Posted on 06/29/2002 2:10:12 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Stamp rate hike to be costly BY TONY PUGH Herald Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - When the cost of a first-class postage stamp jumps from 34 cents to 37 cents on Sunday, the U.S. Postal Service will address one problem and aggravate another.
The rate hike -- the third in 18 months -- will provide the debt- ridden agency more than $4 billion a year in new revenue. But it could also cost millions of customers.
That's because every time the cost of mailing a letter goes up, more consumers and businesses turn to the Internet to electronically present and pay monthly bills -- often more cheaply and conveniently than by mail. Continues.
...any private company knows this is the exact opposite of what you do in the real world. Higher prices are a disincentive.
For our little household, it just means even more use of alternative methods of sending things.
Honestly, why should Americans pay such high union wages and benefits if there is someone else waiting to do the same job for less?
Compare it to automobiles. Why buy Lexus for the State police when Crown Vics perform the same function for less money? It's the same argument.
Lose the unions, and then we can talk about raising rates.
Watch for them to whine and want to cut service to rural areas sometime in the future.
The rationale will be something like: "well, we simply can't be competitive as long as we have to deliver mail to 'bob' who lives in a hole in the middle of the Arizona desert.. "
You will never once hear them say: "well, we simply can't be competitive because we pay everyone way, way more than their job is actually worth.. "
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