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It’s more than a little intriguing that those who hyperventilate over the dangers of a monopoly when a private company attempts to “corner the market,” proudly and unapologetically extol the concept in the public sector. Without government “trust busting” Alcoa Aluminum or Standard Oil, they averred, would use their commanding position to deliver a poor quality product at an exhorbitant price to a captive market. However, these very same, self-proclaimed “consumer advocates” unabashedly claim that we could (to cite a current example) create a cornucopia of high-quality, low-cost healthcare services, if only we were to eliminate the overhead of all those competing insurance companies and adopt a “single-payer,” government system, i.e., a monopoly. This brief critique of another (longstanding and ongoing) monopoly and its consequences — the US Postal Service — ends with a surprising suggestion that consumers could and should actually do something about it. (In fact, whether causal or simply coincidental, a few weeks after it aired the USPS posted public notices in all its branches to preempt any attempts by its “customers” to follow the suggestion.)
More on monopolies:
- Breaking the education monopoly
- Time to give workers the right
- Wholesale whining
- Balance in the government ecosystem
Tags: mail, monopoly, post office
