You Talkin' to Me? Waldman on the PO

Steven Randy Waldman,  as if he had been reading Underbelly, clarifies what it is he likes about the post office:

I am a huge fan of UPS and Fedex, and generally prefer their services to those offered by the post office. But I wouldn't be at all comfortable disbanding the postal service, even though as a taxpayer I am forced to fund its losses. Perhaps I underestimate the magic of the marketplace, but if USPS weren't there to put under a floor under the quality and price of service offered by the private couriers, the degree of concentration and barriers to entry in that industry would make me nervous. There are other examples: State schools offer useful competition to private colleges and universities.

Of course, he might have added: and this is the best justification for the "public option" in current health care reform also.

Loose change on the Post Office: the posties may offer me good service here in Palookaville today, but it probably in large part due to the spur of competition: remember those hilarious and savagely mean-spirited commercials (I suppose they were from FedEx) where the postal workers ignored their customers while talking about their pensions.

Meanwhile, John asks: have you ever seen any postal worker as young as every UPS worker? Well okay, but recently?

Also: I saw in the paper last week that that the House has passed out a bill that would allow the powers to dip into the Postal workers' pension funds to pay health benefits. Bleah, they'll be coming for me next.