I found myself in a post office yesterday. Gawd. I waited in line, and waited in line…and waited in line. The counter had
one, and only one, postal employee at “work.” She chatted and talked and chatted and talked with the captive customer ahead of me. And I waited some more…I waited longer than I’ve ever waited in line in a Publix or any other grocery store. I waited longer than in any Wal-Mart I’ve ever been in. I waited longer for service than I’ve ever waited at any restaurant that I didn’t walk out of.
Why did I put up with that? Because the post office has a monopoly of course! Why not open it up to free market competition? Oh no! We couldn’t allow that! The private companies would “skim the cream.” Rural service would suffer! Mail would be too complicated!
Oh bosh. Like food? Like shoes? Don’t we need a monopoly government service to make sure that “rural areas” get enough food and shoes? To make sure that some stores don’t “skim the cream” on food and shoes? But I digress. The reason the post office has a monopoly is that it’s a bloated political bureaucracy that has outlived its usefulness. You doubt me? Here’s what Thomas Jefferson had to say about the early post office: