I didn't realize that the US Postal Service was a private entity. Somehow, I perceive d that it was owned and operated by the US Government. Apparently not the case. Just when it was privatized (if it was ever government-owned) I don't know.
Apparently, the U.K.'s Royal Mail was privatized a couple of years ago. At one time, it was without doubt, the best government agency, allowing for several daily deliveries in the capital.
During the hey-day of the British Empire it was possible to send letters back and forth in the capital in a single day. So one could write to invite someone to lunch at one's club, have it declined, write to suggest meeting for dinner, and have it accepted. All this is in a single day.
Unfortunately, the Royal Mail has fallen on hard times. Adam Crozier, who so badly mismanaged the Premiership as their Chief Executive, has taken the post of Chief Executive with the Royal Mail. Shortly thereafter, they dropped the second daily delivery of mail in an effort to cut costs (the service is running seriously in the red at the moment--this is an unintentional joke--the Royal Mail's livery is bright red).
In any event, a recent expose on the TV related how a percentage of mail goes missing each day and how badly postal workers treat the mail in the process of handling it (a reporter got a job with the Mail and secretly videoed some of the goings-on).
This has led to a huge uproar and the BBC commentator pointedly asked Crozier the other morning whether he would offer up his job as payment if the 1st-class letter service didn't improve. In a recent test conducted by the BBC, only 58% arrived in one day, the Royal Mail's own measure of acceptable service. (Their target is 92.5%).
A consumer group, Postwatch, watches the performance of the Royal Mail very closely and reports to the government regulator (put in place because the delivery of mail has been opened up to competition).
All in all, I think it's a good thing to move services into the private sector. I still think that they need regulation (but then my uncle would violently disagree I'm sure). I can just imagine what a monopolistic service might charge for access to mail that you had to have delivered.
But wait, we have examples of that already, don't we?
Just look at Microsoft.
Posted by artandscience at May 18, 2004 08:41 PM