T'was the Overnight Before Christmas: The Merry Tale of How Air Cargo Deregulation Led To Amazon

vaviper.blogspot.com ^ | 12/04/2017 | VA Viper

[harpygoddess]

‘Twas two nights before Christmas, and all through their houses Every creature was busy, double-clicking their mouses. Christmas was coming, but there were still presents to buy-- Thank heavens overnight shipping allows boxes to fly. “But how can this be?” the people asked in their haze “With so many miles to cover, why aren’t there delays?”

What allowed this to happen is a very old rule, That deregulated air cargo - isn't that cool! You see, express planes were smaller, unlike today. Bigger is better, but the law said “No way!”

And if Fisherman Fred shipped lively lobsters from Maine He hoped for some room in the belly of a passenger plane But if Aunt Edna had checked in fifteen pieces of luggage Fred’s lobsters would arrive days later, looking quite sluggish.

Freed from restrictions, more packages could flow And arrive soon as promised, even in snow. This allowed private carriers to grow and expand, Unleashing innovations no one could’ve planned With better shipping options, online shopping exploded, And business inventories grew leaner: before they were bloated!

Thanks to rolling back rules that were surely passé, Delivery is almost as fast as on Santa’s great sleigh.

[harpygoddess]

Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University Kenneth Button shares the story of how air cargo deregulation in the 1970s paved the way for low-cost, reliable overnight shipping, which in turn allowed for groundbreaking new e-commerce businesses like Amazon and eBay.

[super7man]

Ping for later

[StAnDeliver]

WaPo once surmised Bezos ought to just buy USPS. That won't happen, but after he's injured FedEx enough he'll probably buy that on the cheap.

[sportutegrl]

I read recently that Amazon is considering starting their own parcel delivery system. Sell your UPS stock.

[tired&retired]

Has Amazon negotiated a special contract with Amazon?

In our area (Durham/Raleigh/Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the US Postal Service only delivers Amazon packages on Sundays. No other mail or packages.

Why are we paying these postal employees time and a half or more in overtime to subsidize Amazon deliveries, to the detriment of our local stores?

[tired&retired]

“Has Amazon negotiated a special contract with Amazon?”

Meant to say, “Has Amazon negotiated a special contract with US Postal Service?”

My error... last one for 2017...LOL

[tired&retired]

I’ve often said, “If I learned from all my mistakes, I would be a genius!”

[trisham]

:)

[Svartalfiar]

WaPo once surmised Bezos ought to just buy USPS. That won't happen, but after he's injured FedEx enough he'll probably buy that on the cheap.

Firstly, there would be major Constitutional issues with buying the USPS. As for FedEx, Amazon doesn't really compete with them. They use FedEx for deliveries (UPS more so), so FedEx makes money off of them. But Amazon's own delivery services are strictly for Amazon products. Other companies can't use that unless they're selling through Amazon and using (paying) for the Amazon services.

Amazon Courier Contracts

[Svartalfiar]

I read recently that Amazon is considering starting their own parcel delivery system. Sell your UPS stock.

Amazon's delivery service is very limited in capacity and location, and isn't open to other businesses. Yea, UPS will lose out on some income from Amazon, but they aren't a competitor for any other UPS business.

[Honest Nigerian]

Love him or hate him, it is pretty amazing what Bezos has accomplished. He took the Sears, Roebuck business model and built Amazon from nothing to be the behemoth that is still getting bigger.
And Sears - it is just a shriveled husk of what it was in the ‘80s and ‘90s. How could that even have happened? And who would have predicted it?

[sparklite2]

I have to learn from the mistakes of others.
There isn’t enough time to make them all myself.

[tired&retired]

“I have to learn from the mistakes of others.
There isn’t enough time to make them all myself.”

That my friend, is WISDOM.

[Albion Wilde]

bump