Comments on: The Smaller Fish Tries to Eat the Bigger Fish

By: Ed

Ed — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 12:34:00 +0000

RE: And yet we are asking the same government to adjudicate an antitrust suit in the private sector?

Yep, and it’s the same here in Australia. The Gov takes the lions share of petrol prices while focusing the attention on petrol sellers by creating “watch” services such as FuelWatch to keep business owners “honest”.

By: Alpheus

Alpheus — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:25:52 +0000

The USPS also still has a monopoly on letter carrying. If I have a need to send a physical letter (it’s rare for me to do so, but the need occasionally arises), I have to do it through USPS.

Of course, that need *only* exists because of some stupid law, that ought to be repealed!

By: Freedom Fighter

Freedom Fighter — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 04:00:04 +0000

Actually, it’s more than one “guy”, they are a whole division of “guys” making it very hard for me to escape the fish tank. But I found a way out, it’s called superposition and I found a way around, it’s called successive approximations.

By: J. Murray

J. Murray — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:06:33 +0000

The guy tapping the fish bowl won’t let you do that.

By: Freedom Fighter

Freedom Fighter — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:52:45 +0000

What’s the point of trying to become the bigger fish to eat and terrorize all the smaller fish.

The big fish is still trapped in the same tank as the rest of the small fish, his “power” to terrorize and eat the small fish is just a small and vane consolation.

I want to be my own water tank and find a way outside the tank, now that would be genuine power.

By: RTB

RTB — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 01:58:06 +0000

The post office exists for all the freeloaders: those who want to send/receive mail at subsidized prices and the bloated employee payroll of the USPS itself.

By: J. Murray

J. Murray — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:19:00 +0000

I’m a subscriber, I can help any time.

By: J Cortez

J Cortez — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:01:54 +0000

Interestingly, Lone Star Overnight (http://www.lso.com) which operates where I live in the South/Southwest, is very similar in that it charges less, and does as much and if not more, than UPS, Fed Ex, and the odious government postal monopoly named USPS.

There’s more than a few regional carriers that act like Lone Star Overnight and Speedee Delivery. In fact, there are many more citywide carriers that compete against those regional firms and the the larger national firms.

So why does there need to be any more government intervention? Or better yet, why does the post office exist exactly?

By: augusto

augusto — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:47:38 +0000

In that case, Im a little surprised they didn’t sue for discrimination…

Thanks for clarifying this, though. As I said, I was not able to read the WSJ article.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:25:12 +0000

While it’s true that UPS and Fed-Ex are close to being miracles, a true miracle in the upper Midwest is SpeeDee Delivery ( http://www.speedeedelivery.com/index.html ). They’re a regional operator in the same industry that in many cases can offer next day service at amazingly low rates with exceptional service. And surprise, surprise, no government intervention was necessary. I don’t think our company’s ever had a package take longer than two days to deliver, the price is half of UPS’s already low rates and damage is almost unheard of.

By: B.K. Marcus

B.K. Marcus — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:16:11 +0000

And didn't that loophole become viable only when the airlines were deregulated in the first place? If I'm recalling correctly, then the existence of FedEx and UPS required overcoming two separate government-monopoly systems. And yet, as you say, we should apparently turn to that same central government to adjudicate what is and isn't going to count as proper competition.

By: J Cortez

J Cortez — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:10:21 +0000

The AFMA website is garbage.

By: J. Murray

J. Murray — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:05:37 +0000

The complaint is that FedEx is “freezing out” third party negotiators. Which is a load of crap, why would I want to pay AMFS when FedEx and UPS have services where I can arrange package pick-up and delivery right through their website without paying anything extra?

By: augusto

augusto — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:57:14 +0000

hm… I couldn`t read the WSJ article, but I visited the AFMA website, from what I understand they are not a shipping company, they are a consulting company that specializes in negotiating shipping contracts.

By: HL

HL — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:47:18 +0000

After reading this I am jonesing for a SM Olivia hit.

By: Mark Luedtke

Mark Luedtke — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:41:54 +0000

Never heard of it. I’m sure its way cheaper to ask the Justice Department to drop the hammer on the competition than to market the company to potential customers.