[133906] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Some truth about Comcast - WikiLeaks style
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (JC Dill)
Mon Dec 20 00:30:52 2010
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2010 21:30:45 -0800
From: JC Dill <jcdill.lists@gmail.com>
To: NANOG list <nanog@nanog.org>
In-Reply-To: <720DAAE1-C033-495B-ABCD-286F200B7BD1@delong.com>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
On 19/12/10 8:44 PM, Owen DeLong wrote:
> You can send letters
Technically, this is illegal. You can send "documents" via FedEx and UPS.
> just as well as packages via the other carriers.
>
> The "USPS monopoly" on first class mail is absurd. In fact, FedEx, UPS,
> et. al could offer a $0.44 letter product if they wanted to.
No, they can't.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Express_Statutes
> They could not call it mail. They could call it "first class document delivery."
>
> However, the reality is that they probably couldn't sustain their business
> at that price point.
>
> The USPS doesn't have an actual monopoly so much as ownership of
> the term Mail almost like a trademark.
It's not just a trademark, it's the class of service. Just try starting
up a regular mail service, and see how far you get before they SHUT YOU
DOWN.
> What they do have is an infrastructure
> built at taxpayer expense that creates a very high barrier to entry for
> competition at their price points.
FedEx entered the package delivery market even though there was a very
high barrier to entry, and they succeeded.
jc
