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IMO, what gives rural residents so much clout in the U.S. is their disproportionate representation in the U.S. Senate. Wyoming and Montana and Vermont have exactly the same number of senators as California and Florida and New York.

I haven't looked at international mail service, so I don't know which nations offer private mail service. If Great Britain does, it is not surprising that such a geographically small nation might be able to offer flat rate delivery pricing.

FedEx delivers priority mail to every zip code – at least every one in the continental U.S. Not positive about their current service, but I was once responsible for planning the expansion into remote zip codes. They accomplished this by offerring different levels of service to remote areas. Overnight delivery with early morning service was not available.

I have to concede that competition is what motivated tghe FedEx expansion. However, for the first 15 years, FedEx did not serve all zip codes. Only when UPS advertised coast to coast service did FedEx puch out to the boondocks.

The difference between priority mail revenues and standard mail revenues is huge. FedEx found a way to expand the delivery area of a $10 standard overnight letter. I don't see why they would do so for a 35 or 40 cent piece of standard mail.

I think ending the USPS monopoly would be followed by either price or service discrimination. The clout of small state senators may be enough to prevent that from happening.

Within the debate portion of this podcast, Schrum refutes the idea that rural routes, such as Deer Lodge to Six Mile, are necessarily subsidized by urban routes. Although not citing any specific studies, he argues that rural routes hold their own, so to speak. His opponent, Christopher Shaw, argued otherwise, explaining that it depended on which studies one chooses to highlight.

However, even if there is cross-subsidization of rural routes by urban consumers, I'm not convinced that the former would be worse off if the USPS monopoly were relaxed. For one, the process of price discrimination may not be cost effective. To impose such a scheme on consumers would require a way to charge for service based on origin and destination that would generate savings above and beyond charging everyone a simple, flat rate. Clearly, for large parcels, price discrimination makes sense. But for small, lightweight, often bulk-processed post???

Also, Schrum points out that other nations without a first class monopoly (he cites Britain specifically) have continued to offer universal service. Hence, I disagree with your assertion that a relaxed monopoly on first class mail would necessitate relaxed service to rural areas of the country.

Finally, assuming for the moment that cross-subsidization is a reality, I should ask the perhaps politically incorrect question of whether it is fair that urban consumers should have to pay a surcharge for postal service. Put another way, should the bulk of our population (urban, by definition) forgo improvements to their postal service so that rural customers can reap equal benefits (despite unequal costs). Your thoughts???

You know, this occurred to me, too. And I got to thinking about remote towns in Alaska. Food, shelter, sundries, etc. – everything else is brought to them by markets – usually at high expense, but all of life's necessities are available there. It seems funny to me that mail, which doesn't really rank as a necessity on the level of food & shelter, would be given this special status as the one thing that gets provided at a standard rate.

"Look, with food, drink, shelter, medicine, you're on your own. But, the MAIL – that is something we just have to get to you at no extra cost." It's kind of absurd when you think about it.

My hearing disability prevents me from listening to the podcast. Can you help me? I'm curious about whether Mr. Schrum had a suggestion for ensuring remote mail delivery. If the USPS monopoly is ended, then USPS can no longer be required to service all zip codes. Other delivery companies would certainly jump in and provide Boston to New York mail service. Who would want to handle the Deer Lodge, MT, to Six Mile, SC, letters?