[TheForge] Postal woes..a lesson learned

[Andy Vida]

Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer wrote:
> 
> Fedex doesn't do so well out here..the drivers subcontract delivery I
> guess, and it seems to be too much trouble to come all this way so they
> just drop it somewhere convient for them sometimes. I'm missing one
> now.  UPS does bust up packages....it's done automatically with machines
> ..but they generally get the remains here...

	I'm not one to advocate unionism, but perhaps a consumer's
	union would be a way to put the pinch on companies that
	don't live up to their responsibilitites and promises.

	If there were ten carriers and one or two sucked rod, it
	would not be a big deal.  They would probably go under in
	time because folks would eventually clue-in and go to the
	others.  But what do people do when they ALL suck?

	Postal systems, like basic utilities, are no longer some sort
	of luxury affair.  They are part of the life-blood infrastructure	
	of our lives, right or wrong.  If there is no source delivery
	service that can be universally trusted to get it there right,
	on time, and undamaged, does that not present a significantly
	grave risk to business, especially when such companies refuse
	to make good in insurance claims, whether directly or through
	endless processions of hoops through which they demand we jump
	like circus critters?

	Imagine if the same were so with electricity.  If ALL the
	providers' quality were such that there were frequent violent
	spikes such that computer equipment routinely blew up or
	shut down, there would be a palpable threat that I'm sure
	we all can recognize immediately.  Once toys and silly luxuries,
	what business can imagine itself without its computer technology?

	I know it's a ridiculous idea in terms of practicality, people
	and politics being what they are, but the idea of a consumer
	body that buried large companies that consistently failed to
	do the right things has its pleasing aspects.  Politics being
	what they are, it also has its nightmare aspects as well.