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For there to be an actual free market, should we allow government to be able to put restrictions on certain big businesses, companies and firms to keep small businesses safe, and keep monopolies out of the economy. If not, how other way could we prevent monopolies from forming... or do we want them in a free market (obviously we do if they have 100% of the market share ;))
The best way governments can stop monopolies from happening is to stop creating them.
There are no monopolies without government.
What monopolies currently exist?
Let’s see... post office, utilities, legal tender??Quote:
Originally Posted by Zippyjuan
Post office no longer has a monopoly. You can send packages or communication with other sources. FedEx. UPS. Private delivery companies. Messenger services. Email. Texts. They just can't put them inside your mailbox.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptUSA
So let me get this straight.... I buy a box with my own money... stick it on a pole at the end of my driveway... Tell another company to deliver a package and put it the box... and they say, "sorry, we can't do that. We're not allowed. Another company has that right..." And that is not a monopoly?Quote:
Originally Posted by Zippyjuan
While there may be a problem with what you describe it is not a monopoly because you can put up another box, newspapers do it where I live.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptUSA
They can leave it at your door or in another box if you like. Just not in the mailbox. https://blog.oup.com/2017/07/mailboxes-us-mail/Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptUSA
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Use of First Class mail and package delivery expanded sharply in the early 1900s. Commercial users of postal services found the expense of postage higher than if they delivered their own mail, such as utility companies delivering water and telephone bills, newspapers the daily paper, and department stores their advertisements. So they began using their own carriers to deliver what otherwise would be largely First Class Mail, avoiding paying US postage. At the time, the biggest source of revenue for the Post Office was First Class Mail, and so private carriers were reducing the revenue coming into the postal agency. The US Post Office went to Congress and asked for a law to constrain this competition by making it against the law for anyone else to use a mailbox. In 1934, the New Deal Democratic Congress complied, as the postal system had enormous political power within the Democratic Party because every town and city had postal employees and they voted! The “mailbox restriction” law as it is often called (18 U.S.C. 1725) gave the Post Office what one government official observed was “a virtual monopoly over mailboxes.” Also, if it found any flyer or other item in the mailbox without postage, the Post Office could force the person putting it in there to pay postage for it even if not delivered by postal carriers.
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Then came e-mail in the 1980s, followed by online shopping and banking in the 1990s and early 2000s. The volume of First Class mail dropped every year and, as the quantity dropped, the US Postal Service increased the price of a First Class stamp, which then motivated people to use more e-mail and to start paying their bills online, which further reduced the demand for First Class stamps. Increasingly, those utility companies that had created the problem for the Post Office in the first place made it increasingly possible to be paid online. Package delivery services, which offered better services and often cost less than the Post Office, became widely available in the 1990s. This took further business away from the Postal Service.
Lol, from your own damned post...Quote:
Originally Posted by Zippyjuan
ThanksQuote:
At the time, the biggest source of revenue for the Post Office was First Class Mail, and so private carriers were reducing the revenue coming into the postal agency. The US Post Office went to Congress and asked for a law to constrain this competition by making it against the law for anyone else to use a mailbox. In 1934, the New Deal Democratic Congress complied, as the postal system had enormous political power within the Democratic Party because every town and city had postal employees and they voted! The “mailbox restriction” law as it is often called (18 U.S.C. 1725) gave the Post Office what one government official observed was “a virtual monopoly over mailboxes.”
Up next: post something about utilities!
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Originally Posted by Zippyjuan
A monopoly goes deeper than just having competition.
Does the competition get favorable government treatment on the backs of taxpayers?
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Article title: American taxpayers give an $18 billion gift to the post office every year
Excerpts:
Tax breaks. The Post Office is exempt from state and local property and real estate taxes, along with other burdens like tolls, vehicle registration fees, and parking tickets. These exemptions save the USPS $2.18 billion per year.
Cheap borrowing. The Postal Service, writes Shapiro, “can borrow from the U.S. Treasury through the Federal Financing Bank, at highly-subsidized interest rates.” It currently borrows the legal limit of $15.2 billion at a rate of 1.2%. Without this access, it would be paying somewhere between $415 million and $490 million per year more in interest.
http://fortune.com/2015/03/27/us-postal-service/
The above Fortune article cites this report.
Transitioning from or competing with them is much harder. Telecommunications is more competitive than the old AT&T days but it is harder to set up your own energy sources though solar use is growing. You can cut the chord with the phone or cable company but that gas and electricity is tougher.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptUSA
Interesting, what is the definition of a "mail box"? The newspapers where I live put little boxes on posts right next to people's mail boxes and deliver to them.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptUSA
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Originally Posted by Zippyjuan
Only if you believe the propaganda:
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Excerpt from an article called The Myth of Natural Monopoly
The Natural-Monopoly Myth: Electric Utilities
According to natural-monopoly theory, competition cannot persist in the electric-utility industry. But the theory is contradicted by the fact that competition has in fact persisted for decades in dozens of US cities. Economist Walter J. Primeaux has studied electric utility competition for more than 20 years. In his 1986 book, Direct Utility Competition: The Natural Monopoly Myth, he concludes that in those cities where there is direct competition in the electric utility industries:
--Direct rivalry between two competing firms has existed for very long periods of time — for over 80 years in some cities;
--The rival electric utilities compete vigorously through prices and services;
--Customers have gained substantial benefits from the competition, compared to cities were there are electric utility monopolies;
--Contrary to natural-monopoly theory, costs are actually lower where there are two firms operating;
--Contrary to natural-monopoly theory, there is no more excess capacity under competition than under monopoly in the electric utility industry;
--The theory of natural monopoly fails on every count: competition exists, price wars are not "serious," there is better consumer service and lower prices with competition, competition persists for very long periods of time, and consumers themselves prefer competition to regulated monopoly; and
--Any consumer satisfaction problems caused by dual power lines are considered by consumers to be less significant than the benefits from competition.42
https://mises.org/library/myth-natural-monopoly
Usually they say "US Mail" on them. Newspaper boxes usually have the name of the paper on them so they know where it goes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swordsmyth
No.Quote:
Originally Posted by bda_conservatism
That's because your government makes it illegal for you to use your primary box for multiple purposes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swordsmyth
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Originally Posted by Zippyjuan
Except for First Class mail, you mean.
As I said:Quote:
Originally Posted by angelatc
While there may be a problem with what you describe it is not a monopoly because you can put up another box, newspapers do it where I live.
You can send things by other than First Class mail. Email. Currier. Overnight services (granted that will cost more than First Class). The loss of first class mail volume is one of the main problems for the Post Office. It was their biggest source of revenues.Quote:
Originally Posted by angelatc
http://www.heritage.org/sites/defaul...re-chart-2.jpg
Newspapers aren't mail. Try putting up a box to get mail delivered and see what happens.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swordsmyth
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Originally Posted by Zippyjuan
Currier? Seriously, Holmes? You also recently misspelled "truly" as "truely" and "pursuit" as "persuit."
If you're going to do this, then at least bring back regular Zip. He can't be that busy at the grocery store. We need to go back to a Better Class of Loser.
Every letter that is delivered by FedEx/UPS/etc results in a payment to the USPS. So no, one cannot actually select another more-expensive courier and stiff the USPS.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zippyjuan
If you are implying that they do not have a monopoly on First Class mail then you're lying. They also have a monopoly on bulk mail advertising.
If you're insinuating that they're not inept because they keep losing money hand over fist despite having a 200 year monopoly combined with a huge increase in package volume, then you're at best intentionally obtuse.
https://imgur.com/a/oYrZLhttps://i.imgur.com/Pcr1bEr.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by Zippyjuan