (yet again) KILL Sesame Street.
Capitalism loves to cut PBS funding (which is why Sesame has had to look for other investors). Capitalism likes to try to destroy the not-for-profit social structures like the USPS, PBS, public transit. But all of those require resources to work, but that's not capitalism.
I imagine that position is backed by studies or something. I said "supposed to", which is just an acknowledgement of their mission statement and my own experience of the program and the experiences of people I know.
Long play. That’s the problem. If the ROI lies outside the next quarterly returns, the people making the call won’t get the credit so they won’t make the investment.
That's WHY billionaires should NOT BE in CHARGE of OUR Country! Running a Country is about PEOPLE, NOT profits! They're NOT THE SAME, so people thinking RICH people will HELP this Country are DELUSIONAL and STUPID!😠
Unfortunately the new management here at The United States of America LLC does not agree, and would like us to all remember that the only thing not allowed to make money here is *us*. Because here we're family, and how can you put a price on helping family?
HBO didn't buy Sesame Street, thought. It's still owned & operated by the non-profit Sesame Workshop. What HBO bought was the right of first broadcast of Sesame Street episodes.
If the postal service is supposed to make money, then change the rules so they aren’t forced to fund employee pensions in advance for 70+ years (unlike requirements for every other federal agency).
To be fair, USPS was originally about widely available communication across the country. That purpose is now accomplished mostly by email and texting, which are free from private service providers. Shipping packages is different. Should the government be involved in that? I'm not sure.
All of the private delivery services rely on zip codes maintained by the USPS-in addition to stranding it with rural high cost delivery areas. USPS, though constrained in many ways, forms the baseline for consistent postal and small package delivery.
That's a good point. Having USPS there forces private shippers to at least have something they're competing with, to avoid horrible price gouging. Maybe packages vs correspondence is a distinction without a difference.
It does, it also creates a lot of standards in the industry. The private services will complain all day about 1st class mail..yet, they are all profitable…and are all somewhat subsidized and supported by infrastructure the USPS has to maintain.
As an Aussie, YES. As with any kind of market economy attempt at delivering a service in remote areas the government must step in because either it's "unprofitable" and nobody is served or "WAY TOO PROFITABLE" where it's absurdly expensive.
It isn't a stupid question. It's a big question with many different answers. I think privatization of the post is a terrible idea. I think government subsidized shipment of non-commercial (or medical) packages is a good thing that is worth spending tax dollars on.
Exactly. Plus some people have difficulty with perspective taking and can’t imagine that others prefer using paper records for their finances rather than email. But the point is: Public Services are for community good, not profit. Eg.Fire Departments and Libraries don’t AND SHOULDN’T make a profit.
I think it should- for one thing, government needs a reliable way to communicate with the people and to diseminate info, and the USPS has it down to a science. Yes, private industry could make a fortune on it, and they are salivating. But we would pay a lot more, and it would be less efficient.
My medication has a very short shelf life and "we will stop by sometime between now and next Thursday. The delivery guy is going to forge your signature and leave it on the curb in the sun, good luck" isn't going to cut it.
Should the government be involved in making sure ALL voters, even disabled & elderly who don’t drive, have a secure way to vote if by mail? To pay bills without a computer or reliable internet service? Oh wait are you advocating for government-provided, nonprofit internet & phone for all? Awesome!
I'm not actually advocating for anything specific. I was just raising the question about the difference between personal correspondence and (primarily) commercial packages. I think privatization of USPS is bad. I also think the Internet is a public utility and should be treated as such.
Tell that to the Republicans who don't believe in social contracts and public service! It's all about how much money they can rake in. Fuck everyone else.
Care for citizens isn't supposed to make money
Care for elderly patients isn't supposed to make money
Care for mental issues isn't supposed to make money
Care for chemically dependents isn't supposed to make money
Care for Veterans isn't supposed to make money
Care for farmers isn't supposed to make money
Care for small businesses isn't supposed to make money
Care for main street isn't supposed to make money
Care for homeowners isn't supposed to make money
Care for these others are, supposed to make money
Military Industrial Complex, that still exists & flourishes
$100 nails, $1000 hammers, $10,000 toilet seats, and much more that #leonsmuk and the other guy can even quantify.
It's a pity that we have allowed these guys to control our tax dollars while they pay nothing in comparison.
Please don't just post on this forum. Tell someone in DC who represents you what you think.
It only takes a few minutes and best of all..doesn't cost any money.
We don't need money in politics. We just need people to participate.
They also want to get rid of the postal workers union and raid the pension fund. (Why do you think they were required to fund 75 years of pensions immediately, something no other government agency has to do? They've been playing a long game.)
The GOPs been trying to for half a century. Reduce the wages and the turnover would be massive. You'd never get your packages. The only reason anyone tollerated working for USPS is better pay and TSP. The entire board of USPS right now are a bunch of clueless bankers.
The post office doesn’t make money as an organization.
However it does create a tremendous amount of wealth for all the businesses that use its services. Especially small businesses who can’t survive without it.
Also a big reason it's unprofitable is because congress mandated it employ an extremely burdensome pension structure where it must account for 75 years of future employees, something no other federal agency does. Without this, it could be made profitable.
the bush administration’s little gift in the hopes of causing its demise in the future, the very efficient USPS has long been a repub target, wait until those rural red trump loving counties lose their mail service or have to use fedex to pay a bill
If they achieve the goal of privatizing the post office, turning the mail into a for profit business, be prepared for the price of mailing everything to go up...and all those hard to get to rural areas, be prepared for NO service at all.
They're actually astonishingly good at making money given that they are also mandated to provide the service of delivering mail to everyone in the US, no matter how remote. Without the bizarre extra pension requirements place on them, they more than pay for themselves.
But that's not even the point. The US military doesn't make money. The Department of Education doesn't make money. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission doesn't make money. They all do things for the country, because those things need to be done. And the mail needs to be delivered.
See UK water and sewage companies - distracted from providing clean water and dealing with sewage by making lots and lots of money for their shareholders instead.
And then telling us they need to put their prices up to pay fines they were hit with because of the crumbling infrastructure they deliberately neglected!
The government should confiscate their physical assets, which probably have a net zero or less value, given all the outstanding work needed to repair or replace them. This would leave the companies as shells with debts and nothing else. We shouldn't socialise their losses.
The Constitution identifies one of the duties of government as promoting the general welfare. Doesn't say anything about government's responsibility to turn a profit.
Ugh, yes. This idea that the ability to turn a profit is an indicator of something's overall value to society is a pernicious idea in our modern culture
"The post office doesn’t make money as an organization.
However it does create a tremendous amount of wealth for all the businesses that use its services. Especially small businesses who can’t survive without it.
What "kind" of business are you talking about? A casino? A private equity company? A mom n' pop? A corporation whose stockholders demand a 5-10% return annually?
You can send a package via USPS to Alaska for x amount of dollars. FedEx charges 5x that amount.
But why would we invest in our kids & elderly if there’s no immediate profit? Sure, Sesame Street is great for learning & development but why would I care about our economic future when I can buy another yacht? Money please! (Billionaires. Probably)
But that is what people think they want. They want everything to be lean and efficient and make a profit. That also means no social services, no charity, no room for the sick, the old or the infirm. People don't think far enough ahead and they don't empathize with the weak and downtrodden.
I remember when republicans tried to get rid of public television and Americans went nuts they were not taking away our Sesame Street,and republicans bent the knee✊🏾✊🏻✊🏽✊🏿💪🏾
Absolutely, but I equated "making money" with making a profit. I'm sure Max didn't acquire the rights to Sesame Street to merely earn enough for operating costs.
The US Post Office has always been run like a private corporation. It is supposed to make money, and expand as communities expand. DeJoy has taken a failing industry and run it into the ground. There is no money allotted in the budget for the post office and never has been, except to bail it out.
Yes, Donald Trump the savvy businessman who took in a half-billion dollars of family money in the early '80s and in just 20 years turned it into ... a half-billion dollars! Genius!!! :o
Then using #SesameStreet - #NPR and the #USPS are run with mandatory taxpayer support. All will be better when #DOGE begins and they all run with 80% fewer free rides.
They are not doing cutbacks, they are abolishing them. The USPS is actually protected by the constitution. Just what do you think will happen when they privatize these entities. Just how services do you have to lose or how many consumers are acceptable losses before you come to understand why?
A possible problem is that taxpayers are paying for expensive government to pay for things (like the USPS) from the 19th & 20th centuries that no longer get the job done. #BeHonest
The post office is a service which operates on breaking even. They "no longer get the job done" because DeJoy is doing every thing in his power to make it inefficient, including laying off workers, closing offices, combining distribution centers & destroying valuable sorting equipment.
...and I might add. Why do you think DeJoy is doing this? He had a trucking business and leases buildings to the USPS for $1.2M/yr. Why do you think they want "privatization" in everything. The oligarchs are at the barbarians gate siphoning off everything they can, leaving the public in the lurch.
No one should want the government to operate like a business that's how you get the USSR. Government owns everything, everyone is a government employee, and the reward for meeting production quotas is more quotas.
The Fish and Wildlife Service isn't supposed to make money. Nor is the Forest Service, nor the National Park Service, nor the National Weather Service. Etc., etc., etc...
#publicschools aren’t supposed to make money. Private schools are. Remember this when your state government funds private school vouchers your tax dollars.
"There are things in the public interest that add great value to society that aren't profitable: public libraries, public toilets, public education, and public healthcare."
These institutions to a degree, do have to make money and be profitable because people do work there and have made a career of the place and in many cases are looking for advancement as well as overtime with families to support
That money doesn’t all go to the military. It’s goes to publicity traded companies in which politicians hold stock and sometimes directly to contractors who pay relatives of politicians ridiculous salaries. The children of politicians often make above $100k per year.
Rural areas will have to form their own mail delivery services. A long time ago people did this, with cheaper postage, but it was illegal, I reckon it still is but don't know.
No this was in the 19th century. The Postal Act of 1845 prohibited private conveyance for compensation - you could deliver for free, of course, but couldn't deliver mail as a business, or charge for it, or use designated postal roads if you were charging a fee for delivery.
Tell that to the ultra greedy globalists who have bought our politicians so they can make so much profit that our way of life is in danger of becoming intolerable.
It's just usually when the word "globalist" gets thrown around its code for something shitty.
As for global integration of societies, I'd prefer that to constant economic and military warfare. There are ways towards world peace that don't involve economic exploitation. Sadly, no one pursues them.
Not .org but analog tv channels 6 and 9 were PBS stations and it was great because they each played different stuff. It how I got to see so much BBC content in the 1980’s also where I learned about reproductive science and sexuality from Dr Ruth.
there’s something very special about being raised on Bob Ross and Mr. Rogers and Marty Stouffer’s Wild America..
I absolutely credit it with why I am able to sit quietly and listen to a lecture or when people are speaking to me, and why I can enjoy old movies, and the calm of solitude & nature.
Hospitals, utilities, and perhaps insurance companies too shouldn't have to make a profit for shareholders. It seems these days that some of these institutions make *insane* profits—wrecking people's lives in the process.
There is a distinct difference between profit and pay as you well know or should. Do police, fire, teachers, military etc work for free? Granted they aren’t paid well while others get wealthy off that work. You know that too. What is your point?
Doctors and nurses in Australia make good coin, but universal healthcare means providers make normal profits..no obscene profits and everyone gets access to it despite personal wealth or lack thereof.....tbh not sure your point?
That kind of reasoning goes hand in hand with: he was a good businessman (he wasn’t) so he will be a good president/PM because he will run the country like a business.
Only in America! Amazing how many other countries have these and more service for taxpayers....at no cost above the taxes they have paid! The govts support the people instead of oligarchs using govt to support themselves.
The USPS is run from the revenue it brings in from selling stamps, parcel post, etc. Congress allocates some tax money to the USPS for delivery of mail to the blind.
Thanks a lot for your answer. When you look at its history, you find It seems that it was notalways required to be "self-financing". So, why this shift?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service
The United States Postal Service has been required to prefund its retiree health care benefits as mandated by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006, 75 years in advance, paying for retirement health care for individuals who haven’t been born yet, let alone enter the workforce.
but like, does it even need to do that? if it’s a federally-subsidized service that costs people like, five bucks in taxes to send mail clear across the country from the atlantic to the pacific…is that a bad thing?
does anyone out there honestly think it would be better to outright kill it?
I was saying that he's just making up numbers. "Wouldn't it be great if the postal service was cheaper?" Sure, I guess. What point is he trying to make though?
I mean, sure, ofc. My point being, though, is that not *everything* has to make money, and some public services are valuable enough to be worth paying a nominal tax for
Also, the people working in these services, charities, and jobs are not supposed to be poor just cause they are helping others. They deserve to get paid a thriving salary and enjoy full benefits just as much as any other professional.
Public services aren't "paid for by other people"; they're collectively subsidised because it's cheaper that way. In some parts of developing countries if you want a road or electrity or postal delivery, you have to bribe local officials and/or build it yourself. Lack of infrastructure is expensive.
Yep there's a reason why 97.6% of the wealthiest people in America were born wealthy, want someone gets to the point to where they have more money than they can spend in a lifetime that wealth is now locked away from the general population generations after the person who owned the wealth is dead.
Here in Texas if you were a billionaire or close to a billionaire odds are your money either came from cattle or oil, so the wealthiest Texas families the origin of that wealth comes from a second great grandfather who struck oil on his land, or bought acres of land for pennies in the 1870's.
So now outside of extreme luck or extraordinary situations all that wealth is held away from the general population no matter how hard working they are, because their family got to it first.
Exactly. The DOD isn’t expected to turn a profit. Why is this selectively applied? People don’t even realize they’re being played with this language because it’s been used as propaganda for decades at this point.
The US Military gets a pass, because it acts mostly as a pass-through organization--monies get sent to private corporations/contractors. This is the model the right-wing wants for other areas of government. #cspan #cspanwj
Republicans think everything is supposed to make money. Sick people aren’t a problem, they’re an opportunity.
Guns and violence aren’t a problem, they are an opportunity.
The poorly educated are not a problem. They are an opportunity.
Fossil fuels are not a problem. They are an opportunity.
True. But the Corporations and their minions want to turn every aspect of our daily lives into someones profit center, and they're succeeding. It will be good for the shareholders, won't someone please think of the poor shareholders?
Unfortunately, we live in a society where everyone has to make money or they don't exist. asking and making money to take care of yourself, workers, or programs is not bad.
the problem is people thinking everything has to make loads of money at once or its not profitable, even if there are benefits
I don’t disagree. But it is a huge industry. Where would you draw the line? Medicine, imaging, surgery supplies, and IT infrastructure etc are all for-profit entities. Not to mention insurance. Two hospitals here, one non profit, one for profit. Insurance drives both I think.
It's pretty simple. If the prime goal is patient care (IT is not patient care) it should be non-profit. That includes meds, supplies, imaging, etc. No profit allowed. Hospitals and practices too. Insurance as well. It used to be this way, change started around the mid-20th century up to MCOs.
Thanks. Do you mean that at the point of care a provider should not make a profit off meds etc? Or are you saying that meds, imaging etc shouldn’t be for profit businesses? And actually patient care today depends greatly on IT support. Admits, med admin, charting, imaging, monitoring depend on IT.
"but who will I determine something's value if there isn't a profit incentive. Next you'll tell me that people will still want to become doctors if they make less than 500k a year."
Sesame Street and the Post Office would need to make a profit and grow that profit each year if we were a totalitarian ideological political system in the way that N Korea is, except the big idea was total capitalism?
Part 2 R Reagan is also the guy who, at health insurers urging, threw open the doors of Psychiatric hospitals, left all the mentally ill people to fend for themselves. Which makes all of society far less safe. Of course, Reagan had senility, like Trump does. It won't end well.
And no, not all patients were horribly mistreated, but there weren't good meds or treatments for them, so they were all having a pretty miserable existence. But it was at least attempted to keep them from hurting themselves and others. We don't have that now. They go to jail or fend for themselves
Some BUT I worked at a cafe next door to a half-way house where mentally ill people were placed, and they were miserable. We used to not have very good meds or treatments, but we do now. Psychiatric hospitals can actually help people now, but insurance companies and states don't want to pay for it.
Hospitals used to not make profits- and it was much better. You can thank R Reagan for that. His rich friends wanted hospitals privatized, so Reagan made that happen. My Mom was a Nurse then. She was out-raged. She knew right away what a disaster it would be. Part 1
The wealthy generally always want to make more money. They never have enough. They don’t share by paying taxes or paying fair wages & magats see them as the good guys.
Privatize the postal service and rural customers may experience $50 postage stamps, assuming the private service is even willing to provide service at any price.
Do it, and there will be unpredictable ripple effects on businesses and individuals. Are we willing to experiment?
USPS is most definitely "supposed to make money" as no tax dollars support the service (Retired just shy of 30 yrs). If USPS doesn't generate enough to pay us all it ceases to exist. Aside from that, I agree with the rest.
Government jobs used to be highly respected, as I recall in the 1970s. Reagan ruined all that and I saw it creep into the national psyche in the 80s that everything had to be "for profit" and privatized. It was gross then, it is obvious just how gross it is now. Thank the republicans
It always bothers me when the republicans try to say how great Reagan was! He was the beginning of the downfall of the GOP. Trickle down economics is a scam for the wealthy! It’s sad that so many are so willing to vote against themselves.
Reagan, Thatcher, Mulroney, the trifecta of 1980s conservative assholes who damaged the US, UK, and Canada so badly that even decades later our countries have not recovered - and maybe never will.
So true! I retired from the government. I started in the 80s. I would tell people that 25% of the employees did 100% of the work. But in the 90s people got serious and we had great, hard working people. But we were treated by civilians like we should be volunteers! 🤦🏻♀️
Thank the Boomers. I'm old enough to remember that it was hippies & squares saying that 'Greed is Good" in the 80s. Their generation may have differences but not when it comes to their greed and economics. All the protections we had in place to stop corporations the Boomers have overturned.
Raegan and Thatcher ruined both our countries and are still to this day treated by so many as political gods! When I think of those two I almost wish I wasn't an atheist so I could know they are burning in hell together...
The problem with the logic of karma is that it means those harmed also had bad karma coming to them for which the perpetrator was a conduit. The popular use of the term is a kind of cosmic reward and punishment scheme, but from the Buddhist/Hindu standpoint it's much more complicated than that.
I know certain Buddhists believe in lower rebirths such as those of hungry Spirits or even a temporary hell like realm where people are let out once every epoch or so.
I like to believe those who caused massive losses of life are spending a large amount of time working out that Karma
Funny enough both were actors specifically groomed by the heritage foundation to sell their policy plans to America.
Regan was the first project president of the deep state manifesto, Trump implemented 75% of it in 2016-2020, it’s extremely laughable to pretend P25 will be any different
So two people who were more known for being on tv and not for politics ruined us. Maybe we should stop electing washed up celebrities as our leaders. Just a thought.
I agree, but I do feel the loses could be considerably lower. These organizations need better management & operational control. The incoming crew knows the general public will latch onto headlines & will jump on the bandwagon to blindly target these organizations. Making it easier to shut them down.
Why should we subsidize the post office? Why should tax dollars be used to give them a pension that many workers will never get? Why has the service gone downhill both at the post office and in home delivery? Mail just disappearing or delivered to a totally wrong address or posties
Cutting off delivery to a whole apt building or several blocks in Vancouver which made the front page of the Vancouver Sun newspaper. But yes would be great if Sesame Street was saved but all those loveable made up characters are copywrited to make money for the owners of the copyright.
I'll assume this is a good faith question and not some "gotcha" thing.
The role of the post office is to guarantee that every person in a country can send and receive goods and messages with everyone else in the country (and by extension the world). This is a good thing.
Whether it's commerce or community, being able to interact with everyone else in your country is a net gain. BUT this service costs money and the gains aren't realized by the post office they're realized nebulously in the overall economy. So the accounting is very difficult.
Some places are hard to reach, some packages are hard to ship. The capitalist solution is to stop providing the service to "unprofitable" people. But this defeats the purpose of providing the service equally to everyone. When we try to decide which humans are worthy of care we get big problems
No kidding but there is no reason that the postal workers have to be paid so much and get so many benefits. You don’t like the job quit. I just want the postal service in Canada to stop losing 600 million dollars a year. In USA it’s like 20 billion dollars. No wonder taxes go up.
The role of government is to provide the basic infrastructure and services to make living in a country possible and enjoyable. In the overall accounting of the country it's easy to show that a connected country is healthier and more free overall.
But in a Trumpian dysphoric time(now), Trump teaches us that you’re a sucker if you don’t TAKE something out of everything. He labels those he gets things from suckers. Right now he has a cabinet full of suckers. A media full of suckers. America full of suckers. Should we expand to Canada?
It was not pensions. It was health care benefits. USPS employees were one of the few groups that did not go on medicare. Instead, USPS fully paid medical costs in retirement.
USPS was losing money and business, so the government forced it to pre-fund so its retirees would have coverage.
No, it was not.
No other business had those laws because other employees go on medicare. Postal employees did not. USPS paid their health care costs.
The law protected postal employees so they would have health care coverage, but USPS did not pay the money anyway. It defaulted.
Stop lying. Any American can go on Medicare. The PAEA was wrongfully imposed - as some MoCs later admitted - and took from USPS what NO OTHER AGENCY OR BUSINESS DOES. All this after CBO had diverted USPS surpluses to debt-ridden agencies for years.
Canada Post is like the railroads, it has a Canadian nation building component to it. It makes for a Canadian presence in all areas of Canada 🇨🇦. You can't privatize a symbol for Canadian unity, nor can you make it a make or break profitable entity.
Comments
Feudalism didn't die off. It just rebranded.
In reality, governance and business are nearly polar opposites in every metric.
Their only job is to mop up afterwards and write a report so you don't get fucked over by insurance companies.
Know what reduces crime? An educated populace with life opportunities.
https://facts.usps.com/0-tax-dallars/
The USPS has only once in the past 30-40 years received taxpayer funding, and that was during the COVID bailout that saw funding head to all sorts of private companies all over the country.
So even taken strictly from a capitalistic angle it's still worth the investment. It's just a long-play rather than quick buck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaJG7udlfEM
That's an interesting perspective.
And yeah, while email and messaging can be free, the barrier to entry is way higher than paper, envelope, stamp.
There are a ton of other arguments as to why the USPS shouldn't be privatized, but one I'd look to that
It's not the best argument or the most important one, but it's a valid argument all the same.
This is just another way to deny citizens a key service their tax dollars fund, and replace it with a far more expensive and private one.
Care for elderly patients isn't supposed to make money
Care for mental issues isn't supposed to make money
Care for chemically dependents isn't supposed to make money
Care for farmers isn't supposed to make money
Care for small businesses isn't supposed to make money
Care for main street isn't supposed to make money
Care for homeowners isn't supposed to make money
Care for these others are, supposed to make money
$100 nails, $1000 hammers, $10,000 toilet seats, and much more that #leonsmuk and the other guy can even quantify.
It's a pity that we have allowed these guys to control our tax dollars while they pay nothing in comparison.
It only takes a few minutes and best of all..doesn't cost any money.
We don't need money in politics. We just need people to participate.
https://www.nationalfinancialplan.com
If it wasn’t for the USPS, some rural Americans wouldn’t receive mail because a private courier wouldn’t want to take a loss to deliver to them.
This is why the USPS provides last-mile delivery for UPS/FedEx shipments.
However it does create a tremendous amount of wealth for all the businesses that use its services. Especially small businesses who can’t survive without it.
The post office is a service. Not a business.
https://ips-dc.org/how-congress-manufactured-a-postal-crisis-and-how-to-fix-it/
That’s not the case for postal services in other countries, many of whom their own lawmakers want to also privatize.
Postal services are services. They’re essential for a healthy society. And they don’t have to make a profit.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/10/21/louis-dejoy-had-more-than-a-dozen-potential-usps-conflicts-of-interest-upon-taking-office-documents-suggest/
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/09/darrell-isssa-turns-against-postal-unions/
However it does create a tremendous amount of wealth for all the businesses that use its services. Especially small businesses who can’t survive without it.
The post office is a service. Not a business."
You can send a package via USPS to Alaska for x amount of dollars. FedEx charges 5x that amount.
I hate how society has dictated now that things are just
supposed to make money
and that if something isn't continuously making more and more money, it's not worth.
We're """supposed""" to be running around endurance hunting and gathering berries in small groups of a few dozen, not this
we fucking MADE IT UP
it's supposed to be a *useful tool* to help people
when the tools are co-opted to hurt people, it is no longer a useful tool
When people are tricked into serving the tools, something is backwards....
I hate the concept at it's core
if you think we're supposed to be making more and more money and being more profitable, you need to reevaluate your worldview
we're supposed to be a social species who help each other and lift each other up
not a species who has to compete for resources
This is life under capitalism
but nonprofits still have operating costs.
Generates little to no revenue, yet without it, society falls apart.
https://newrepublic.com/article/159662/libertarian-walks-into-bear-book-review-free-town-project
A possible problem is that taxpayers are paying for expensive government to pay for things (like the USPS) from the 19th & 20th centuries that no longer get the job done. #BeHonest
IN ATLANTIC CITY!
hospitals aren’t supposed to make money
abolish the shareholder class
"There are things in the public interest that add great value to society that aren't profitable: public libraries, public toilets, public education, and public healthcare."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/members-of-congress-who-own-defense-stock
https://youtu.be/QdmH47VNiS4
Have they ever passed an audit?
It's not a "loss" it's what it costs.
As for global integration of societies, I'd prefer that to constant economic and military warfare. There are ways towards world peace that don't involve economic exploitation. Sadly, no one pursues them.
I absolutely credit it with why I am able to sit quietly and listen to a lecture or when people are speaking to me, and why I can enjoy old movies, and the calm of solitude & nature.
No billionaire out there would have made it without these. They should stop being deadbeats.
Self-sustaining income and turnover is reasonable; extreme profiteering and gross markups are not.
Is this really how life should be?
Project 2025 is nothing new. It just took decades to skew the federal courts and get a madman in as POTUS.
Don’t worry I can guess.
Is this the point where I say “you win!”
does anyone out there honestly think it would be better to outright kill it?
Surely everyone can agree on that?
Are we using the government enforced monopoly on a service as evidence that the service can only be provided through government coercion?
“Men were weighed by their dollars, measures gauged by their dollars; life was auctioneered, appraised, put up, and knocked down for its dollars.”
Money.
Money shouldn’t draw interest just for existing.
The more money you have, the more you get?
This is the very definition of unsustainably. And the basis for our entire economic system.
It was always going to come to this, sooner or later.
(which apparently is not a word, but you get me)
Guns and violence aren’t a problem, they are an opportunity.
The poorly educated are not a problem. They are an opportunity.
Fossil fuels are not a problem. They are an opportunity.
Allow it to have a banking capability, like it did for 50 years and change in the 20th century, and it would be moreso
the problem is people thinking everything has to make loads of money at once or its not profitable, even if there are benefits
the post office is a public service
the profit is the benefit
kids can count
read
be nice
the post office loses money in rural areas
but they pay the same
to send mail
so we cut them off
or charge them double
for profit
really
surreal
see number 2
i rest my case👨⚖️
Business owners don't only use their profits to make more money. The money is often spent on necessities and entertainment.
Govt can make money and offer the extras from the money made.
And I mean everyone from Boomers to current day kids (wtf gen is it?) who still love Sesame Street will throw a fit.
MAX is being run by a very stupid box of very dumb rocks.
Do it, and there will be unpredictable ripple effects on businesses and individuals. Are we willing to experiment?
Gonna audit the DMV next?
Yeah, there were even the 'Reagan Democrats', but those of us who weren't sleepwalking saw what was going on in real time.
-cockroaches
I like to believe those who caused massive losses of life are spending a large amount of time working out that Karma
Regan was the first project president of the deep state manifesto, Trump implemented 75% of it in 2016-2020, it’s extremely laughable to pretend P25 will be any different
The role of the post office is to guarantee that every person in a country can send and receive goods and messages with everyone else in the country (and by extension the world). This is a good thing.
USPS was losing money and business, so the government forced it to pre-fund so its retirees would have coverage.
No other business had those laws because other employees go on medicare. Postal employees did not. USPS paid their health care costs.
The law protected postal employees so they would have health care coverage, but USPS did not pay the money anyway. It defaulted.
I think we can say by now with 100% certainty, that advertising is the wrong way to pay for it, anyway.