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From: olsen@xn.ll.mit.edu
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Idea to help curb unwanted junk mail
Message-ID: <1991Jun14.163229.13916@xn.ll.mit.edu>
Date: 14 Jun 91 16:32:29 GMT
References: <14713.28453476@fidogate.FIDONET.ORG> <1991Jun12.224050.9098@midway.uchicago.edu> <1991Jun13.042624.17037@athena.cs.uga.edu>
Organization: MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, MA
Lines: 20

>>I read that the PO is required to set prices so that each class of
>>mail breaks even.

>Before that requirement was imposed by Congress, first class mail was
>actually subsidizing junk mail!  Or so I'm told.

What I read is that first-class mail (the PO's monopoly) has subsidized
the other classes for quite some time, and continues to do so.  The
law used to require each class to break even, but the PO routinely
ignored this requirement.  When someone took them to court in order
to force them to comply, they got Congress to change the law, removing
the requirement (or, actually, making it unenforceable).

This actually makes sense, from the PO's (and postal union's) point of
view.  If you have a legally-mandated monopoly, you should squeeze
every last penny you can out of it, even if you have to juggle the
books to do so.

-- 
Jim Olsen          olsen@mit.edu