USPS Should Ditch Mail and Manage Internet
October 31, 2009 by Jason Bean
Filed under Computers
As a follow-up to my earlier post; I’m beginning to think that the government, and specifically the United States Postal Service should take over the management and support of our Internet infrastructure.
Here’s some of the reasons I think this might be a good idea. Let’s look at the functions of the United States Postal Service:
- delivery of mail (connecting people)
- delivery of packages
- official endorsement of dated materials (think tax returns being postmarked)
- official government documents (issuing of passports, etc.)
- economic exchange (delivery of paychecks, tax returns, invoices)
These are the basic functions that I believe are provided by the postal service. As I stated in my earlier post, thinking about the Internet being considered more of a utility, what would the impact of the USPS being the entity responsible for the management and protection of that infrastructure.
- delivery of mail ultimate function is to connect to people. The functionality of the Internet in this capacity is obvious.
- delivery of packages is more of a challenge. I think this could easily be completely taken over by FedEx, UPS, DHL and other delivery companies
- official endorsement of documents could be enabled with more development on digital signatures
- the issuance of official government documents could either be continued to be down by the USPS, or perhaps distributed out to local BMV’s
- economic exchange could be pushed more to electronic distribution with more development and enforcement of secure transactions
I disagree that the ultimate goal of mail is to ‘connect to people’. I think the ultimate goal is to communicate data with someone. The electric company bill isn’t exactly a wonderful method of ‘connecting’ with me.
I think you’re forgetting not everyone is as connected to the Web as you are. What about people that live in rural areas, or are less wealthy and don’t have access to the web 24/7? Are we going to have to force them to buy computers or phones to do so?
If the USPS stops doing package deliveries, those other delivery companies might raise rates and there will be less competition. I think USPS has fairly good rates.
And again, with electronic distribution, not everyone is connected to the web.
Also, do you really want the government regulating Internet use? Or necessarily exchange all our data on something that’s pretty fragile and could come down at any moment? There’s already government agencies that do deal with the Internet, and I think the USPS’ current priorities are fine for the time being. Thoughtful post, but I just don’t see it happening.
Thanks for your comments Quickboy, I always enjoy your responses to my posts. I agree that to clarify connecting and communication exchange would be a dual-purpose fairly closely related.
The point about everyone not being connected is part of the reason I think the government should get involved. To a degree that’s what was already done with electricity, water, plumbing, telephones and even highways. Were we worried about everyone being able to afford appliances, toilets, phones and cars before pursuing those goals?
I’m not sure if the USPS stopped delivering packages there would be that much impact. Wouldn’t the competition between the other existing delivery companies keep prices in check? Far more options for consumers there than many other retail choices.
Because not everyone is connected to the web is why I think there’s merit in the government pursuing the building of the infrastructure.
I’m not interested in the government regulating Internet use anymore than they regulate use of the postal system. Imagine instead of a Postmaster General, we had a Webmaster General? What I want the goverment’s involvement in is to build the infrastructure and maintain it at minimum levels for the general population. They would “level” the playing field for other companies to use the networks as needed.
I don’t really think all of this will happen either, just had the idea cross my head last week and many parts of the change made sense to me. I’m more interested in a smaller government than a larger one, but the modification of an existing government agency to something a bit more relevant isn’t really an increase in my opinion.
Thanks again for your comment.
What keeps prices in check is the fact that you can send a 44Cent piece of mail through the subsidized post as opposed to a multiple dollar piece of mail thru ups fedex. This gives them a complete lock on everything. If they didn’t have the USPS, they would probably collude to keep prices high because competitive pricing is bad for both. They are plenty large enough to purchase airborne express or any other small carrier, which if you haven’t looked at recent mergers and acquisitions that have occurred no company is too big to purchase it’s rivals as far as the FTC is concerned. I don’t think you have a good handle on the volumes of mail that the USPS handles last I looked it dwarfs both ups and fedex and probably still would if bhoth companies were combined.
I think it makes sense when you really think about the usps managing those types of things but I worry about the fact that they would have to manage electronic communication which they do not have any hand in and is very different
We don’t need the government involved in running the internet. You socialist need to leave the free market alone. Maybe you can ask the government to come run your household. Leave mine out of it.
I am no longer going to follow this RSS.
Trust me, I’m not interested in the government getting any bigger. I’m more interested in getting it smaller. My post was more about how things have changed and how the world has changed around the original goals and efforts of the USPS. Given those changes, in order for the USPS to maintain it’s original purpose, what would the required changes be? As much as I think it could, I don’t think the USPS is ever going to go away. So, if it’s still going to be here, how should what it does change to fit the world around it?