As much as I bellyache about the government, one of the few pieces of it that I’ve defended my whole lift has been the postal service. I think it’s pretty much the last bargain in town. Here’s a photo of our own beloved depression-era post office here in Palo Alto:
I honestly had no idea stamps had gone up in price this much, since I pretty much stopped keeping track around 32 cents or so. The “Forever” stamps have blotted out our awareness of price changes. In fact, considering how far they’ve outstripped inflation, buying a truckload of Forever stamps when they first came out would have been a fantastic investment!
Over the past 120 years, the quantity of post offices has collapsed, even though the size of the United States has grown (as has its population, obviously, by triple-digits of percent). For every 3 post offices in 1901, there’s just 1 left now.
And if it was a business, it would look about as healthy as most tech companies.
