Can You Report the Post Office to the BBB?

Every once in a while I think about stuff. Dangerous, I know, but sometimes funny, too. Here's my thought for this week.

When you mail a package at the post office, you have the opportunity to buy insurance at an additional charge. Has anybody ever thought about how, exactly, this is working? You pay to send the package, and then pay EXTRA to make certain that the package arrives, and in the same number of pieces. How did this ever come to be? Would we let this kind of thing go in any other business?

Let's consider some common business transactions that we all make. How about swinging through the drive through for a quick lunch. . . .

"I'll have the #4 with a Coke please."
"All right sir, the #4 with tax comes to $4.23, would you like to purchase insurance for that at an additional fee?"
"Huh? Why would I insure my quarter-third pounder?"
"Well sir, there are a lot of things that could go wrong between the grill and your car. The burger could get dropped on the floor and stepped on by the assistant manager. We'd still be sure to get it to you, but it wouldn't be edible. If you insure it, you'll get your $4.23 back! Even worse, your order could be lost completely. There are a lot of high school kids working here, and you've probably guessed that there's no drug test required for employment. It just might happen that they completely lose track of your order to the point where it may *never* get to you, and if you insure it, you'll get your $4.23 back! If not -- well, we just can't make any guarantees."

How about this one:

"All right Mr. Smith, your sofa is scheduled for delivery on Tuesday afternoon. Now would you like to insure that today? You never know what might happen, you know! Let's face facts -- our delivery guys are hired for their muscle, not their womanly touch. It's not unheard of for them to load one-piece sofas and un-load sectionals, if you know what I mean. Also, it could be delivered to your neighbor or your previous address, and without insurance, well, you'll be watching Ugly Betty from the Berber rather than the Broyhill!"

The point, obviously, is simple: if you pay for a service, it doesn't seem reasonable that you should have to pay *extra* to insure that the service is carried out, right? You know, maybe I should start a blog that you have to pay to read, and then I could sell insurance so that you get your money back if I never write anything. Sound like a scam? Hardly! How could it *possibly* be anything other than on the complete up-and-up if something similar is being carried out by a branch of our very own US government!