Here's the article reprinted from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
http://tinyurl.com/yclt66lHere's my reply (and keep in mind they only print 250 words):
Dear Editor,
In his TothePoint article on Saturday September 26, Professor William Shughart stated, "UPS and FedEx are doing fine because they are privately owned." He juxtaposed these for-profit firms with the US Postal Service, which he says is not doing fine because it is publicly-owned. Evidently, for Professor Shughart, EVERYTHING'S better with a lil' profit motive on it.
As most of us know, that's pure baloney. FedEx and UPS do well, as they themselves admit, because they determine what they carry, where they carry it to, and how much you pay for it. The cost of anything from a postcard to a 1 lb block of cheese is the same - around $4.50 for one zone residential delivery. If you want it to get to Hawaii - that's about $6.00. I wonder how much the USPS could make if they charged $6.00 per piece?
The point is, lots of public entities don't "make money." I doubt the fire department makes a profit. Or the police department. Or the National Weather Service. But they provide a service that's valuable. We can put a stamp on a regular letter for less than 50 cents and it will get to grandma in Bangor for the same price as our electric bill gets downtown. We subsidize that because we value that.
You want to talk about the benefits of profit motive, Professor? Let's talk about our subsidy of AIG. This private, for-profit company chased profit down the block and around the corner and handed us a bill for hundreds of billions! And they left us with absolutely NOTHING in return. At least with the USPS, grandma gets a nice Christmas card.
Edit to fix link.