A message to our customers in Canadia.

[Mark Rippetoe]

After a series of rotating strikes, Canada's postal service locked out the workers.

And who owns the postal service in Canadia?



Also, it was USPS's decision to stop taking mail bound for Canada. The Canadian government didn't tell you you can't do business there.[/QUOTE]

What fucking point would there be in accepting mail for delivery in Canadia if the Canadians aren't delivering the fucking mail?

Isn't it funny how ideology can color your view of events?

It certainly is, Komrade.

[matclone]

And who owns the postal service in Canadia?

I don't know, but it isn't the workers, who you blamed for not being able to mail to Canada.

What fucking point would there be in accepting mail for delivery in Canadia if the Canadians aren't delivering the fucking mail? [/quote]

I suppose for delivery when the impasse is resolved. In any case, the Canadian govt, which you also blamed, isn't preventing you from mailing to Canada.

The anti-govt screeds get old. That's the only reason I said anything. I think libertarians think we're still living in the 19th century.

[51M0n]

My father (a postal manager in Australia) found it rather amusing while over in the US to see how astonishingly inefficient the US postal service was, especially the part where the posties dlivered the mail on foot.

Believe it or not but Aus-Post is not only self funding, but actually returns a profit to the tax payers.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The anti-govt screeds get old. That's the only reason I said anything.

They're more important now than ever before. If you think the government is doing a good job, I suppose our brains work differently. Just out of curiosity, how old are you?

My father (a postal manager in Australia) found it rather amusing while over in the US to see how astonishingly inefficient the US postal service was, especially the part where the posties dlivered the mail on foot.

Believe it or not but Aus-Post is not only self funding, but actually returns a profit to the tax payers.

If you have a block of houses with doors one house-width apart, what do you do in Australia that doesn't involve the feet? And I have no doubt that a postal system can be made profitable, but our government -- and apparently the Canadian government -- cannot do it because they lack the incentive.

[51M0n]

They ride motorbikes along the footpaths (the letterboxers are generally located at the end of the drive). The only time they deliver on foot is in the CBD.

[coldfire]

I don't know, but it isn't the workers, who you blamed for not being able to mail to Canada.

I suppose for delivery when the impasse is resolved. In any case, the Canadian govt, which you also blamed, isn't preventing you from mailing to Canada.

Fuck. Are you sure you read the same post I did? I suggest you read it again until you understand the bullshit you wrote. Here it is for your convenience:

Nothing socialist about a strike at all. The socialist part is that the strikers are public employees at least partially paid by tax money "acquired" from the rest of the people of Canadia. And the postal service will be prohibited by law from firing them and replacing them with people willing to work for the previously-agreed-upon salaries, because the postal service is wholly owned by the government. So the government of Canadia is preventing us, among other private businesses, from doing business in Canadia.

I think libertarians think we're still living in the 19th century.

[/quote]

I think socialists aren't capable of thinking at all.

[ChuckBell]

I think libertarians think we're still living in the 19th century.[/QUOTE]

No, not really. We're pretty aware of the date: 1984!

[matclone]

They're more important now than ever before. If you think the government is doing a good job, I suppose our brains work differently. Just out of curiosity, how old are you?

They're more important now than ever before. If you think the government is doing a good job, I suppose our brains work differently. Just out of curiosity, how old are you?

I don't view government/not government as a binary (one good; one bad), no more than I see capitalism and socialism as a binary. I don't think such views are very useful because they don't reflect reality. We, in the U.S., live in a society with government, and it's not going to go away. The world's nations all have mixed economies (neither pure capitalism or socialism). We can reasonably disagree when, where, or to what extent government should be involved. Government per se isn't bad, or wrong, or inefficient. There's plenty of fuck up in the private sector too (although usually not as visible). An old rule of thumb that makes sense to me, and I think to most people, is that gov't steps in where the private sector can not or will not adequately serve a public need (e.g., water system or fire protection for a city the size of Wichita Falls).

I'm almost as old as you are, and used to fancy myself as as liberatarian. Now I see it as being way too idealistic--not that idealism is bad--it just needs to mesh with the real world.

[Clay84]

My father (a postal manager in Australia) found it rather amusing while over in the US to see how astonishingly inefficient the US postal service was, especially the part where the posties dlivered the mail on foot.

That's region dependent, mate.

In the suburbs, sure, a motorbike is the way to go. In the city, I still see plenty of posties on foot.

[tertius]

If you have a block of houses with doors one house-width apart, what do you do in Australia that doesn't involve the feet? And I have no doubt that a postal system can be made profitable, but our government -- and apparently the Canadian government -- cannot do it because they lack the incentive.

There has actually been some movement on this front, as the Postal Service is facing doom in the near future without some major changes. I read a very good article that I now cannot find for the life of me, detailing some of the possible changes. Most of them are based on the models of postal services in Europe, many of which have kept pace with technological change.

Ah, here it is! http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...1060885070.htm An interesting read on the subject. Sadly, Canadia is not mentioned, so far as I recall, though some of the USPS unions are.