Could Amazon Deliver the Mail?
Or asked another way, "Should USPS Expand Workshare Rather than Shrink It?"
There was an WSJ article recently about how some of the changes to the USPS have been off to a slow and struggling start. It's not this I'm worried about. Change always brings struggle. Operational issues can be fixed. Regional processing plants - like the one mentioned in Atlanta - are a good idea objectively, even if some are struggling out of the gate. Staffing is a problem for everyone.
It matches my own experience with the mail. Sometimes great, sometimes maddeningly delayed. Staffing has been one of the biggest blockers.
But I have trouble with the WSJ article too. It mentions USPS is hemorrhaging cash for years due to declining mail volume. Well, parcel volume has been increasing. Really the cash hole is due to the Retirement Benefits obligation changes pre-funding retiree health benefits. Isn't it curious since that day, USPS has never turned a profit since?
It's not a coincidence.
I wanted to ask a simple question though: why shouldn't we change how last-mile is done?
It seems to me that we have long past the time where exactly one last-mile carrier can deliver the volume of mail nationwide to all places. The universal mandate is a fine idea, but it does not necessarily mean the implementation need be the same everywhere. If you were to reimagine this from scratch, you would likely not setup the same structure.
Having private companies bid for zones and routes would setup competition and encourage entrepreneurship. Quality could be an issue (as if it isn't already for the mail!), but Amazon's Delivery Service Partner program is a model. It's not technically Amazon employees delivering the parcels to most of us.
Workshare has historically been done primarily in mail pre-sort with massive facilities to get mail across the countries, dominated by Pitney Bowes historically. Could the same be done in last-mile?
Could some kind of public / private partnership work there? And if so, why not Amazon?
Amazon already dominates most every package room in America, why not your mailbox?
