A Measure of Scale Economies for Postal Systems

Abstract

The delivery function is comparatively new to modern postal services. Originally the post was simply an inter-city letter service. One could deposit a letter at the post office in a city for transportation to the post office in another city where the recipient would call for it (Campbell 1996). It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that city delivery began on a regular basis in the United States. By the end of the century rural delivery was started on a limited basis, but it did not become ubiquitous until the early part of the twentieth century.

¹The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Postal Rate Commission or the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr. Chu was a professional staff member of the Postal Rate Commission from 1993–1995. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at Wissenschaftliches Institut für Kommunikationsdienste (WIK) GmhH, 3rd Königswinter Seminar, Cost of universal service, November 1995.