Grado de dificultad: 3 (Por el idioma).
Columnista: Roberto
Mail Services, an already known postmodern issue
In two rather old TMN posts, we asked ourselves about the existence of our local (Colombian) Official Postal Service:
And we asked the Postal Service about it … They, of course, dodged the question, which in turn was a confirmation (of its death).
So, yes, in Colombia, the Official Postal Service is already dead, slayed in a cowardly way.
Of course, we do not blame the employees of the private entity that took care of the corpse of the service.
Our opinion on the directorial board of “4-72” (the private entity) is, however, harsher:
Not everything is about capitalistic wealth!
Note: this message seems almost subversive in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ironically, we were saying the following (our original quotation in Spanish):
“Hay una empresa de correo convencional que todavía funciona, es US Postal (“USPS” United States Postal Services). Sin embargo, esta entidad parece tener una situación privilegiada en comparación con otras administraciones alrededor del mundo: tienen un cliente privado (muy) poderoso y omnipresente llamado “Amazon”, que le permite seguir existiendo” …
It looks like this privileged (or, better said, “lucky”) case is about to disappear in a classic postmodern way:
Trump’s war on the Postal Service just got a giant boost
A universal service is about to disappear, and Donald Trump is only another avatar willing to do so.
The method he is using is not different from pasted tricks (including the case we reported).
John Oliver just made a brilliant monologue (as always) about it.
Video available on “Last Week Tonight” YouTube Channel
The financial world vs. time and universality
There is this weird belief: our world became virtual, and an “APP” on our smartphones can solve all our problems. Unfortunately, the physical world is stubborn.
For example, look at what is happening with the vaccines to the coronavirus. Doctors say it will take us about a year before having one.
People living in the financial bubble are completely lost with it. The same occurs to them with the notion of universal services:
How can you provide a mail service to everyone, even if someone lives in a very remote place?
In this specific case, it will cost a lot!!!??? Therefore, they instantly dismiss it …
GIF from Buzzfeed – Origin “Supernatural” serie
… Even though it existed and worked for centuries.
Note: if they are incapable of figuring a one-year delay, imagine yourself explaining a century to them.
All they can imagine is a highly profitable situation, in a limited area, that they would slowly spread (“sort of”).
That is exactly why a service like “Starlink” will disrupt (destroy in this case) the lazy postmodern telecommunications.
All over the globe, mail services are disappearing, sacrificed on the altar of short-terms-profits gods.
USPS was lucky: it met with the need of a big online-commerce corporation (AKA Amazon).
It happened precisely because it was a universal service (#unbelievable).
We will not comment the shameful reasons for such a counterproductive decision (how could we?)
There is however a point that we can argue: Isn’t it how smuggling starts?
Prohibition has always the same effect. Some people are simply incapable of learning.
But you are right! We were forgetting: “Prohibition” was one century ago.
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