USPS: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
LastWeekTonight3 HN recommenders · 2020–2021
8.3M views · commentary · dated · Uploaded 2020-05-11
A Last Week Tonight segment on the US Postal Service's financial troubles. John Oliver explains why it matters, what pushed it to this point, and what viewers can do.
HN points to it as an accessible explanation of why the USPS struggles financially, especially in threads on mail delays and international rates.
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5 comments from Hacker News
> why can't I choose a shipping option that costs something less than 50 cents to anywhere in the US? Not an American, but I believe there's a 2006 bill that prevents USPS from selling services below the cost. Learned about it in a John Oliver's video [1], mentioned somewhere else in this thread. I'd guess that Chinese epackets are part of an international agreement, so they are exempt. > The system was illogical. It would be illogical if USPS had flexible costs. But the USPS costs are more or less fixed. The mailman will go his round every day and will get his salary, even if he has little to deliver. So, you may as well have him deliver Chinese epackets, for whatever price the Chinese are willing to pay. And that's a good deal for the public. Otherwise the $1 trinket for China would be $6 (if Chinese had to pay full shipping), or $10 (if bought through a US-based reseller). [1] [VIDEO]
John Oliver did an interesting video on this: [VIDEO] TL;DR: Deliberate government action to defund them has resulted in them having way less money than you would expect.
It has for many years: [LINK] Discussed here: [LINK] And love him or hate him John Oliver boils this down to: [VIDEO]
For those wondering why the USPS cannot turn a profit, Jon Oliver does an excellent job of explaining: [VIDEO]
No other company has to do this. They created this rule specifically to make the USPS run at a loss so they would have a reason to gut it. And that's what they're doing now, gutting it. John Oliver had an episode about this: [VIDEO]