Postal Letter

How do UPS and FedEx manage to compete with the US postal Service?

And if they can, is there any reason that private health insurers couldn't compete with a public service? So if private insurers competed with a public insurer, they would specialize and become leaner, provide a better product and become less expensive. That's a good thing.

Public Comments

1. Only because the US Mail is sooo piss poor. If the US Mail was a real business, it would have been out of business decades ago. Obama has stated on camera that the public option is just a mile marker on the road to a single payer system. If he really wanted competition, he'd lower interstate commerce restrictions between insurance companies. I wouldn't mention the US Mail in any argument FOR gov't bureaucracy and meddling in the private sector.
2. They charge more and offer less service
3. UPS and FedEx are faster.
4. They could easily compete, they just don't want to.
5. They are not run by the government and they do a good job.
6. Because USPS is weighed down by Affirmative Action cretins.
7. Apples and oranges!
8. Why is the US Postal Service still in business? It is in the red all the time, can we expect the same with health care?
9. You haven't heard...the Post Office is in such a mess they're thinking about going to 5 days a week and closing hundreds of locations. Whats the comparison?
10. They specialize on getting packages (especially larger ones) to different destinations often in shorter periods of time at a generally higher cost (not so much for many packages, but it's definitely more expenisve to send a letter through UPS or FedEx). FedEx and UPS are lean machines compared to insurance providers despite their capital overhead (planes, trucks, and so on). They have to be because they compete with the USPS.
11. Well the US Government doesn't tell them how much to charge and what services they can offer. Nor does the US government say that it is mandatory to ship things.
12. Because they are judged on the service they perform rather than the payouts they give. 5 Freedoms You'd Lose in Health Care Reform http://finance.yahoo.com/insurance/article/107408/5-freedoms-you-would-lose-in-health-care-reform.html;_ylt=AsSPpdjdHgVnCbXlUyQDVp4aBa1_;_ylu=X3oDMTEyc2w4bmtmBHBvcwM1BHNlYwNhcnRpY2xlBHNsawM1ZnJlZWRvbXN5b3U-?mod=insurance-health
13. 2 entirely different situations: 1) When the USPS was formed there wasn't any laws in the books that said no other company could be formed that does the same thing 2) Other postal companies do not have to go by USPS guidelines 3) Businesses would not be fined for using or not using other postal companies 4) Businesses do not have to provide access to the USPS to all of their employees
14. Fedex and UPS deliver large packages or small packages that need to be delivered quickly. How much of their business is similar to first class mail? The answer is very very small to none... They can't compete with the post office when it comes to first class mail, no one can do it for 41 cents an item let alone what the post office charges for bulk mailings!
15. They don't compete. According to the government, no other system for delivering mail - public or private - can be established absent Congress's consent. Congress has delegated to the Postal Service the power to decide whether others may compete with it, and the Postal Service has carved out an exception to its monopoly for extremely urgent letters or packages. Postal Inspectors enforce over 200 federal laws in investigations of crimes that may adversely affect or fraudulently use the U.S. Mail, the postal system or postal employees. The USPIS is a major federal law enforcement agency. The USPIS has the power to enforce the USPS monopoly by conducting search and seizure raids on entities they suspect of sending non-urgent mail through overnight delivery competitors. For example: according to the American Enterprise Institute, a private think tank, the USPIS raided Equifax offices in 1993 to ascertain if the mail they were sending through Federal Express was truly "extremely urgent." It was found that the mail was not, and Equifax was fined $30,000 The monopoly on letters is handled via the Private Express Statutes, and the Mailbox Access Rule allows the USPS to require that every residence have a mailbox that the USPS has exclusive access to. FedEx is not allowed to deliver letters to a mailbox, or use a PO Box for packages. And yet, despite a monopoly on letters, somehow the USPS still has to keep raising its rates. You know why? Because in a truly competitive market they'd be eaten alive. Let everybody use the mailbox I purchased and put in front of my house, let FedEx determine rates for letters, and I'll bet you money the USPS wouldn't be around much longer. Competition breeds efficiency, something the USPS knows nothing about.
16. Compete? They're blowing USPS away! I use all three regularly and even have friends at the local Post Office, but the two free market companies simply do FAR BETTER to earn my money than the government run one. Better service (tracking, on time delivery, overall courtesy, etc.) included in the quoted price in most instances. ALL services from USPS cost extra and just aren't as good or easy to use. The same result occurs in EVERY instance where government competes with private industry, so I don't think the government can compete on a par, or even near it with free market insurers.
17. Apples and oranges. First the postal service dominates the mail business, thanks to its government subsidy. Fedex and UPS are only able to compete in the package business. The healthcare program does not allow the business to be segmented that way. The government plan will require hospitals and doctors to charge the same rates as Medicare. currently, hospitals only recover 87% of there costs on medicare costs. Therefore private insurers pay 130% of the costs, to enable hospitals to survive. Under that scenario, hospitals will still have to charge private insurers more than the government, allowing the government to charge less for insurance than private insurers.