Reply #56: I don't think 'shit mail subsidizes first class mail' [View All]

Last time I checked, bulk rate mail was priced about 1/2 first class mail per piece.

Please give your reason for believing that bulk rate mail somehow subsidizes 1st class mail or supply the cost breakdown that justifies the postal service charging 1/2 the rate for pre-sorted and bundled (by destination) mail.

From where I sit, I see it the other way around. The increased costs to the post office to handle about 3 times the individual pieces at the destination distribution and sorting ends far exceeds the cost benefit obtained from just originating-end bundling. It is the 1st class mail that is subsidizing the bulk mailers.

If it were not for the bulk mailers the amount of total pieces handled would be about 1/3 what it is today. The far higher volume requires large investments in equipment and personnel throughout the delivery system. Thus it is the bulk mailers that are receiving the subsidy.

Thats why we get so much junk mail, the postal system is discounting the delivery of the junk mail. Thats why we get so much of it via the mailbox. If this were not happening then other cheaper ways would emerge to deliver the junk, the bulk mailers would use other ways to deliver the junk if they were paying the full costs to the post office to do that delivery.

It is the bulk rates that need to be raised closer to the actual costs to eliminate the bulk rate subsidy.