What is the most effective way to deliver my mail?

[KukriKhan]

The primary purpose of any postal service is communication (secure delivery of hard-copy) between a government and its citizens.

All else: commercial advertisements, consumer goods, love letters, bank statements, et cetera... are secondary. Personally important, but secondary.

It is the reason roads are established (to insure effective, efficient delivery), and postal employees are sworn officers of the State.

Hence, the need for government monopoly. Even if it operates at a net loss, like Defense Departments.

So: Option A.

Full Disclosure: I am a US postal employee; and one of those whacky guys who thinks our Congressional Record should be mailed weekly to every registered voter in the country.

[Vladimir]

I wonder how this monopoly madness affects their view on the military. Just how privatized is Norwegian mail delivery?

[HoreTore]

I wonder how this monopoly madness affects their view on the military. Just how privatized is Norwegian mail delivery?

Not much. For now....

[Vladimir]

Not much. For now....

Then I don't understand the connection. Maybe the EU should stick to regulating the size and curvature of fruit.

[HoreTore]

Then I don't understand the connection. Maybe the EU should stick to regulating the size and curvature of fruit.

Because they're forcing us to privatize our postal service?

As it is now, it's state owned and monopolized. The EU wants none of that. Sigurd is more knowledgeable than me about just how far down the road to privatization they are though.

[Vladimir]

Because they're forcing us to privatize our postal service?

As it is now, it's state owned and monopolized. The EU wants none of that. Sigurd is more knowledgeable than me about just how far down the road to privatization they are though.

Well I'm really ignorant on the whole issue then. What I know of the EU is that they tend to increase government control, not force-privatize fundamental government services like mail delivery (and defense later?)

[HoreTore]

Well I'm really ignorant on the whole issue then. What I know of the EU is that they tend to increase government control, not force-privatize fundamental government services like mail delivery (and defense later?)

What? The EU hates privatization?

Whatever you're smoking, I'd like some of it.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

The primary purpose of any postal service is communication (secure delivery of hard-copy) between a government and its citizens.

All else: commercial advertisements, consumer goods, love letters, bank statements, et cetera... are secondary. Personally important, but secondary.

I've never heard that perspective before. What is the logic behind that? Surely there would be no government without commerce, making it far more important than the government itself? Furthermore, what government communication besides taxes and draft notices even happen over the mail anymore?

[HoreTore]

I've never heard that perspective before. What is the logic behind that? Surely there would be no government without commerce, making it far more important than the government itself? Furthermore, what government communication besides taxes and draft notices even happen over the mail anymore?

As Kukri said, documents you want a hard-copy of. If you ever have any dealings with the government, especially some kind of dispute, you'll want hard-copies. And the government loves to create extreme amounts of documents, all of which you'll need.

Remember that the justice system(and I'm talking about every aspect here, not just the criminal code, but also things like business law, etc) is a very important part of the government. And a lot of us will have to deal with that at least once during our life.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

That's a good point, although it's kind of twisted that we have enough bureaucracy to make government communique have more volume than actual productive commerce.

[Dîn-Heru]

A removal of the postal monopoly probably wouldn't end up as HoreTore schetches in the OP. It simply wouldn't be profitable. Especially in remote areas, so we would still only have one mail-service delivering mail to the mailboxes. (in an area). So it is very unlikely that the EU-directive will end up with Norway having competing end-to-end postal services.

Opening the postal market could mean lower costs for businesses (who send most of the mail). Probably bigger benefit for mid-range businesses that have much outgoing mail, but not enough to cut a deal with Posten (the Norwegian postal service). The benefits to society also depends on where in the distribution chain new companies establish themselves.

It must also be said that this directive only apply to letters weighing 50 grams or less. Packages have been subjected to competition for some time now. Which I belive have increased the opportunity for express delivery and other services. (Don't have any numbers, so this is pure speculation on my part.) This has a backside though, as many delivery companies have been established that are now having trouble due to the economic disturbances (but the current situation is special, so this isn't really an argument against more competition in this market).

Sweden abolished its monopoly in 1993, and the effects don't seem bad.

I don't think the directive will bring much change (if any). So I don't think the benefits are large enough to bother changing the law. All this being said though, it is not the end of the world if it does get introduced.

For more information:
http://www.regjeringen.no/upload/SD/...ort_050309.pdf (A report to the Norwegian government on the possible effects of the directive) (sorry in Norwegian, can't seem to find an English version, its 57 pages so I doubt most would bother to read it anyway)

A ("biased") source: http://www.cep.eu/fileadmin/user_upl..._2006__594.pdf

[Vladimir]

Thank you. It makes much more sense than "F capitalism." And you posted links.

[KukriKhan]

I've never heard that perspective before. What is the logic behind that? Surely there would be no government without commerce, making it far more important than the government itself? Furthermore, what government communication besides taxes and draft notices even happen over the mail anymore?

An excerpt from Ask.com, citing the original Postal Service Act, which pre-dated the Declaration of Independence:

The United States Postal Service first began moving the mail on July 26, 1775, when the Second Continental Congress named Benjamin Franklin as the nation's first Postmaster General. In accepting the position, Franklin dedicated his efforts to fulfilling George Washington's vision. Washington, who championed a free flow of information between citizens and their government as a cornerstone of freedom, often spoke of a nation bound together by a system of postal roads and post offices.

Publisher William Goddard (1740-1817) first suggested the idea of an organized U.S. postal service in 1774, as a way to pass the latest news past the prying eyes of colonial British postal inspectors.

Goddard formally proposed a postal service to Congress nearly two years before adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Congress took no action on Goddard's plan until after the battles of Lexington and Concord in the spring of 1775. On July 16, 1775, with revolution brewing, Congress enacted the "Constitutional Post" as a way to ensure communication between the general populace and the patriots preparing to fight for America's independence.

emphasis mine. I note that our experience in the US doesn't solve HoreTore's quandry. I'm just answering AlexanderthePG's question. I don't think commerce or government is more important than the other - they're intertwined. Commerce's funds enable gov't spending, gov't enables and enhances commerce. Both contribute to the freedom of citizens/consumers to vote - either by ballot or pocketbook.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

...Full Disclosure: I am a US postal employee; and one of those whacky guys who thinks our Congressional Record should be mailed weekly to every registered voter in the country.

Add in a "stop withholding" for Federal taxes and you'll make me even happier! Note: I do not mean don't PAY your taxes, I just don't want them withheld in advance. I want us all to see exactly how much we are taxed because we have to write a quarterly check AND see what we're buying with it by reading the Congressional Record.