3 HN users recommended this commentary2 months2020–2021score 2
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN points to it as an accessible explanation of why the USPS struggles financially, especially in threads on mail delays and international rates.
A Last Week Tonight segment on the US Postal Service's financial troubles. John Oliver explains why it matters, what pushed it to this point, and what viewers can do.
“Jon Oliver does an excellent job of explaining” (HN, 2020)
John Oliver did an interesting video on this: [this video] TL;DR: Deliberate government action to defund them has resulted in them having way less money than you would expect.
Explains how defunding left the USPS with less money
> why can't I choose a shipping option that costs something less than 50 cents to anywhere in the US? Not an American, but I believe there's a 2006 bill that prevents USPS from selling services below the cost. Learned about it in a John Oliver's video [1], mentioned somewhere else in this thread. I'd guess that Chinese epackets are part of an international agreement, so they are exempt. > The system was illogical. It would be illogical if USPS had flexible costs. But the USPS costs are more or less fixed. The mailman will go his round every day and will get his salary, even if he has little to deliver. So, you may as well have him deliver Chinese epackets, for whatever price the Chinese are willing to pay. And that's a good deal for the public. Otherwise the $1 trinket for China would be $6 (if Chinese had to pay full shipping), or $10 (if bought through a US-based reseller). [1] [this video]
Explains USPS pricing law and international mail rates
No other company has to do this. They created this rule specifically to make the USPS run at a loss so they would have a reason to gut it. And that's what they're doing now, gutting it. John Oliver had an episode about this: [this video]
John Oliver episode on rules that push USPS into losses
Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.
Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed
5 Hacker News comments
From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.
Citations, criticism and jokes
Read more