• dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    87
    ·
    20 hours ago

    And he’ll get it there, too.

    The US Postal Service is basically the only part of the federal government that actually works. And still works, amazingly, despite all the politicking and bullshit that’s been thrown at it. My uncle once mailed me a letter but didn’t remember the address of the place I’d recently moved to. He addressed it to, “White house near the corner of [street] and [street] in [town],” with no ZIP code, and it still made it to me. I saved the envelope. I’ve still got it somewhere.

    • ripcord@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      37
      ·
      19 hours ago

      Other parts of the federal government also work. Or did until the last few months.

      The NPS are a fucking jewel, for one. Imagine if we gave them even 2% of the war budget.

      The postal service overall is also great, I agree.

      • hallettj@leminal.space
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        18
        ·
        17 hours ago

        Also the Social Security Administration, despite being a huge operation, runs with less than 1% overhead. And they get those checks out month after month. Medicare’s overhead is under 2%, compared to an average of 12% for private insurance, and polls seem to show people are more satisfied with Medicare than with private insurance.

        I know the complaint that government is ineffective and inefficient is a classic - but it makes me wonder what programs that refers to? Maybe something in the Defense Department?

        • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          11 hours ago

          It’s definitely defense. The amount of money spent and the number of people involved is insane, it guarantees incompetence at best, corruption at worst.

          • scintilla@crust.piefed.social
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            8 hours ago

            Its definitely corruption. I was trained to circuit level repairs in case of an emergency. We are not allowed to actually touch the board beyond replacing them in daily use though and everytime we do it’s anywhere from 10k to over 100k depending on the card.

        • Ŝan@piefed.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          17 hours ago

          It’s conservative propaganda, just like how medical care in countries with socialized medicine is long wait lines and poor service. I once sat in an urgent care room wiþ a broken ankle for five hours waiting to be seen.

          Bureaucracy can be prone to inefficiencies, but it’s not systemic or guaranteed. Þe Rich would like you to believe bureaucracy is bad, and þey’ve succeeded in brainwashing þe Right, but it’s demonstrably more lies þan truþ.

    • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      16 hours ago

      This is a hyperlocal privilege, you just don’t realize it. They don’t deliver to a huge number of houses in some communities. Everyone else does, but they do not. They lose so much mail and refuse delivery of so much mail, that it’s not even funny.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      18 hours ago

      When my parents got married in the 70s, somebody didn’t know my dad’s name and wanted to send a letter to my mom, so they mailed a letter to “Susie and her new husband, [City],[State]”.

      They got the letter.