Doesn't USPS also play a key role in a lot of other services?

* ID verification

* Vacant home notifications

* Registered mail

I have a hard time seeing a private company scrupulously handling these operations when the incentives to manipulate them could be very large.

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Grombobulous 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I still think the USPS banking idea would be a really great one.

Easier profit than a regular bank because the “branches” already have to exist, closes banking gaps for underserved populations, perhaps some other benefits I haven’t even considered.

	▲	burnt-resistor an hour ago \| parent [-]
		It shouldn't be done for-profit, it should be equivalent to a credit union open to all.

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Avicebron 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yes, it also had a mandate to deliver mail. So people living in the middle of nowhere New Mexico can do something like run a small business through delivery (this was on the radio the last time this nonsense was floated). It's actually kind of beautiful, something that I can't imagine would work with a privately owned system.

	▲	callc 4 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The beautiful thing is a society deeming universal (gasp!) access to mail to be important. The ugly part is profit driven mindset, and a “you live in an unprofitable area to mail to, sorry” obvious outcome
	▲	shimman 4 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		They'd end up charging you the amount of money you'd make sending the package, that's how all these forms of rentierism work: Uber, Amazon, Apple, Shopify, etc. Private taxes they want to force onto people. Must fight it at any opportunity. I can't imagine the economic value something like USPS brings to the country, likely trillions of trillions over it's lifespan. Something the corpos would never admit.

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AnimalMuppet 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Also voting.

If you privatize the post office, then either mail-in voting stops completely, or else a private company can control which mail-in ballots get delivered, and which ones don't.

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burnt-resistor an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

And general delivery*, media mail**, passports, money orders, stamps, and collectables. Furthermore, nation-state post offices should provide free basic banking services to everyone to eliminate unbanked status.

* Delivery to a post office for an individual without a delivery address

** Low cost media shipping excluding comic books, games, and magazines containing advertisements