• toastmeister@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    Can I ask why package delivery should be a public service?

    I can understand making things with inelastic demand like healthcare a public service, or natural monopolies like cell phones, but do amazon package deliveries need to be government funded?

    • sugarfoot00@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      Public services are also required when providing a service to service level expectations wouldn’t be profitable otherwise. We expect and demand that the post office deliver to every remote outpost in the country for whom there is no alternative, regardless of expense. Those deliveries could be anything, including something like medication. If you privatize it, a private company would immediately and naturally cut loose those unprofitable routes.

      So in that way, it is an awful lot like healthcare. If you consider postal service a right, then it’s functionally no different.

      • Jamablaya@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Shipping via Canada Post has not improved my life one bit over using other companies.

      • toastmeister@lemmy.ca
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        2 days ago

        You’re essentially taxing people for a convenience. You could do the same with streaming services, gyms, and all manners of things.

        • njm1314@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Why stop there? Clean water is a convenience isn’t it? What about fire departments? That’s a convenience. People could do these things on their own. They should be rugged individualist and always take care of themselves right? Why do we need roads? People should just pave their own roads right?

          • Jamablaya@lemmy.world
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            17 hours ago

            Fucking city boys. People sort out their own water all the damn time without whining.

          • toastmeister@lemmy.ca
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            2 days ago

            Why stop there? Clean water is a convenience isn’t it? What about fire departments? That’s a convenience. People could do these things on their own. They should be rugged individualist and always take care of themselves right? Why do we need roads? People should just pave their own roads right?

            I believe water is done privately, as are utilities. Roads are obviously difficult to do when managing the various tolls, and eminent domain, an issue package delivery would never run into. Fire department I think you’d run into issues with housing density, given you can just let peoples house burn down without affecting others.

            But I can understand the desire I suppose, I just feel like we are subsidizing private corporations. I’d at least like a law that required it was free shipping only for Canadian companies or maybe Canadian product.

        • saigot@lemmy.ca
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          2 days ago

          You could do the same with streaming services, gyms, and all manners of things.

          Yes I agree!