UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
The title pretty much says it all, the 500 year old Royal Mail service will be no more and will become privately owned. The government run USPS is also struggling and in debt will we likely see the same thing in the US?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...6pLid%3D373652 |
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
Originally Posted by Ash UK/US
(Post 10897552)
The title pretty much says it all, the 500 year old Royal Mail service will be no more and will become privately owned. The government run USPS is also struggling and in debt will we likely see the same thing in the US?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...6pLid%3D373652 |
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
Will probably still require subsidy like the rail companies.
|
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
You're talking about a country that can't even replace the $1 bill with a coin. They couldn't even get the end of Saturday delivery agreed to.
So the Treasury Dept. looks set to keep bailing out USPS with "loans" for awhile. I mean look at the totally misleading APWU ads that are already on the TV and that's just about cutbacks. If it was privatized, the cuts would be vastly more severe. Here in Canada, Canada Post said new workers would have substantially cut back pensions, etc. the union protested and then it all fell apart because no-one really cared, hey ho just use e-mail and Fedex instead. But at least Canada Post is marginally profitable. I can just imagine the protests if USPS was as crap as Canada Post, someone mailed me a letter from Yellowknife on August 30th and I still haven't gotten it. "Oh no, I ordered a widget from craponline.com and it took over a week to get here!!! Aaaagggghhh." :eek: The whole business model of on-line retailers would collapse I reckon, in Canada we have to go to these things called "shops" if we want something in a timely manner. Also carriers like UPS and Fedex use the postal service for local logistics in the US (i.e. they deliver to the post office) so their rates would go up to, in order to maintain their delivery times. Go to fedex.com and fedex.ca and compare Saturday delivery rates. |
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
BBC report said the unions were already discussing strike action.
|
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
Originally Posted by sir_eccles
(Post 10898015)
BBC report said the unions were already discussing strike action.
|
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
Originally Posted by Pulaski
(Post 10898032)
Well of course they would, after all strike action worked so well to "secure the future of the industry", for the miners, the railwaymen (who, coincidentally, lost the long distance mail contract after repeated strike action) the BL employees, the steel workers, and the shipbuilders! :rolleyes:
We city folk subsidize the country folk in terms of electricity, water supply and communications. I am fairly certain that postal service is more similar to these utilities than other industries. There is also a lack of alternative as private companies avoid unprofitable areas. They instead use the US/UK postal service in these areas. |
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
Originally Posted by bewildering
(Post 10898230)
There is also a lack of alternative as private companies avoid unprofitable areas. They instead use the US/UK postal service in these areas.
|
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
Originally Posted by bewildering
(Post 10898230)
The postal service is different from miners, the railwaymen, the steel workers, and the shipbuilders. The postal service is a utility.
We city folk subsidize the country folk in terms of electricity, water supply and communications. I am fairly certain that postal service is more similar to these utilities than other industries. There is also a lack of alternative as private companies avoid unprofitable areas. They instead use the US/UK postal service in these areas. |
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
Originally Posted by Steve_
(Post 10898014)
You're talking about a country that can't even replace the $1 bill with a coin. They couldn't even get the end of Saturday delivery agreed to.
So the Treasury Dept. looks set to keep bailing out USPS with "loans" for awhile. I mean look at the totally misleading APWU ads that are already on the TV and that's just about cutbacks. If it was privatized, the cuts would be vastly more severe. Here in Canada, Canada Post said new workers would have substantially cut back pensions, etc. the union protested and then it all fell apart because no-one really cared, hey ho just use e-mail and Fedex instead. But at least Canada Post is marginally profitable. I can just imagine the protests if USPS was as crap as Canada Post, someone mailed me a letter from Yellowknife on August 30th and I still haven't gotten it. "Oh no, I ordered a widget from craponline.com and it took over a week to get here!!! Aaaagggghhh." :eek: The whole business model of on-line retailers would collapse I reckon, in Canada we have to go to these things called "shops" if we want something in a timely manner. Also carriers like UPS and Fedex use the postal service for local logistics in the US (i.e. they deliver to the post office) so their rates would go up to, in order to maintain their delivery times. Go to fedex.com and fedex.ca and compare Saturday delivery rates. The bigger issue are parcels. In many outlying rural areas, USPS does a lot of the final mile deliveries for other carriers since it has to deliver mail in those areas anyway and it is too expensive for private carriers to drive hundreds of miles to deliver just one package. If snail mail disappears, parcel delivery will also likely disappear from some rural areas since it would likely be too expensive. I suspect Canada already has many of those problems once you get more then a few hundred miles from the US border. |
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
Originally Posted by sir_eccles
(Post 10898324)
I'm sure after privatization, there will be huge chunks of rural UK that will be disenfranchised.
|
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
Originally Posted by Michael
(Post 10898411)
It would be great if everyone in the US knew how to access the internet to handle their finances but they don't and depending on mail especially the rural areas. Eventually within another 30-50 years, that may be possible and then snail mail could disappear.
I suspect Canada already has many of those problems once you get more then a few hundred miles from the US border. |
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
I saw an amusing version of a "while you were out card" this morning:
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1349474/th...-SPOOF-570.jpg http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013...n_3914182.html |
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
Originally Posted by Michael
(Post 10898411)
It would be great if everyone in the US knew how to access the internet to handle their finances but they don't .....
|
Re: UK Royal Mail to be Privatized.... Will this likely be the way of USPS?
Originally Posted by Steve_
(Post 10899779)
Well I don't think anyone is arguing for it to disappear, the question is whether people will be okay with it being very much slower as it is in Canada. Knowing Americans, "don't tax us but give us everything anyway" then there will be opposition.
With experiences from AT&T being a similar monopoly prior to the 1980s, I'd rather have the government do it then a private monopoly. Currently anything USPS wants to do, the government has to approve whether it is to cut services, increase rates, upgrade equipment, and salaries are set by the government. When AT&T was a monopoly, executives had multimillion dollar salaries, they invested in pet projects (i.e. Unix which cost rate payers billions of dollars and was sold for $200 million when AT&T was broken up), were allowed to raise rates to maintain a specific maximum profit margin, and therefore the more they spent, the more they made. If AT&T was a public company, conservatives would have been screaming about the large salaries, high cost of service, poor service, and inefficiencies. The cost of a long distance phone call in the early 1970s was about $1 per minute (3 minutes minimum) but USPS was only charging only 8 cents per letter when the medium family income was about $6,000 per year. |
All times are GMT. The time now is 11:17 am. |
Powered by vBulletin: ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.