FFF.org | In a country where people extol the virtues of free enterprise, why is the U.S. government involved in the delivery of mail? After all, it would be difficult to find a better example of a violation of the principles of free enterprise than the U.S. Postal Service.
Making the situation worse is the fact that the Postal Service is a monopoly. That means that the law expressly prohibits anyone in the private sector from competing against the government in the delivery of first-class mail. If some private firm attempts to do so, the Justice Department immediately secures an injunction from a federal judge enjoining the firm from continuing to compete. If the firm persists, the judge jails the head of the firm until he agrees to cease and desist with his competition.
One option would be to simply repeal the postal monopoly. That would put the Postal Service in the same position as everyone else — as a competitor among many private firms that would be popping up and seeking people’s business.
But we all know what would happen. The Postal Service would be run out of business very quickly. There is no way that a governmental enterprise can effectively compete against private firms for customers’ business.
That’s in fact why the government has given the Postal Service a monopoly on its activities. Everyone within the Postal Service and the rest of the federal government knows that a monopoly is necessary to keep the Postal Service in existence, owing to its inability to maintain any market share against private firms in a free and competitive market.
The real question is: Why not simply abolish the Postal Service and leave the delivery of mail entirely to the free market? Read Entire Article
By Jacob G. Hornberger
