How much would a stamp cost if mail was completely privatized?

[OneWorld]

Let's say the industry, even before FedEX, UPS existed... was completely privatized...

How much do you think stamps would cost today?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

When you say "Cost" are you including how much taxpayers fund every year?

 

[OneWorld]

When you say "Cost" are you including how much taxpayers fund every year?

??? You do realize that the US mail service is completely self funded correct? Ok, good... continue?

 

[KittenKoder]

Let's say the industry, even before FedEX, UPS existed... was completely privatized...

How much do you think stamps would cost today?

There is no simple answer. A lot of factors come into play, but if completely privatized (we are heading that way) with no government mob bosses in charge of regulating it, then the competition would drop the prices a lot. Combine small delivery systems for local mail with the national corporations competing for funds, the prices will likely drop. Allow no bailouts and they will work even harder to get more customers. With the use of email still rising they wouldn't be able to charge much. The only reason they can charge what they do now is because there are not enough choices.

 

[OneWorld]

Let's say the industry, even before FedEX, UPS existed... was completely privatized...

How much do you think stamps would cost today?

There is no simple answer. A lot of factors come into play, but if completely privatized (we are heading that way) with no government mob bosses in charge of regulating it, then the competition would drop the prices a lot. Combine small delivery systems for local mail with the national corporations competing for funds, the prices will likely drop. Allow no bailouts and they will work even harder to get more customers. With the use of email still rising they wouldn't be able to charge much. The only reason they can charge what they do now is because there are not enough choices.

So despite evidence from the entire world, than when these kinds of industries are privatized that prices sky rocket, you hold that the prices are going to get cheaper??

44 cents to mail something anywhere in the N.America is somehow expensive? There's not enough competition?

I have to ask what you are on?

 

[KittenKoder]

Let's say the industry, even before FedEX, UPS existed... was completely privatized...

How much do you think stamps would cost today?

There is no simple answer. A lot of factors come into play, but if completely privatized (we are heading that way) with no government mob bosses in charge of regulating it, then the competition would drop the prices a lot. Combine small delivery systems for local mail with the national corporations competing for funds, the prices will likely drop. Allow no bailouts and they will work even harder to get more customers. With the use of email still rising they wouldn't be able to charge much. The only reason they can charge what they do now is because there are not enough choices.

So despite evidence from the entire world, than when these kinds of industries are privatized that prices sky rocket, you hold that the prices are going to get cheaper??

44 cents to mail something anywhere in the N.America is somehow expensive? There's not enough competition?

I have to ask what you are on?

Russia was a good example? Wow ... Bizzaro world.

44 cents is the cost of the stamps, not the actual cost since they are now receiving a lot of tax dollars to remain open. There is not enough competition, three major companies, one government controlled and funded, the other two focus mostly on packages not mail. You need to look at how businesses in the US operate more, and not just theory but what they actually pay for and how they are allowed to remain. In my area I have seen four locally owned businesses denied licenses, after paying huge fees, simply because the government wanted to use their locations for something else ... they were replaced with higher end competitors. Business and postal service are controlled by the mob bosses we call government agencies. You are starting to sound like Chris, who we all know has no interest in allowing competition.

 

[strollingbones]

doesnt matter...postal service is dying due to more modern methods of communications...no junk mail lists etc...face it the majority of what the postal service delivers is spam....i pay bills on line...i dont mail anything...why buy a birthday card for 5 bucks when y ou can email or text most people?

 

[KittenKoder]

doesnt matter...postal service is dying due to more modern methods of communications...no junk mail lists etc...face it the majority of what the postal service delivers is spam....i pay bills on line...i dont mail anything...why buy a birthday card for 5 bucks when y ou can email or text most people?

There are free flash and gif animations online that look better and can be customized to. You are right, postal mail is obsolete, other than packages and the bills I need for "official" records (I wish our local government would catch up) I just toss most of my mail.

 

[OneWorld]

Russia was a good example? Wow ... Bizzaro world.

44 cents is the cost of the stamps, not the actual cost since they are now receiving a lot of tax dollars to remain open. There is not enough competition, three major companies, one government controlled and funded, the other two focus mostly on packages not mail. You need to look at how businesses in the US operate more, and not just theory but what they actually pay for and how they are allowed to remain. In my area I have seen four locally owned businesses denied licenses, after paying huge fees, simply because the government wanted to use their locations for something else ... they were replaced with higher end competitors. Business and postal service are controlled by the mob bosses we call government agencies. You are starting to sound like Chris, who we all know has no interest in allowing competition.

What are you talking about? Talk about bizzaro world... the postal service is not receiving tax dollars to stay open. Where are you getting these lies?

No, I'm talking about when any industry becomes completely privatized.... mmm, like health care. Compare our costs, the rest of the world. Or water, which neo-cons have been privatizing in other countries throughout the world. And the list goes on...

 

[KittenKoder]

Russia was a good example? Wow ... Bizzaro world.

44 cents is the cost of the stamps, not the actual cost since they are now receiving a lot of tax dollars to remain open. There is not enough competition, three major companies, one government controlled and funded, the other two focus mostly on packages not mail. You need to look at how businesses in the US operate more, and not just theory but what they actually pay for and how they are allowed to remain. In my area I have seen four locally owned businesses denied licenses, after paying huge fees, simply because the government wanted to use their locations for something else ... they were replaced with higher end competitors. Business and postal service are controlled by the mob bosses we call government agencies. You are starting to sound like Chris, who we all know has no interest in allowing competition.

What are you talking about? Talk about bizzaro world... the postal service is not receiving tax dollars to stay open. Where are you getting these lies?

No, I'm talking about when any industry becomes completely privatized.... mmm, like health care. Compare our costs, the rest of the world. Or water, which neo-cons have been privatizing in other countries throughout the world. And the list goes on...

Your partisan simplicity is glaringly obvious. Study a bit more on the topic.

 

[OneWorld]

doesnt matter...postal service is dying due to more modern methods of communications...no junk mail lists etc...face it the majority of what the postal service delivers is spam....i pay bills on line...i dont mail anything...why buy a birthday card for 5 bucks when y ou can email or text most people?

Yeah, so let's derail the thread...

That's not the point of the thread. The point is that despite the lies you're being told, the government always does it better, faster, and cheaper.

If you spend two seconds to reason through why this is, it would become very clear. No investors, or CEO's to pay will always drive operating costs lower.

Now, I think most industries should be private, but things like health care, which has lives at stake should not be. And there's a whole list of reasons why, and also why most other countries think so too. We're the only nimrods that don't get it yet because we have fascist repubs that only care about their own needs.

 

[OneWorld]

Your partisan simplicity is glaringly obvious. Study a bit more on the topic.

So basically you have no response, and you think I'm correct.

Go study the privatizing of water... right now you are clueless as to what's going on in the world, and that's the only thing that's glaringly obvious.

 

[KittenKoder]

doesnt matter...postal service is dying due to more modern methods of communications...no junk mail lists etc...face it the majority of what the postal service delivers is spam....i pay bills on line...i dont mail anything...why buy a birthday card for 5 bucks when y ou can email or text most people?

Yeah, so let's derail the thread...

That's not the point of the thread. The point is that despite the lies you're being told, the government always does it better, faster, and cheaper.

If you spend two seconds to reason through why this is, it would become very clear. No investors, or CEO's to pay will always drive operating costs lower.

Now, I think most industries should be private, but things like health care, which has lives at stake should not be. And there's a whole list of reasons why, and also why most other countries think so too. We're the only nimrods that don't get it yet because we have fascist repubs that only care about their own needs.

Right there ... proof that you have no idea what's going on.

 

[OneWorld]

Right there ... proof that you have no idea what's going on.

Try creating an argument instead of going.... oh, look you're wrong.. haha ha...

One of us clearly doesn't know what's going on. You likely think that liberals want the government to run everything (completely false). We understand how dangerous that can be. But we also understand their are certain industries that need to be run without profit as it's primary motivation, otherwise it becomes corrupt. We also have studied are history, and understand how important regulation is for private industry, otherwise it runs amuck. Yet, Republicans still push for de-regulation every time they can. So who's interest do they have at heart? Not yours...

Why do government run health care systems across the world run better, faster, and cheaper than our completely privatized system?

 

[Navy1960]

The U.S. Postal Service is studying roughly 1,000 of its 37,000 post offices for possible closure — the latest cost-cutting step from an agency scrambling to deal with a projected $7 billion deficit this year and larger losses in 2010.
The agency started its review earlier this year with approximately 3,200 post offices, and decided about 1,000 of them are “candidates for further review.” Postal managers say they will consider several factors in deciding whether to close those facilities: mail volume, proximity to other post offices and the potential savings in labor and utility costs.
Post offices generate about 71 percent of the Postal Service’s revenues each year; the rest comes through alternative channels, particularly the Postal Service’s Web site.
“Each year more and more postal transactions are now accomplished online,” said Jordan Small, the Postal Service’s acting vice president for network operations. “We consider this a success ... [but we need] to determine if there is, indeed, excess capacity in the network.”
USPS may close 1,000 post offices - Federal news, government operations, agency management, pay & benefits - FederalTimes.com

The United States Postal Service (“USPS&#8221 asserts that it no longer receives tax-payer subsidies, However, inasmuch as it is dependent on federal monies to continue operating, and the only source of revenue for the government is tax-payer dollars, this is a fallacious argument. For example, in 2008, the USPS financial losses amounted to $2.8B. The USPS was able to continue operating after a federal government “bailout.” Hence, every piece of mail delivered by the USPS was subsidized, to some extent, by the US taxpayer
Tax-payer dollars no longer to support distribution of animal fighting material

While it's true that the post office is for the most part self reliant it's a little bit of a stretch to boast about this fact given it's recent track record of losses and begging congress for money to stay afloat.

 

[OneWorld]

Your partisan simplicity is glaringly obvious. Study a bit more on the topic.

So basically you have no response, and you think I'm correct.

Go study the privatizing of water... right now you are clueless as to what's going on in the world, and that's the only thing that's glaringly obvious.

As a side note, they have been trying very hard to privatize water in the US for many years. And if they keep brainwashing enough people like yourself, they will achieve their goals. Do you think privatizing water is a good idea?

 

[toomuchtime_]

Let's say the industry, even before FedEX, UPS existed... was completely privatized...

How much do you think stamps would cost today?

If the Postal Service had to pay federal, state and local taxes as well as licensing fees, as its private competitors do, and had to pay a fee for each mailbox, as its private competitors do, how much do you think a stamp would cost today?

 

[OneWorld]

The U.S. Postal Service is studying roughly 1,000 of its 37,000 post offices for possible closure — the latest cost-cutting step from an agency scrambling to deal with a projected $7 billion deficit this year and larger losses in 2010.
The agency started its review earlier this year with approximately 3,200 post offices, and decided about 1,000 of them are “candidates for further review.” Postal managers say they will consider several factors in deciding whether to close those facilities: mail volume, proximity to other post offices and the potential savings in labor and utility costs.
Post offices generate about 71 percent of the Postal Service’s revenues each year; the rest comes through alternative channels, particularly the Postal Service’s Web site.
“Each year more and more postal transactions are now accomplished online,” said Jordan Small, the Postal Service’s acting vice president for network operations. “We consider this a success ... [but we need] to determine if there is, indeed, excess capacity in the network.”
USPS may close 1,000 post offices - Federal news, government operations, agency management, pay & benefits - FederalTimes.com

The United States Postal Service (“USPS”) asserts that it no longer receives tax-payer subsidies, However, inasmuch as it is dependent on federal monies to continue operating, and the only source of revenue for the government is tax-payer dollars, this is a fallacious argument. For example, in 2008, the USPS financial losses amounted to $2.8B. The USPS was able to continue operating after a federal government “bailout.” Hence, every piece of mail delivered by the USPS was subsidized, to some extent, by the US taxpayer
Tax-payer dollars no longer to support distribution of animal fighting material

While it's true that the post office is for the most part self reliant it's a little bit of a stretch to boast about this fact given it's recent track record of losses and begging congress for money to stay afloat.

Yes, it recently has asked for government bailout like every single industry. They are struggling because of high gas prices, which have driven them to the brink, and the fact that people are using other sources to communicate.

That doesn't discount the fact that they've run un-subsidized until we hit depression like standards for 100+ years.

 

[American Horse]

doesnt matter...postal service is dying due to more modern methods of communications...no junk mail lists etc...face it the majority of what the postal service delivers is spam....i pay bills on line...i dont mail anything...why buy a birthday card for 5 bucks when y ou can email or text most people?

There are free flash and gif animations online that look better and can be customized to. You are right, postal mail is obsolete, other than packages and the bills I need for "official" records (I wish our local government would catch up) I just toss most of my mail.

I get an awful lot of paper mail for it to be obsolete. If I call the post office to say I didn't get any mail on a given day, they say "SO" and I say "I always get mail", mostly by the pound, so I know when I've had a delivery failure.

I prefer paying bills by hard-copy-check over electronic transfers, because in 40 years using the USPO mail for business, the only times it was problematic it was also self correcting. As for online payments, of the few things I do pay there I still generate a hard copy of all ETs for a hard record, and to keep it all in one ledger book, but that's just me and maybe I don't have a clue. Because of that I'm just as well off to pay by snail-mail, except for the fact that If a payment is almost overdue I can swiftly make an ET without worry about a day or two delay.

But on the issue of the cost of postage rates, certainly if competition were a part of the equation the cost to mail a letter or a payment would be lower, because the system would more quickly respond to its limitations than it does now by not permitting competion; it would be more efficient. Still I have no complaints with the US postage system. I can put a self addressed stamped envelope in my rural mailbox and receive it (or an answr) back the very next day, routed through our capital city 50 miles distant. It works very well as far as I'm concerned. I do get annoyed with the increases in postage rates because I have to add 1-or-2 cent make up postage too often. "Forever" first-class stamps without denomination are the remedy for that problem, but look how long it took the USPO to come up with that solution, which illustrates the problem.

 

[KittenKoder]

doesnt matter...postal service is dying due to more modern methods of communications...no junk mail lists etc...face it the majority of what the postal service delivers is spam....i pay bills on line...i dont mail anything...why buy a birthday card for 5 bucks when y ou can email or text most people?

There are free flash and gif animations online that look better and can be customized to. You are right, postal mail is obsolete, other than packages and the bills I need for "official" records (I wish our local government would catch up) I just toss most of my mail.

I get an awful lot of paper mail for it to be obsolete. If I call the post office to say I didn't get any mail on a given day, they say "SO" and I say "I always get mail", mostly by the pound, so I know when I've had a delivery failure.

I prefer paying bills by hard-copy-check over electronic transfers, because in 40 years using the USPO mail for business, the only times it was problematic it was also self correcting. As for online payments, of the few things i do pay there I still generate a hard copy of all ETs for a hard record, and to keep it all in one ledger book, but that's just me and maybe I don't have a clue.

But on the issue of the cost of postage rates, certainly if competition were a part of the equation the cost to mail a letter or a payment would be lower, because the system would more quickly respond to its limitations than now than it does now by not permitting competion; it would be more efficient. Still I have no complaints with the US postage system. I can put a self addressed stamped envelope in my rural mailbox and receive it (or an answr) back the very next day, routed through our capital city 50 miles distant. It works very well as far as I'm concerned. I do get annoyed with the increases in postage rates because I have to add 1-or-2 cent make up postage too often. "Forever" first-class stamps without denomination are the remedy for that problem, but loook how long it took the USPO to come up with that solution.

Meh ... different areas most likely so different impact the technological age has.