Unintended consequences - the US Postal Service
From
ECommerce Times:
USPS 5-Day Delivery Week Could Hurt E-Commerce
The U.S. Postal Service is thinking of curtailing deliveries. Postmaster General John Potter asked Congress on Wednesday to allow the postal service to go to a five-day delivery week in an effort to cut costs and bring ballooning operating deficits under control.
USPS has been hit hard by the rise of e-mail, which has dramatically decreased the number of letters and parcels handled by the post office.
Mail volume in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2008, declined 4.7 percent to 202 billion pieces of mail. The postal service reported a US$2.8 billion loss from operations and $7.2 billion in debt at the end of the fiscal year.
And the problem?
One e-commerce player in particular could be more vulnerable to a reduction in delivery days -- online DVD rental company Netflix
"They use the USPS, and that's their prime source of moving items," Argento said. "[Netflix] will be the most interesting dynamic to play out here."
An interesting observation -- sort of like how interstate trucking affected the railroads. Another bail-out in order?
Posted by DaveH at February 2, 2009 5:41 PM
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