Apropos my rantings about the U.S.S.P.–sorry, that should read U.S.P.S.–a
reader tells me he actually conducted the following experiment. Go to your
local post office at a busy time and get on the end of the line. Count the
number of people in front of you, and clock how long you have to wait.
Divide the first number into the second to get waiting time per person on
line. (E.g. if there are 20 people ahead of you and you have to wait 30
minutes, that’s 1.5 minutes per person.) Now do the same at your local
McDonalds. Compare the results; and reflect on the fact that at one place,
you were being served by unionized federal employees making $20 an hour with
plump retirement & pension deals, while at the other you were being served
by English-deficient immigrant teens on minimum wage. Let’s hear it for
private enterprise!