You know, I'm going to do the unpopular thing here and defend USPS. For all its inefficiencies, incompetencies, and overall failures, they weren't wrong in what they said or did. If the USPS had to cover costs out of everyone who sticks a 49ยข stamp on an envelope, they'd be out of business in a week. Junk mail is the lubricant that keeps the postal system spinning, so that the two or three times a year you need to send a letter you can do it without spending -- generates a FedEx quote -- Jesus H. Christ, $14.81?
Huh.
Look, if the USPS would have financially benefited from Outbox, they would have done it. But Outbox went under because it couldn't afford the fleet and labor costs of "undelivering" mail -- in other words, the Post Office explained why they couldn't afford to lose junk mail as a revenue source, then Outbox tried to replicate the USPS fleet (on a very small scale!) on consumer deliveries alone, and was surprised when the effort burned through all their cash.
Likewise, you don't really think you're Facebook's customer, do you? Or Twitter's, or Google's? The customer is whoever keeps the company in business. The fact that the USPS can deliver everyday stuff cheaply is their hook. The junk mail is the business model, just like AdWords is Google's business model. The fact that a couple of Cap Hill aides failed to understand how basic corporate finance works says more about the average economic knowledge of the professional political class than the internal mechanics of the Post Office.
Huh.
Look, if the USPS would have financially benefited from Outbox, they would have done it. But Outbox went under because it couldn't afford the fleet and labor costs of "undelivering" mail -- in other words, the Post Office explained why they couldn't afford to lose junk mail as a revenue source, then Outbox tried to replicate the USPS fleet (on a very small scale!) on consumer deliveries alone, and was surprised when the effort burned through all their cash.
Likewise, you don't really think you're Facebook's customer, do you? Or Twitter's, or Google's? The customer is whoever keeps the company in business. The fact that the USPS can deliver everyday stuff cheaply is their hook. The junk mail is the business model, just like AdWords is Google's business model. The fact that a couple of Cap Hill aides failed to understand how basic corporate finance works says more about the average economic knowledge of the professional political class than the internal mechanics of the Post Office.