Comment by cyberax
16 hours ago
In my entire life, I spent much less time in DMV offices than on the line calling AT&T's customer support.
USPS has also been great overall.
16 hours ago
In my entire life, I spent much less time in DMV offices than on the line calling AT&T's customer support.
USPS has also been great overall.
I switched away from AT&T. You even keep your number. Switching govt services not an option unless you take more extreme measures.
> USPS has also been great overall
USPS is an independent agency which is funded by its own fees charged to users, not taxpayer money. It's not like the other agencies.
From Wiki:
> The USPS is often mistaken for a state-owned enterprise or government-owned corporation (e.g., Amtrak) because it operates much like a business
It's also far from a monopoly unlike most other govt agencies and has competition in the form of UPS, Fedex, DHL, Amazon etc.
So it's not surprising that it runs better, if it loses user fees, it directly affects the bottomline and thus would have to downsize, no blank check from the taxpayer like other agencies have.
> I switched away from AT&T. You even keep your number. Switching govt services not an option unless you take more extreme measures.
I can vote for a politician to fix the government services. And the local politicians know that keeping the government running well enough is needed to be re-elected.
I have zero leverage on AT&T.
Some services can be government-operated or private. Trash collection is one of them, for example. I lived in many cities, and municipal trash collection companies were always better and not any more expensive.
> I can vote for a politician to fix the government services. And the local politicians know that keeping the government running well enough is needed to be re-elected
That is one issue among several reasons to pick a politician. Also politicians have limited powers to fire non-performers which gets bogged down in the court system to fire just one person.
> I have zero leverage on AT&T.
People can switch away easier from companies, it happens all the time, companies lose and gain customers all the time. Bad or mediocre service has killed many companies, the effect is far greater than on governments because they get to fund themselves from you even if you don't like or want them. Govt is the ultimate monopoly.