The United States Postal Service has a legal monopoly on the delivery of first-class mail, as well as access to mail boxes. For more than 160 years, Congress has forced Americans to patronize the USPS. Despite this, the USPS has been losing volume and money for years. Even though private companies cannot directly compete with the USPS, individuals and businesses have found ways to offer alternatives.
FedEx and UPS are the two most obvious examples. But the Internet has also had a dramatic impact on the USPS. The Internet is increasingly used to send documents and pay bills, and it is a primary reason for the declining USPS volume and revenues.
Similar patterns can be found whenever government is improperly involved in providing a service and private individuals are free to offer an alternative. For example, in education, private schools and home schooling have become an increasingly popular alternative to government schools.
Government is an agency of force. Everything it does, both proper and improper, involves compulsion. When government expands beyond its proper purpose—the protection of individual rights—it necessarily uses force to limit the choices and voluntary actions of individuals. The results are always higher costs, poorer service, and destroyed lives. The initiation of force is impractical because it is immoral.
The solution to the postal crisis, as well as education, energy, parks, roads, and countless other areas of life, is more individual freedom.