So FedEx, UPS and others have bankrupted the Postal Service, but a 5% public option would kill off private Health Insurance? What's killing the Postal Service is the fact that a huge majority of what they hand deliver door to door is bulk rate shipping which pays less than it's costs. But Mail Delivery is part of the function of government ( and promotes other business taxes) so I'm fine with government support. I see no need for Saturday delivery myself but apparently that is a non-starter.
If the postal service is managed by a private company, can they keep the price of first-class mail below 38 cents and turn a profit?
Except that both of those health care programs routinely rate higher among customer satisfaction than privately run programs. The other good thing about the proposed option is that it is paid for. It is at a rate that reduces the deficit, and will cut waste out of medicare as well. Privately run health care is one of the reasons we have such a poor system now. They are just running it into the ground, and make money by denying people procedures and coverage.
if the postal service and it's postage stamps division were managed by a private company trying to maximize profits, a lot more people than susan would drop dead just before the wedding
I beg to differ. Those w/out insurance are forced to purchase it. So according to you, if I don't like the public option, I should go buy private, even though I can't afford either? Here is my rebuttal; If you don't like your corporation run healthcare, go spend the extra on premium private insurance, since you expect those who don't like the public option to spend more on private. The reason why its cheaper is because of two reasons: 1) There are no profit margins and any losses can be subsidized. 2) The private sector can not offer a reasonable price because its is against the law for a business compete in First Class Mail. The USPS doesn't bother me too much, and as I've said, its one of the VERY few government run businesses that are ran somewhat effective. There are many post offices that are ran very very poorly, from customer service to delivery. Of course not. If rates doubled by the private sector, corporations would be the hardest hit. Electronic transfers(email, paperless billing, online/phone payments) is killing the postal service. Most people do not need the postal service as much as they did 20 years ago.
They have to buy it, but it doesn't have to be the public option. I would rather not have to pay more for my health care because someone who doesn't want to buy it goes to the emergency room for something that they shouldn't have to. The premium private insurance is going haywire as well. They also wouldn't accept me because of my pre-existing condition.
If it was run by a private company, they would import workers from India with work visas and pay them minimum wage. Calls to the post office would be routed to an Indian call center. Sure, they are making a profit with 1st class mail for less than 38 cents, but will the mail actually arrive at the right place.
In case you didn't notice, the US Postal Service IS self-sufficient and has been for decades. Like any other private business, it has years where it posts losses.
Except that private health care costs are going up just as fast. Medicare doesn't suffer from government inefficiency - it suffers from the same problem private insurance suffers from, just with different methods of funding. Medicare is funded by raising taxes; private insurance is funded by raising premiums at 10% per year. Neither is sustainable, and privatizing Medicare doesn't do anything to fix the problem. It will just be private insurers bankrupting the country instead of the government.
Maybe if there was less junk mail from credit card, insurance, and retail companies and their ilk there would be less use cases for snail mail.
Ten years ago, I used to mail out bill payments. The post office would make money with the companies mailing out the bills and on the return payment. Now that most places have online bill paying, I do everything online. I never have to worry about a missing payment.
I wonder how much of the USPS's business is due to mass JUNK mail? Hell, buying a house grants you an automatic truckload of mail for at least a few months.
This comment is worth a the size of Canada... ...but on this one, you are correct. Snail mail is an antiquated relic of years past and three day per week delivery should be more than enough for residential. If a business wants a "premium" account, they can continue to receive service 6 days a week or they can send their mail to the post office or one of the postal shops that are ubiquitous.
What do you want from me? I already said it should be privatized. I think a dramatic increase in postal prices would actually be a boon for society. It would put a greater incentive on the laggers to switch to web-based correspondence for important personal business, which is much more efficient. It would curtail direct mail marketing, which is a nuisance. And personal, physical correspondence could still be employed; it'd be at a higher cost, but it is an occasional expense anyway.
Isn't the purpose of the post office for the government to take over a business that is not profitable?
They question is, should government provide cheap mail service for everyone. Maybe the answer is no. I know I hardly mail anything in mail these days.
I wasn't attacking your viewpoint. I was merely stating that the private sector can never compete with the USPS in letter delivery, simply because there are laws in place that prevent corps. from competing in an apples to apples scenario. If you want to send a post card via fed ex, you have to send it as a package. Now you can draw parallels to what will eventually happen to gov. health care, but I don't care to beat a dead horse. What is amusing is that I completely disagree that the USPS should be privatized. As the old saying goes, if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Had the USPS been a government take over or had the government decided to monopolize a particular market, I might feel different. The USPS was formed more so out of necessity than demand. For the most part, the post office breaks even, provides a reliable delivery (the system, not the employees), reasonable rates and it employees unskilled labor at a good wage. What do you think will happen the moment its privatized? The USPS was designed to deliver mail, not pull a profit. GM was built to pull a profit. If their management wants to run it into the ground with poor products and bad decisions in the name of profit, then let them finish themselves off. I know this goes against my normal less government mantra (which is often misconstrued to be anti-government), but as I said, if it works, leave it alone. This is why I am against the health care public option, its mirroring a very broken system that is clearly not working. With the USPS, i might buy a half a dozen stamps a year....$5 max. With the public option, I expect to be paying at least $300 a month and I might make it to the doctor once.
