Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:28:06 -0800
From: Leo Bicknell <bicknell@ufp.org>
Subject: Re: Some truth about Comcast - WikiLeaks style
In a message written on Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 10:18:25AM +0800, Adrian Chadd=
wrote:
> > When was the last time USPS delivered you a 100 pound UPS unit over nig=
ht from across the country while letting you track it's progress?
>=20
> Trouble is, now they can't. Why? Because they'd be threatening the jobs of
> hard working Fedex/UPS/etc. employees.
It's crazier than you think.
http://www.usps.com/news/2001/press/pr01_015.htm
Express, Priority, and First Class mail flies FedEx, and has since
2001. I's part of a larger deal which is also why you now see a
FedEx drop box at every post office.
I guess it's coopertition. I think I just made up a word. 
So if it's illegal for you to put a letter inside a FedEx box,
Bzzt! It's -not- illegal to put a letter inside a FedEx box. It just has
to have the appropriate (USPS) postage on it, _as_well_ as paying the FedEx
service/delivery fee. This is true if it is just the letter you're sending,
or if it is a sealed letter -inside- a box/package being shipped..
Now _live_scorpions_, on the other hand, are someting that the USPS _will_
delive, but AFAIK no 'express' service will handle. (One discovers some
of the strangest things when one actually sits down and *reads* the _complete_
rules/regulation on a subject. In this case, it's the "Domestic Mail Manual".
Scorpions are 'addressed' in 601.9.3.10)
Kudos to you! It's been 20+ years since I've had a copy of the DMM!
To bring this back to the topic at hand, the USPS has worked pretty well
and fairly efficiently for 200+ years. It provides universal service to every
(US) destination at uniform rates for all content, with some variation by size.
Its competitors provide cherry-picked service only to specific areas, and even
then at variable rates, by distance *and* by volume. As noted, FedEx simply
doesn't deliver some types of content.
The lesson here is that we need to decided what it is we are offering. As an
ISP, we never offered different rates by distance or for different types of
traffic. We did offer different rates for different sized pipes (aka volume).
That is, we offered more USPS-like than FedEx-like service.
And we certainly never expect to make more money from wealthier deliveries,
because their content is possibly more valuable! AFAIK, FedEx doesn't either.
The Comcast proposed business model is simply wrong, and unsustainable without
essentially being a protection racket. Pay us more money or your service will
be kneecapped....
We have laws against extortion.
The Comcast proposed business model is simply wrong, and unsustainable without
essentially being a protection racket. Pay us more money or your service will
be kneecapped....
We have laws against extortion.
We also have laws against warrantless wiretaps. Comcast seeks retroactive immunity
like what was granted to there Telco brethren.
Owen
> From: Leo Bicknell <bicknell@ufp.org>
>
> So if it's illegal for you to put a letter inside a FedEx box,
Bzzt! It's -not- illegal to put a letter inside a FedEx box. It just has
to have the appropriate (USPS) postage on it, _as_well_ as paying the FedEx
service/delivery fee.
Bzzt!. It is, in general, as a practical matter, completely legal to
send letters overnight via FedEx, without paying any US postage. Under
the "Extremely Urgent" exception, any shipment for which the shipper
pays more than the greater of $3 and twice what the USPS would charge
to send it first class, is deemed extremely urgent (whether or not it
reallt is) and is excemt from the requirement to use the USPS or pay
USPS postage.
Except in some pretty rare cases, any shipment of letters sent via
FedEx is going to cost more than $3 and more than double what the USPS
would have charged to sent it first class.
This is true if it is just the letter you're sending,
or if it is a sealed letter -inside- a box/package being shipped..
Actually, if the sealed letter relates to the cargo in the box/package,
it's legal to include it, under an exception separate from the
"Extremely Urgent" exception listed above.
-- Brett
This gives me an awesome idea for an IP to V&H coordinates look-up with volume
recorded. Interface it to the billing system, and we've just created a new
revenue source.
This if effin genius.